Tribes, Society and Engagement

 (whew…I wore myself out thinking about that title)

If this post is of interest to you and you haven’t already discovered David Zinger’s Employee Engagement Network, do so! This post was originally added there, modified to be posted here.

Father Jim Roselli is a fellow member of the EEN. His background and interests were intriguing to me, and I noted him: I am looking forward to a dialogue on religion and engagement, and the potential power of engagement as it relates to society and social groups (tribes!).

Copied from a note Fr. Jim sent me: My interest in Sociology/Social Anthropology goes back (‘way back) to when I was in my twenties and read a book entitled “Hunting Bands.” It was an examination of tribal behavior in modern corporations, and it really affected my outlook. The six basic human needs are air, water, food, clothing, shelter and companionship. These are best delivered by, and balanced human beings are best produced and nurtured in, the basic human social group: the nuclear family, consisting of a lifetime-committed husband and wife and their children. The fundamental post-basic social unit is the tribe, or clan: an efficient and effective way for families to share their knowledge, skills and abilities with each other.

Father Jim’s note hit a bit of a button for me.

First, is it a fair statement that the basic social unit (nuclear family) has diminished in stature and importance? Single parent households and dual-income, multiple job households as well. More emphasis on careers and making money than on basic parenting, which is the traditional primary means to “socialize” our children.

These are broad generalizations, but I believe statistics and an army of “experts” have mad it quite clear that the family unit is in trouble, even in “normal” and outwardly successful two-parent households. Nuclear is melting down. Ultra-busy parents abdicating their socializing duties to the outside—schools, youth clubs, soccer coaches (I have been in that role! I am a COACH, not a surrogate parent! Blood boiling at the memory as I type….)

At the same time, the other institution critical to socializing our young is sadly diminishing in stature and importance as well—organized religion. There is a giant void in too many young peoples’ lives where these two powerful influences used to be. And I feel that this is one of the key root causes to all the social problems in the world—seriously! We have lost our ability to instill strong values and social / behavioral expectations in the younger generations, and it is beginning to bite us in the behind big time.

The post-basic social unit for too many youth is gangs, which provide all the basic needs noted by Father Jim. Not to say that gangs are an acceptable alternative, but what happens where there is a void? Something will rush in to fill it. And let’s not be ostriches…this is not just a poverty / inner city issue.

There is an unacceptably high level of social disengagement-we do not have a strong set of shared values or social expectations. Not to mention that too many people simply are not at a high level of “satisfaction” societally.

I have stated elsewhere that…

1. Engagement is contagious. You can catch it from others just as you can “infect” others.

2. Engagement ripples the surface of the pond…it spreads by association. If I am an engaged person at work / in my position, I am probably engaged elsewhere. And it will show, and will trigger #1.

Is engagement important? YES, on many levels—personal, professional, societal.

Other posts you may find of interest, related to the greater good that engagement can help bring about:

America’s Promise, Crisis in Education. From America’s Alliance: “Many students who ultimately drop out of school say they become disengaged during the middle-school years. The choices young people make at this age could set them on a course for active citizenship and engaged learning – or down a path of risky behavior and potential failure.”

Education Goes to School?  …high school kids are disengaged in both their education and in thinking about their future. This hypothesis is well-founded: try Googling “National Survey of Student Engagement.” For many students, education is perceived to be irrelevant to their future. The underlying issue: students are not engaged in any kind of “future thinking” to even know what is, and isn’t relevant to them. An even deeper issue…teachers, and parents too, are also disengaged. Just wanted to throw that in to cause trouble. And it IS a generalization, there are exceptions. So please don’t beat me up too much.

Sniglets-Management System Excellence

(Sniglet: something that is a prerequisite to achieving something else)

It’s tough to do everything right in a management system startup, but doing just a few things up front can dramatically increase your chances of achieving an end result that is effective and well-received by those who need to make it work. These thoughts are examined in other management system posts, but I wanted to highlight them in Cliff Notes fashion.

Set Scope Wisely, Strategically

Fashion goals that are clearly aligned with the rest of the company’s strategy, goals that people can easily connect to. Alignment is actually an ISO “shall” but too many management system design teams go to extreme lengths re-creating the wheel. You already have a quality policy and objectives. Use them.

Certification is not a compulsory requirement, and the scope is yours to determine.

Shamelessly Sell the Benefits

You MUST have a good pitch. Whether you believe it yourself doesn’t matter, your constituents must believe that the management system will be good for them. Not cod liver oil good…tastes horrendous going down, but fixes what ails you. Rather, they must believe that the management system will result in their work being done better, smarter, faster, easier.

Identify some of your company’s specific issues or ongoing problems that the management system is being designed to address. Spell the connections out very clearly and you will create a sense of “want in” rather than “thou shalt comply, or else.”

Communicate and Demonstrate

People must continuously hear what is happening and why, and future plans and current status. And they must see the management system in action. Look for and / or create success stories and trumpet the before / after scenarios loudly. And, hate to bring it up, but that pesky “leadership by example” concept is essential.

Watch Your Language!

The ISO glossary of terms includes several confrontational words with negative connotations: compliance, audit, conformance to requirements, nonconformance, corrective action. No wonder the townsfolk board up their windows and hide the women and children in the cellar come assessment time!

Andre Agassi once said “Image is everything”. While that may not be gospel, a good image sure helps.

• We aren’t “compliant to the ISO standard”. We have committed to a set of management best practices.
• We don’t “audit”. We assess our system’s effectiveness.
• Assessors don’t find “nonconformances.” They identify opportunities to improve the system.
• We don’t “conform to requirements.” We strive to exceed customer expectations at all times.
• We don’t take “corrective action.” We initiate improvements.

Broad Ownership, Broad Improvement Focus

The management system is much bigger than “quality” alone. Position ISO as a management tool capable of managing all aspects of the business, ensuring that goals are met, desired results are achieved, and customers’ expectations are exceeded.

Get ISO out of the Quality Assurance closet where it is traditionally hidden, starting with appointing a non-QA person as management representative if at all possible. Enlist internal auditors (assessors!) from all walks of life. Don’t just train them to go out and catch nonconformances. Assessors become process experts and are an extremely valuable resource to the areas they work with. Assessors are management system ambassadors, and each assessment is a PR event for the system as well as a learning experience for both assessors and those being assessed.

Engage the Troops

Engagement is that magical state where people put forth exemplary effort AND are getting maximum level of satisfaction out of their role…they are busting their butts and are darned happy to do it. Their hands, hearts, and heads are all engaged.

The subtitle of this blog is Engagement > Alignment> Execution > Results…yet another formula for achieving excellence. It all centers around two of the most basic concepts around: the people doing the job know it best, and involvement builds commitment. Bring the troops in early and often in the design of the system, and keep them in.

ooops…so much for the “Cliff Notes version.”

Networking and Engagement

I recently exchanged thoughts with a fellow member of David Zinger’s Employee Engagement Network (EEN),    Frode Heiman who blogs at Never Mind the Manager.  This post uses excerpts from that conversation-thank you Frode and David.

Frode invited me to be one of his “friends” on the EEN and as we had met one of my personal criteria for becoming “friends”…we actually had a good conversation…I was happy to get the invitation.

I don’t mean to sound snobbish but it really does make a difference if you are selective as to who you choose to closely network with, as opposed to casual exchanges. There is work involved in truly networking with others, and we all have only so much time to devote to such activities.

I have seen too many instances of forums being used for personal advancement, plugging either services or “come visit my blog” without offering any real contribution of value when doing so. There is a fine balance between just using a platform solely for advertising, or actually contributing and then plugging yourself.

The more I think about it, the more participation / contribution on forums and other social media is a classic manifestation of engagement. People must feel motivated to contribute, which involves setting aside a portion of their scarce discretionary time. They must put forth extra effort, but must also get something out of the effort—personal satisfaction.

Going back to Maslow, people have a basic need to belong. There are a lot of joiners who collect network and group affiliations and scads of “personal” connections like they were cheap baseball cards. But engagement is more than joining and more than basic involvement. It takes not only a high level of contribution, but it must provide a high level of satisfaction for the contributor.

What engages each of us to hang out on any particular forum? And what does it take to engage, to the point where we want to contribute and where we gain from our involvement?

Networking and engagement are all about making connections and exchanging ideas. And, the very simple recognition from others of your thoughts you have shared results in a nice dose of fuzzy / feelgood. That is something we all crave, and it doesn’t take much. And, it encourages people to contribute more.
Translated: very engaging.
Engagement and what triggers it in individuals is highly personal (my opinion). But engagement is contagious. The enthusiasm and energy an engaged person emanates begets the same in others. And engagement carries over from the original engaging environment too. The power of engagement is such that, whatever the source, the engaged person’s other areas of activity benefit as well. If I am engaged at work or on a forum it will “spill over” into the other areas of my life.

What if the power of my engagement resulted in others around me becoming more engaged?  And those peoples’ engagement would then impact others around them, and on and on…the Kevin Bacon thing.

Soapbox in closing….society is, generally speaking, a mess. A heaping helping of engagement would do wonders. And it doesn’t take much to start the engagement ball rolling.

“Hey President Obama…where’s my emotional stimulus check?”

America’s Promise, Crisis In Education

(UPDATE for readers-there is the beginning of a good conversation here. Be sure to visit the related links, check out the comments to this post and add your thoughts!)

While I do have an Education category I don’t post nearly as much about education issues as I’d like. But this caught my eye. You business and industry leaders who frequent this blog, take note if you want to pay more than lip service to Corporate Social Responsibility. Get involved in Education….this is our future workforce that is at risk, and I at least want to do my part to raise the awareness level of the business community. Don’t let the downturn and high unemployment lull you to sleep. There is a real and significant near-term workforce shortage looming ahead. And what there is in the labor pool is woefully unprepared. We need to get serious!

Gen. Colin Powell was just in the news lamenting our poor (US) graduation rate. As this is right up my alley, I dug a little deeper. Powell and his wife are both involved in America’s Promise Alliance. The organization’s statement of purpose:

We are an alliance born of the recognition that when too many children are at risk, we are a nation at risk. With less than one-third of America’s young people receiving the essential resources they need for success, we’re witnessing today an increased risk of substance abuse, crime and school drop outs. We can’t afford this loss of human potential and reversing this tide must be a national priority.

One of the Alliance’s National Action Strategies is Ready for the Real World… Engage every middle school student in service-learning and career exploration by designing “real-world” experiences relevant to them.

Why is this important? From America’s Alliance: “Many students who ultimately drop out of school say they become disengaged during the middle-school years. The choices young people make at this age could set them on a course for active citizenship and engaged learning – or down a path of risky behavior and potential failure.”

The Alliance has partnered with Gallup, which conducted the Gallup Student Poll. See the Gallup Student Poll Report. Gallup is a leading proponent of engagement in the workplace, and the design of the study and content of this report shows it.  I’ve posted elsewhere that a key issue in education is disengagement, of both students and teachers. (see Engagement Goes to School) We’re simply not hitting the right student hot buttons.

The issues facing education, and especially pertaining to engagement, are something I can really sink my teeth into as a business person, parent, grandparent, educator and camper who wants to leave this campground in better shape than I found it.

How about you?

 

Benchmarking Baldrige for Management System Excellence

This is the first in a series of posts that will look at key elements of the Baldrige Criteria. If you’re not familiar with the Malcom Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, download here-it’s free!

 Why mess with Baldrige at all, except that if you’re good enough to win, you get a cool award from the President of the US? As was discussed in Beyond the Standard: Compliance to Commitment  it’s a matter of scope and intent. Both ISO and the Baldrige models can be intelligently utilized as benchmarks, without pursuing ISO certification or going after the Baldrige award.

Categories and topics examined in this series include (numbers represent the categories / sub-categories):

Baldrige, ISO, Six Sigma, Lean, Balanced Scorecard et al   There has been a long-running discussion about the value in general of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Specifically, how does the Baldrige model fit in, with ISO9001 and approaches like Lean, Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard? In a nutshell, very well. This post has links to, and excerpts from, several sources that help to validate the fit from several angles.

Learning From the Baldrige Evaluation Dimensions:   The way the Baldrige scoring is structured is itself worth learning from, examined in this post.

1.1 Senior Leadership: How do your senior leaders lead? Describe how senior leaders’ actions guide and sustain your organization. Describe how senior leaders communicate with your WORKFORCE and encourage high performance.

2.1 Strategy Development: How do you develop your strategy? Describe how your organization establishes its strategy to address its strategic challenges and leverage its strategic advantages. Summarize your organization’s KEY strategic objectives and their related goals.

2.2 Strategy Deployment: How do you deploy your strategy? Describe how your organization converts its strategic objectives into action plans. Summarize your organization’s action plans, how they are deployed, and KEY action plan performance measures or indicators. Project your organization’s future performance relative to KEY comparisons on these performance measures or indicators.

4.1 Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement of Organizational Performance: How do you measure, analyze, and then improve organizational performance? Describe HOW your organization measures, analyzes, reviews, and improves its PERFORMANCE through the use of data and information at all levels and in all parts of your organization.

ISO is a management system model primarily designed to manage daily operations, presented as a set of requirements in the ISO standard: “The organization shall (insert element / requirement)”.  The Baldrige model is more strategic in nature. It does not present requirements but a series of questions used to assess the organization’s effectiveness. What an organization provides as answers to the questions are key indicators of performance excellence. Example: “How do senior leaders set organizational vision and values?” How you do that is up to you. But you’d better be doing it very well–not just to go after the Baldrige but to compete, stay in business and succeed!

Learning From the Baldrige Evaluation Dimensions

There are two evaluation dimensions that Baldrige examiners consider a company’s performance against: Process and Results. Below are the brief descriptions of the several attributes considered in these two dimensions. Think about your company’s performance against each of these attributes.

EVALUATION DIMENSION ONE: PROCESS looks at the methods an organization uses in addressing the items in each of the Baldrige categories. There are four factors used to evaluate Process: Approach, Deployment, Learning, and Integration.

Approach: methods used and their appropriateness and effectiveness, as well as how repeatable / systematic the methods are.

Deployment: the extent to which methods are thoroughly and consistently applied by all appropriate functions (effective execution).

Learning: refining methods by evaluating and improving the methods, and sharing refinements with other relevant areas (organizational learning).

Integration: the extent to which methods are aligned with organizational needs, and how widespread methods and systems are deployed across departments. Also assessed is general alignment in support of organization-wide goals.

EVALUATION DIMENSION TWO: Results (for Category Seven in the Baldrige Criteria only, which covers metrics / measures of performance levels)

“Results” refers to outputs and outcomes assessed against four factors: Levels, Trends, Comparisons, and Integration.

Levels: the current level of performance against the metrics outlined in Category Seven.

Trends:  performance improvements, or sustaining good levels of performance as noted by the slope of trend data.

Comparisons:  performance relative to benchmarks against industry leaders or similar businesses, whether competitors or other organizations.

Integration: the extent to which metrics used indicate performance on both current targets and indicators of future performance, and how much your metrics cross departments and processes …whether they are localized or are linked to organization-wide goals.

For more on Baldrige: Baldrige, ISO, Six Sigma, Lean, Balanced Scorecard et al Excerpt:

 There has been a long-running discussion about the value in general of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Specifically, how does the Baldrige model fit in, with ISO9001 and approaches like Lean, Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard? In a nutshell, very well. This post has links to, and excerpts from, several sources that help to validate the fit from several angles.

The Pursuit of Excellence is a Process

For any of this stuff to be of value, there must be some sort of applicable plan–a strategy for the Pursuit of Excellence.  Following is all the pieces of the puzzle I am addressing here, in a (hopefully) logical process. There are links to earlier posts for reference back as appropriate.

Just one man’s opinion here-please chime in: what’s missing, what’s out of sequence?

This post is important enough that it will be upgraded to a page linked at the top right of the Pursuit home page, to retain future visibility.

ONE: ENGAGE. While it’s open for discussion, I am maintaining that it all starts with engagement, triggered by involvement and nurtured by the work environment and culture, with healthy doses of change management and communication as live-in caretakers. We must start with capturing the head, heart and hands of the team as Towers Perrin puts it, or we’re spinning wheels. And it is becoming more clear that there is a bottom line benefit in doing so.

Unfortunately, innocently tucked between the lines of the previous paragraph is what amounts to a full-time, career-crowning undertaking in many cases. Look at what’s involved in achieving engagement: high involvement, a favorable work environment (culture), change management and communication. Add to the shopping list the fact that engagement is a highly personal state driven by the individual’s drivers and values. No one said it was easy….

Now, to argue the lead-off position of engagement: don’t all the pieces need to be in place for people to feel as if they can safely engage? Systems and Alignment are among the key process components still to come. I can buy into the need for engagement to come after there is something of clear substance for people to engage with. I prefer to think instead that this highlights the need for an ongoing effort to sustain engagement beyond the initial jump-start.

TWO: DEVELOP a ROBUST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, essential to provide discipline, clarity and consistency in everyday operations. A management system may be based on two key models: ISO9001 and the Baldrige Criteria. If an ISO-based management system, a key barrier to fight through is the self-inflicted perception of ISO being limited to product quality.

A key point: the ISO and Baldrige models do not have to lead to certification and winning the Baldrige respectively. They are simply best practices to benchmark, within the company’s scope and intent.

Systems need tools (six sigma, lean, balanced scorecard) to be maintained in top working order. And tools need systems to provide consistency in application, discipline in execution and standardization of improvements. What is the nature of the interface among the ISO and Baldrige models, and six sigma, lean et al?

There is a good deal posted on management systems within In Pursuit of Excellence–here is The Roadmap.

An integrated system of human resource development manages and improves the human element, the gateway to all things worth achieving. The HRD system is one of the most important business management systems, and the system that can typically stand to improve the most.

THREE: IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVE CONTROLS, in the form of meaningful real-time and actionable lead metrics. People play better when you’re keeping score, but you must measure the right things at the right times, and act on what the metrics are telling you.

FOUR: ALIGN the TROOPS. I struggled with the sequence of the alignment piece-it is critical but I still feel it must follow having systems and controls in place. Or, must it??! Alignment-getting people on the same page- is much easier if people have bought into their role in the success of the company via engagement. But it is also much easier to engage people if there is a clear picture of the target and how the journey to the destination is managed-systems and controls. And people must have the necessary systems to work within, so they perceive that the task is clearly do-able. Still, wouldn’t it be better if people were involved / engaged in developing the management systems and identifying the goals that need to be met  / actions to be taken to achieve the company’s strategy?

So….Chicken or Egg?

Cascaded goals, clear expectations and accountabilities provide focus and direction to engaged troops. This is not rocket science! It is a simple formula in which accountability is just one element:

Clear expectations +

Knowledge, skills and abilities +

Accountability +

Follow-up

= Results.

FIVE: EXECUTE! It all comes together here. If process steps One through Four have been successfully initiated, the actual execution ought to be a snap. Just Take Care of Business.

“Just”…..

Baldrige, ISO, Six Sigma, Lean, Balanced Scorecard et al

There has been a long-running discussion about the value in general of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Specifically, how does the Baldrige model fit in, with ISO9001 and approaches like Lean, Six Sigma and Balanced Scorecard?

In a nutshell, very well. Following are links to, and excerpts from, several sources that help to validate the fit from several angles.

In earlier posts on management systems, I have made the case for emphasizing a bigger picture management system vs quality management scope and intent. Some of the following sources make the distinction, while others still maintain the “Q” label.

Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, home page. You can download copies of the Baldrige criteria free. You pay quite a lot for the ISO standard. Be on the lookout for additional posts dealing with specific points of emphasis, highlighting the Baldrige model’s fit with the other models and tools, and in management system excellence in general.

Do ISO instead of applying Baldrige criteria … Not!  Journal for Quality and Participation, Jan/Feb 1994 by Townsend, Patrick L, Gebhardt, Joan E. Excerpt:

The information, procedures and material on which ISO 9000 certification requirements focus total to about 10 percent of what the Baldrige encompasses. Perhaps the most telling gap between the two is the Baldrige’s insistence on customer-impacting results, and plans and methodology for continuous improvement versus ISO 9000’s emphasis on current procedures and their documentation.

In that sense, there isn’t a major conflict between Baldrige and ISO 9000; ISO 9000 is simply a minor subset of Baldrige. ISO 9000 established minimums while the Baldrige points the way for an organization to reach for maximums.

A wise company views ISO 9000 as a starting place for an all-encompassing quality effort. In time, ISO 9000 will fade in importance and popularity as the still embryonic European quality revolution strengthens and expands beyond ISO 9000’s limited criteria. This evolution has already begun and will accelerate as more and more European countries establish national quality awards that use the Baldrige as their model.

Building World-Class Performance with the Baldrige Criteria In the quest for excellence, the Baldrige criteria begin where ISO 9000 ends. (by Anthony C. Fletcher, Quality Digest, August 1999)  Excerpt:

The (ISO) registration process is perceived by many organizations as the first step in their pursuit of world-class performance.… what can you do if you want to push your organization beyond this baseline level of performance? Consider evolving your QMS into a business management system (BMS) using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. The QMS established during ISO 9000 implementation efforts can easily be expanded to support the addition of key processes that will sustain a world-class organization based on the Baldrige criteria.

ISO 9000-based standards are an excellent starting point for organizations working to improve their performance, but they should be viewed as only a first step. To achieve world-class performance, organizations must move beyond ISO 9000. The Baldrige Award criteria can help them get there.

Understanding the Important Differences Between the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and ISO9000 Registration (no link) by Curt W. Reiman and Harry S. Hertz, Office of Quality Programs, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA. Excerpt:

The relationship between the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration is widely confused. Two common misperceptions stand out: (1) that they both cover the same requirements and (2) that they both address improvement, relying on high quality results, and thus, are both forms of recognition. Many have concluded that the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 are equivalent and that companies should choose one or the other. These conclusions are incorrect. The Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration differ fundamentally in focus, purpose, and content.

The focus of the Baldrige Award is on enhanced competitiveness. The Award Criteria reflect two key competitiveness thrusts: (1) delivery of ever-improving value to customers and (2) improvement of overall operational performance. The Award’s central purpose is educational-to encourage sharing knowledge and experience of competitiveness and to drive this learning, creating an evolving fund of knowledge. By contrast, the focus of ISO 9000 registration is on conformity to practices specified in the registrant’s own quality systems. Its central purpose is to enhance and facilitate trade.

The Baldrige Award addresses competitiveness factors either not addressed in ISO 9000 registration or addressed differently. These factors include a customer and market focus, results orientation, continuous improvement, competitive comparisons, a tie to business strategy, cycle time and responsiveness, integration via analysis, public responsibility, human resource development, and information sharing. Baldrige, Six Sigma, and

ISO: Understanding Your Options  Provides insight into how to choose among these three performance improvement tools and how they can be used together to ensure the overall success of any organization. Excerpt:

This new issue sheet

• explains the differences among the three systems;

• discusses how they can be used individually or in combination to meet organizational needs;

• describes how four recent Baldrige Award recipients use Baldrige either alone or in conjunction with Six Sigma and/or ISO as the basis for their performance improvement efforts.

It shouldn’t be “either/or.” It can be “one, two, and/or three.” So say many Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients when asked if it is best to choose only one of the available performance improvement tools. To ensure the overall future development and success of an organization, you need a systems approach and Baldrige provides that. Where you begin often depends on what your organization needs now.

Although all three are quality measurement systems, the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, ISO 9001:2000 Registration, and Six Sigma each offer a different emphasis in helping organizations improve performance and increase customer satisfaction….

Baldrige vs. ISO9001 from The Balanced Scorecard Institute . Includes a good cross-reference matrix of ISO elements to Baldrige Criteria. Excerpt:

The matrix indicates that the Baldrige criteria are much broader in scope than the ISO 9001 criteria. The latter are focused mostly on manufacturing processes; this standard was developed in the industrial era for this kind of business. The balanced scorecard, with its metrics of learning and growth and customer satisfaction, is more appropriately measured by the Baldrige criteria and may be more appropriate than ISO 9001 for modern knowledge-worker organizations of the “new economy”.

Alignment of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence with Six Sigma, Lean Thinking and Balanced Scorecard  By Paul Grizzell, Insights to Performance Excellence 2004: An Inside Look at the 2004 Baldrige Award Criteria, Published by the American Society for Quality.

Correlates the Baldrige Criteria with other initiatives—Six Sigma, Lean and Balanced Scorecard. There are tools, and then there are systems. Management systems require tools to keep running, and tools need systems to manage their application to full optimization. Excerpt:

“Baldrige? Six Sigma? Lean? Balanced Scorecard? We don’t have time for all of these initiatives! Let’s just pick one and go with it!” How many times have you heard (or perhaps even said) something similar to this? The statement suggests the initiatives are equivalent. They are not…the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence represent a comprehensive set of processes that organizations should have in place in order to optimize performance. Six Sigma, Lean, Balanced Scorecard, and other initiatives represent some tools, albeit powerful tools, that organizations can use to enhance performance. However, the use of these tools in isolation, without regard to the needs of the entire management system, will not produce optimum benefits or optimum performance for the organization… thousands of organizations use the Baldrige Criteria as a management model and/or assessment tool to gauge the maturity and effectiveness of their own management system.

What Gets Measured, Gets Done

Einstein said: Only measure what is truly important. However, not all that is truly important is measurable. Some anonymous Einstein came up with a very profound part two: But remember, not all that is measured is truly important.

How do you know if you’re winning or losing if you don’t keep score? People play better when there is a scoreboard, but what makes an effective metric? The ideal is for metrics to serve as a real-time indicator of how things are going, at an actionable level so those who are accountable can impact performance and make real-time improvements when needed. 

To Get the Right Results, Measure the Right Things at the Right Place, at the Right Time!

ROA and market share are outputs—the result of many different impacting processes. When people hear continuously about how they need to improve on ROA and other output measures, they are understandably frustrated. Who among us can easily recognize the direct impact of our work on the bottom line or on market share?

It makes a whole lot more sense to target metrics for the critical impacting processes and establish SMART goals with clearly owned accountabilities. Then, initiate controls and the mechanism to follow-up and follow through on metric anomalies and continuously improve critical process capability.

Outcome / Lag Measures are historical “how did we do?” Included in the “lag” category are Big Picture metrics like profit, ROI, market share, defect rate.

Lead Measures are predictive: if the Lead metric numbers are good, the Outcome / Lag metrics will be improved and we’ll be closer to achieving the goal. Lead metrics measure critical impacting processes and are actionable. Lead metrics are aligned with big picture lag metrics, which means I can do or not do something and I can understand how it will impact the lag metric.

Lag metrics are obtained after the journey is over; lead metrics measure the drivers that help reach the destination. Lag metrics may be meaningful to summarize in staff meetings, but they don’t hold much water on the floor. Examples:

GOALS	LEAD MEASURES; CRITICAL IMPACTING PROCESSES	OUTCOMES / LAG MEASURES
Lose weight	# of calories consumed; miles walked	Weight lost (pounds)
Reduce Accidents	Compliance to eight key safety stds	Monthly Safety Incident Report
Improve Quality	Specific critical process performance	Percent defects; # of quality holds

 

A Quick 5-point Check-up

1. Are metrics easy to decipher at a glance and presented in everyday terms? The more graphics, and the fewer big words the better (Understandability)
2. Are critical impacting processes measured (lead metrics), not Big Picture outcomes-lag metrics? (Actionability)
3. Is real-time data collected and communicated? How often is it updated? (Timeliness)
4. Do specific functions understand their ownership of, and responsibility for, lead metrics that indicate performance of their critical impacting processes? (Accountability)
5. If #4 is “yes” are the lead metrics clearly connected to the Big Picture lag metrics? (Alignment)

“In Pursuit of Excellence” Contents UPDATED

See page “In Pursuit of Excellence” Contents UPDATED,  thumbnail excerpt below.

 The sub-title of In Pursuit of Excellence mirrors my focus… Engagement > Alignment > Execution, the three-legged stool that leads to excellence and results. As the quantity of posts grows, it becomes more difficult for viewers to find what they are looking for. So I am maintaining a Roadmap for each of these three topics, posted under “Pages” at the top right of the Home Page. These will be updated regularly with new posts.

In addition to the Roadmaps for these three topics, see “Roadmap of Categories and Topics”  for a thumbnailed list of topics to help you find what you’re looking for.