Thank You, Baldrige Examiners!
As teams of Baldrige examiners are busy this summer assessing the performance of ten organizations that applied to receive non-award-related feedback based on the 2021-2022 Criteria for Performance Excellence, I think it’s a fitting time to highlight the significant contributions of the annually selected, all-volunteer corps known as the Board of Examiners.
It's clear to anyone familiar with the Baldrige Program that we cannot thank these volunteers enough for their generous service within the annual Baldrige Award process since its inception in 1988 through 2021. During that period, each of the thousands of Baldrige examiners (at least 300 per year) who have completed an evaluation of an organization applying for the Baldrige Award have donated an average of at least 100 hours per applicant! That estimate does not include the days they’ve spent in (annual) Baldrige examiner training, on site visits (the last phase of the award process evaluation for finalists), and/or participating in the award judging process (given that some examiners later become judges). They’ve given all that time and talent to the fundamentally patriotic cause of helping American enterprises in every sector improve their performance.
Selected for their sector expertise and trained by the Baldrige Program every spring, examiners conduct their evaluations in teams led by seasoned peers. Individually and then together with their teams, they analyze the processes and results of U.S.-based organizations against the requirements of the Criteria for Performance Excellence® (part of the Baldrige Excellence Framework®). In recent years, this work has taken place primarily in summer months, when examiners on each team have worked together virtually to combine their individual analyses in draft scorebooks and then refine their findings online and during video meetings (and in past years, via conference calls). Eventually, their insights are conveyed in a feedback report for each award applicant detailing the organization's strengths and opportunities for improvement.
And That’s Not All Baldrige Examiners Do!
Every year, some of the most experienced examiners also help the Baldrige Program by serving on two other volunteer teams. One is an annual Case Study Development Team, which creates a fictitious organization’s application for the Baldrige Award. (This is necessary because actual applications are kept confidential, yet examiners need training on the process for evaluating an organization’s performance against the Criteria for Performance Excellence.) The other examiner-led team each year is the Training Scorebook Team, which creates a model scorebook on the annual case study for use in examiner training.
Clearly, the Baldrige Program is deeply indebted to its volunteer examiners. Of course, the organizations that apply for the Baldrige Award and feedback on their performance are key beneficiaries of the examiners' work. As stated more than a decade ago by Sister Mary Jean Ryan, FSM, former CEO and chairman of the board of SSM Health Care (the first organization in the health care sector to receive the Baldrige Award),
For us, Baldrige has provided the best consulting services we’ve ever received and the least expensive. Over the four years that we applied, we received more than 200 pages of feedback from highly trained, experienced, and professional examiners, who spent literally hundreds of hours with our application and on site visits.
Appreciating Baldrige Examiner Service
Beyond such organizations, millions of U.S. citizens also might owe some appreciation to Baldrige examiners for their service. That's because the benefits of the Baldrige Award process have a wide reach. The ultimate beneficiaries are the customers and other stakeholders of the American businesses and nonprofit organizations, large and small and in every sector, that have improved their operations and results using the Baldrige Excellence Framework and Criteria for Performance Excellence.
No wonder many examiners have shared with the Baldrige Program that a key reason they’ve volunteered for the Baldrige Program is their sense that they are fulfilling a patriotic duty.
Although it’s not easy work to evaluate the performance of an organization to help it achieve long-term success, let it never be said that Baldrige examiners’ work is thankless. Consider this a salute to the entire 2022 Board of Examiners as well as those who served in past years.
If you’re a Baldrige examiner, cheers to you!
Original source can be found here.
