THE EXCELLENCE MODEL
Use this as a means of promoting awareness of, and action to improve, performance in all aspects of the organisation.
Malcolm Baldridge was the driving force behind the use of the Excellence Model as a means of promoting quality awareness in organisations. Baldridge’s work was influential in America and it was the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) that adapted and adopted his model for use in Europe.
The EFQM Excellence Model is underpinned by nine fundamental concepts that are divided into five enablers and four results:
- The enablers are the activities that the organisation must do well to be recognised as excellent.
- The results are the measures used to assess the impact of the above activities.
Source: Adapted from the European Foundation for Quality Management, copyright © EFQM 2012 Excellence Model, Brussels, Belgium, www.efqm.org
Although the EFQM does attach an award to the Excellence Model for organisations that want such recognition, application of the model is often used as a self-assessment tool for grading how an organisation is performing in each of the enabler and result areas.
HOW TO USE IT
- Complete the online questionnaire available through the EFQM website. Grade your organisation/team against each of the nine categories. There are some helpful descriptors to help you grade each category.
- If possible get a cross-section of your organisation/team to complete the questionnaire or better still everyone in your organisation.
- Total up the scores and work out the average score across the organisation. Don’t be alarmed if you only score 350 out of a possible 900. This is par for the course first time up. Of course 350 or less won’t do in the long run. If you are a large organisation you may need to appoint someone to act as a quality champion. If you just did it for your team or department you may end up doing the entire job yourself.
- Focus on the better scoring categories first to see if some quick wins can be achieved. Then work towards the categories where there is greater scope for improvement. Keep returning to the questionnaire and measuring what improvements have been made.
- Remember, this is a self-assessment process; therefore your assumptions and impressions have to be tested. Get someone impartial to look at your assessment of what is going on and to challenge your analysis.
QUESTIONS TO ASK
- Would going for the EFQM award motivate me and my team more than just using the process to improve performance?
- Once the aims of the initial project have been met, how am I going to monitor, maintain and improve performance in the future?