Rodent Regatta

It’s Tuesday night about 10:30 p.m. I’ve just finished the case study for the 2003 Baldrige National Quality Program Examiner’s Certification Course. If you read that mouthful, then you know what’s wrong with the award and the underlying scoring system.

I’m not pleased with what I’m turning in tomorrow, but it’s all I plan to do until the real applications start coming in. I’ll be in the certification sessions for the next two and a half days. From my point of view, there are three things wrong with the process…

First, the application should be submitted in a different format. Second, the examiners should not have to spend time transcribing words from the application into a scorebook. Third, judging a business based upon a panel of 10 examiners’ (judges’) opinions isn’t right.

Add to these things the cost, time and distractions from running the business and I find that several other methodologies are far better for improving a business. Unfortunately, Baldrige is the award brought to you by the U.S. government. The best tool I’ve found in the whole ordeal is Are We Making Progress?, a simple questionnaire any business owner could use to get feedback. It’s free, available for download and self-explanatory.

Now, when the results don’t look like you want them to, don’t turn to Baldrige.