by Brianna Crandall — January 12, 2015—The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently announced that its Baldrige Performance Excellence Program has released the 2015-2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework (Business/Nonprofit) booklet. The Baldrige Excellence Framework (Education) and Baldrige Excellence Framework (Health Care) booklets will be released in mid-January 2015.
Revisions to the three 2015-2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework booklets (including the Criteria), as with previous editions, aim to reflect the leading edge of validated leadership and performance practice. All three versions include the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, core values and concepts, and guidelines for evaluating an organizations processes and results.
According to NIST, this years changes begin with retitling the Criteria booklets to Baldrige Excellence Framework: A Systems Approach to Improving Your Organizations Performance. This change emphasizes that the Baldrige systems perspective encompasses the core values and concepts, the Criteria, and a scoring system that helps gauge an organizations maturity.
This year’s booklets include an updated overview diagram that embodies the integrated nature of the Criteria components and their reliance on core values and concepts. They also include the Glossary of Key Terms, with definitions and explanations that by themselves are instructive in fashioning key aspects of leading-edge leadership and performance practice.
The 20152016 Baldrige Criteria features a renewed focus on:
- Managing all of the components of an organization as a unified whole;
- Managing change; and
- Dealing with data analytics, data integrity, and cybersecurity.
The 20152016 Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet costs $25 for printed copies (available from ASQ) and $10 for electronic PDF copies (available from NIST). Volume discounts are available for bulk orders of both hard copies and downloaded files. Also, organizations can purchase an enterprise license for use within their own organizations.
In addition, the Baldrige Program has released a new companion product to the full Framework booklet, called the Baldrige Excellence Builder. This booklet is available free of charge in PDF format on the Baldrige Web site, and printed copies will be available for purchase from ASQ in late January/early February. The Excellence Builder contains key questions for improving an organizations performance. It also provides an introduction to the Baldrige framework and can be used to conduct a self-assessment against the most important features of excellence.
Whether used as guidance in establishing an integrated performance management system or for self-assessing progress, Baldrige is about helping organizations, no matter the size or sector, innovate and improve, says NIST.
