Baldrige Program Consulting

Increasing performance throughout all levels of an organization can be an overwhelming task. It requires clear vision, careful planning and assessment, and committed leadership. Oriel Incorporated and our team of expert consultants—all of whom are experienced Baldrige examiners—can provide immediate assistance.  Whether it’s consulting, training, coaching, or facilitating the application of methods and tools to improve your organization's business processes and results, we have the programs and systems in place to translate your goals and objectives into an effective program on your journey to performance excellence.

Preparing for the Baldrige Award involves much more than just filling out an application. Oriel consultants will help you develop a monitoring program and infrastructure that is unique for your organization, ensuring that your program has effective components for leadership, assessment, change management, recognition and compensation, resource selection and utilization, and communication.

Our consulting does not focus on helping organizations achieve a high score on the evaluation; instead, we help our customers implement the tools and methodologies stressed in the Baldrige Model so that they can improve their operating performance. The resulting improved operations are what will produce high scores if and when our clients do apply for the Baldrige Award; in the meantime, these organizations enjoy smoother operations, which translate to better performance in their markets.

Oriel offers a variety of approaches that can help your organization utilize the Baldrige Model and improve organizational performance, including:

  • Self-assessment: Oriel can help you develop an approach to self-assessment that fits your organization. The Baldrige Program provides many useful tools for self-assessment, and our experienced consultants—all of whom are all trained Baldrige examiners—can work with you to get the greatest value from your assessment.

  • Improvement approach selection and development: A Baldrige assessment will provide your organization with a wealth of information about opportunities for improvement. However, although you will learn what can be done, your feedback will not describe how to improve. That’s where we come in—Oriel can work with you to determine what opportunities for improvement exist in your organization, and which of those opportunities can produce the greatest improvement in performance. Because they all have significant Baldrige experience, our consultants can help you review those opportunities and assist you in selecting an improvement approach to create the greatest value for your organization. Some of our most popular and effective programs include:

  • Baldrige Leadership Consulting, which helps organizational leaders grasp what is required from them in Section 1 of the Baldrige application—Leadership. The Criteria state:

    The Leadership Category examines HOW your orginization's SENIOR LEADERS guide and sustain your organization. Also exmined are your organization's GOVERNANCE and HOW your organization addresses its ethical, legal, and community responsibilities.

    With the aid of Oriel consultants, your organization’s leaders will be able examine this issue in depth, identifying the qualities that leaders of high-performing organizations possess and understanding how those qualities contribute to excellence.
  •  Understanding Your Customer offerings are ideal for addressing opportunities that surface in the Baldrige review of Section 3 of the application—Customer and Market Focus. The Criteria state:

    The CUSTOMER AND MARKET FOCUS category examines HOW your organization determines the requirements, needs, expectations, and preferences of CUSTOMERS and markets. Also exmined is HOW your organizations builds relationships with CUSTOMERS and determines the KEY factors that lead to CUSTOMER acquisition, satisfaction, loyalty, and retention and to business expansion and SUSTAINABILITY.

    Oriel’s programs on     Customer Experience Management, Customer Value Analysis, and Voice of the Customer are all geared to help you identify and implement the changes your organization needs make in order to improve your customer and market focus. With the help of Oriel’s consultants, your organization will be able to improve its business performance and gain competitive advantage.
     
  • Oriel’s Teams offerings are ideal for addressing opportunities that surface in the Baldrige review of Section 5—Workforce Focus. The Criteria state:

    The WORKFORCE FOCUS category exmines HOW your organization engages, manages, and develops your WORKFORCE to utilize its full potentioa in ALIGNMENT with your organization's overall MISSION, strategy, and ACTION PLANS. The Category exmines your ability to assess WORKFORCE CAPABILITY and CAPACITY needs and to build a WORKFORCE environment conducive to HIGH PERFORMANCE.

    Oriel consultants have the expertise to review your team performance with you and your management, addressing areas that need improvement. After those areas have been identified, the consultant can work with you to determine which of Oriel’s consulting, training, and products will best help your organization to improve team performance. With Oriel’s help, your organizational teams can optimize their processes and interactions to elevate performance and increase customer satisfaction.

  • Oriel’s Process Management offerings are perfect for addressing opportunities that surface in the Baldrige review of Sections 4 and 6. In Section 4—Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management, the Criteria state:

    The MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Category examines HOW your organization selects, gathers, analyzes, manages, and improves its data, information, and KNOWLEDGE ASSETS and HOW it manages its information technology: The Category also examines HOW your organization reviews and uses reviews to improve its PERFORMANCE.

    Oriel’s Process Management offerings feature components to help organizations develop the performance data, knowledge assets, and systems they need in order to measure and analyze their performance, as well as to manage the data pertaining to it.

In Section 6—Process Management, the Criteria state:

The PROCESS MANAGEMENT Category examines HOW your organization determines CORE COMPETENCIES and WORK SYSTEMS and HOW it designs, manages, and improves its KEY PROCESSES for implementing those WORK SYSTEMS to deliver CUSTOMER VALUE and achieve organizational success and SUSTAINABILITY. Also examined is your readiness for emergencies.

Oriel’s Process Management, Six Sigma, and Lean offerings are all geared to help your organization make the improvements it needs in order to improve its process management.

  • Oriel’s Process Management program provides the five-stage framework necessary for optimizing process management to deliver customer value and achieve organizational success and sustainability.

  • Oriel’s Six Sigma and Lean offerings provide the improvement methodologies that the Baldrige Model suggests will boost your organizational performance. Oriel’s consultants can customize these offerings to pertain directly to your organization, and help you understand and implement the approaches every step of the way.

    • Oriel’s Six Sigma DMADV design offering will address your organization’s need for process design as stipulated in Section 6.1—Work Systems Design. The Criteria ask:

      6.1 Work Systems Designs: How do you design your work systems?
      Describe HOW your organization determines its CORE COMPETENCIES and designs its WORK SYSTEMS and KEY PROCESSES to deliver CUSTOMER VALUE, prepare for potential emergencies, and acheive organizational success and SUSTAINABILITY.

      Six Sigma DMADV may seem intimidating, but Oriel’s experienced consultants can help you understand the methodology, determine how it can be best applied to your organization, and implement it to your organization’s best advantage.

    • Oriel provides Six Sigma DMAIC, Lean Six Sigma, and Lean offerings that will address your organization’s need for continuous process improvement, as addressed in Section 6.2—Work Process Management and Improvement. The Criteria ask:

      6.2 Work Process Management and Improvement: How do you manage and improve your key organizational work processes?
      Describe HOW your organization implements, manages, and improves its KEY work: PROCESSES to deliver CUSTOMER VALUE and achieve organizational success and SUSTAINABILITY.


      Oriel’s expert consultants—all of whom are trained Baldrige examiners—can assist you as you review your existing process management capabilities. Then, based on that review, we can work with you to develop and implement a program based on one or a combination of these approaches, with the goal of taking your organizational performance to the next level. With Oriel’s help, your organization can streamline operations, optimize processes, and increase market presence.

 

Writing a Baldrige Application

Many organizations use the Baldrige Model to assess their performance but don’t actually submit an application. Although that practice can be helpful, there are distinct advantages to applying for the award and receiving the feedback that the examining team and panel of judges provide to all applicants.

Oriel consultants—all of whom are trained Baldrige examiners—can explain the effort involved in applying and the rewards your organization can reap from that effort. This understanding is crucial, so that you can properly weigh the benefits of applying against the efforts required.

Additionally, there are strategic decisions to make about where to apply. Although the Baldrige Award is prestigious, there are various other state and local award programs that could also be advantageous for your organization. If and when you are ready to write an application for any quality award, Oriel can help you and your teams develop an optimal document.

If your organization commits to apply for the Baldrige Award, Oriel is uniquely qualified to provide Baldrige Consulting and training to help you at every step of the process:

  • We understand the objective of achieving a higher level of performance using the Baldrige Criteria.  We have a clear, concise, organized approach to meeting this objective, and are committed to partnering with organizations to ensure their success with this model.

  • We have assessed organizations and written feedback reports for a variety of groups in a range of industries.

  • Oriel consultants have an average of 20+ years of industry experience and more than a decade of successful process improvement implementations. Additionally, all of our Baldrige consultants are trained Baldrige examiners and understand both the demands and the nuances of the application process.