In my previous article entitled: Measuring TQM Success published on [June 03, 2006 08:50:17 am], I wrote about Baldrige Values and Concepts as well as the Baldrige Assessment Approach. In this issue, I will provide an insight on common assessment findings in Baldrige Criteria Category 2 - Strategic Planning from several companies being assessed by a group of trained and experienced assessors. It is provided in the form of case studies which include Criteria summary as described in year 2001 Baldrige Criteria (source: http://www.nist.gov/quality), assessment findings in terms of Strengths and Area for Improvements. There are seven categories in the Baldrige Criteria. In this article, I will deal with the bold category listed below:- Leadership | Strategic Planning | Customer and Market Focus | Information and Analysis | Human Resource Focus | Process Management | Business Results Criteria Summary Category 2 Strategic Planning The Strategic Planning Category examines how your organization develops strategic objectives and action plans. Also examined are how your chosen strategic objectives and action plans are deployed and how progress is measured. 2.1 Strategy Development Describe how your organization establishes its strategic objectives, including enhancing its competitive position and overall performance. 2.2 Strategy Deployment Describe how your organization converts its strategic objectives into action plans. Summarize your organizations action plans and related key performance measures/indicators. Project your organizations future performance on these key performance measures/indicators. Common Strengths - A systematic Strategic Planning Process is in placed. It is used since 1998 and has gone through several rounds of improvement based on feedback from the management teams
- A planning horizon is tabled for the entire Strategic Planning Process. Each activity before the Strategic Planning workshop date is completed promptly. Data collection and analysis is systematic and quantitative
- Strategic Deployment are planned using a systematic Tree Diagram to articulate key actions, target and datelines. Periodical reviews of these key actions are in the companies key meeting schedule
Common Area for Improvement - Although there is regular review on status of key actions, there is no recovery plan to further improve those key actions not able to meet the set target
- Although there are improvement teams within the companies, none of the improvement projects has direct impact to the key actions in the Strategic Plan
- There is no cross departmental alignment on key action plans and target to achieve company level key performance indicators (KPI)
In summary, the above are only sample of common assessment findings. Normally, a full assessment report is given to company being assessed. The report would include details and scoring. It is a value-added feedback for senior leaders to use as an input to Strategic Planning. My next article will share assessment case study on Market and Customer Focus, Category 3. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer:
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