EFQM Excellence Model Guide 2010

7/28/2019 EFQM Excellence Model Guide 2010

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1. Leadership

What is Leadership?

1.1. Overview

The classic model of the good business leader is the top man who directed and was

in control of all aspects of his business. He operated through a hierarchy of

management and his organisation had a fairly well-defined and right structure. This

type of Leader had some good points and survived throughout most of the 20th

century. But businesses today do not have the luxury of stability, they face an ever-

increasing change in markets, customers and technology.

Their core business is constantly under threat from newcomers to the marketplace

with a different business paradigm.

Organisations cannot afford to depend upon the Leadership of individuals or small

elite of senior executives to meet this challenge alone. They need to harness the

ideas, skills, energy, and enthusiasm of their entire team to succeed. Since the

1980s, the concept and practice of Leadership has evolved to meet this challenge.

1.2. Who are the Leaders?

Not only the CEO, company directors, senior executives, line managers are Leaders.

In order to gain flexibility and responsiveness, the empowerment to lead has to be

cascaded throughout the organisation. We will use the term Leader to represent

everyone that contributes to the management and change process and leave you to

consider who this should be in your organisation.

1.3. What doLeadersdo?

A Leader is not necessarily the manager although he or she could be. She/he is

however focused on achieving objectives through people.

Most Leaders have a clear vision and are good at communicating it. They are

definitely agents for change and inspire and motivate. Furthermore, they are role

models for integrity, social responsibility and ethical behaviour, both internally and

externally, ensuring their people adopt the highest standards of ethical behaviour.


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How do you put Leadership into practice?

2.1. Establish aVision andMission

One of the first steps that the Leaders in an organisation need to undertake is to

establish why the organisation exists and what it wants to achieve. IfLeaders do not

clarify and communicate the Vision and Mission, there may be assumed and

inaccurate purposes for an organisation.

In order to get your Vision and Mission correct, you need to consider your

customers, your partners, the environment in which you operate. You also need to

involve your Leadership team in evolving the Vision and Mission so that they feel

ownership and commitment to success in accomplishing them.

2.2. InstilValues

The Vision and Mission need the environment of your organisation to nurture and

support them. The values that you live by and the culture of your organisation play

an important part in ensuring that you can achieve your goals.

2.3. Communication, Communication, Communication

Communication with your people to reinforce the Vision, Mission, Values and

Culture is necessary to ensure that the organisation is working together.

Communication of the Policy and Strategy is necessary to make sure that everyone isgoing in the same direction.

Communication is necessary to understand and sell to ones customers.

Communication is necessary to understand and negotiate with ones suppliers.

Communication with your other Stakeholders is necessary to maintain their trust in

your organisation and engage with them. You have to know who your different

external stakeholders groups are and develop approaches to understand, anticipate

and respond to their different needs and expectations.

A good communication is a two-way process. As a Leader, it is your role to

communicate the right things, sending a clear message, which is relevant and incontext. It is important to pay attention not only to the words, but also your tone

and facial and body expressions. Furthermore, communication has to be at the right

time and knowing who your target audience is.

In staff surveys, poor communication from leaders is one of the most common

causes of dissatisfaction. So it is important to get it right. But in order to

communicate effectively, you must understand those that you are communicating

with and choose the most appropriate way to communicate.


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2.4. Act as agents ofchange

In order to achieve Excellence, your organisation will have to change. What is more,

you will need to establish a culture that accepts and welcomes change.

But change is uncomfortable. It takes away the familiar routines. It challenges your

pre-conceptions. It forces you to learn. In general, people do not like and resist

change.

As a leader, you have to be a facilitator and catalyst. The first hurdle is you

yourself. You will need to change and welcome change in order to help others to

change. In this, if in nothing else, you will need to lead the way and be a role model

for others. You have to be able to understand the internal and external drivers of

organisational change.

There is no one recipe for success but some ideas are:

Do something culturally symbolic, for example: investigate an open door policy,

empowerpeople.

Do something structural within the organisation, for example: make the offices open

plan, redecorate.

Involve everyone: ask opinions on the changes, include everyone in the process of

defining your Vision and Mission.

Do something more fundamental, for example: restructure your organisation around

processes not functions, perform a Self-Assessment.

You will need to be energetic, enthusiastic, inspiring and motivating to make these

changes happen. You will need to support and coach your people through the

changes. You will demonstrate your capability to learn quickly and respond rapidly

with new ways of working. You will also need patience. Changes do not happen

overnight, people go through a cycle of change.

How do you review and improveLeadership?

3.1. Reviewing techniques

There are several techniques that can help you to measure your actions. You can use

Staff and Customer Surveys, 360 Appraisal or the Self-Assessment.

3.2. How to improve

Using one or more of the techniques above, you will have a list of those areas that

need improvement. You will also have a measure of which are the most urgent to

resolve. This is the time to involve your colleagues and agree an improvement plan.

If you are still at the beginning of your road to Excellence, you may gain sufficient


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ideas for ways to improve. But there are many sources of ideas and training.

Another source of information may be less familiar to you Benchmarking. This

involves comparing your organisation with another and identifying points and Good

Practices which you could use.


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2. Strategy

How do you know who your Stakeholders are and their expectations of yourorganisation?

No organisation operates in vacuum. It interacts with other interested parties, some

welcome, some perhaps less so!

This grouping of interested parties is often described as your set of Stakeholders.

Each organisation is unique and there is no single, all encompassing list that would

summarise everyones Stakeholders in great detail. However, there are some

generic groupings that are applicable to all:

- Your Customers

- Your People

- Your Partners & Suppliers

- The Society in which you operate (external indicators, economic, market and

societal trends,...)

- Those with an interest in the financial performance of your organisation, be it

Shareholders, public sector, Budget holders or Trustees, for instance.

Any organisation as it plans its future, should have a strategy that, within the contextof its Mission, is focused on its Stakeholders. So, Strategy is based on understanding

the needs and expectations of both stakeholders and the external environment, also

understanding internal performance and capabilities. It is responsibility of the

organisation to ensure economic, societal and ecological sustainability.

Having identified who your Stakeholders are, the next challenge is to create

mechanisms and processes that will allow you to identify their current and future

needs and expectations.

At the simplest of levels, gathering this data will help inform you during yourplanning process on what to Start, to Stop and to Continue.

There is a range of tools and techniques that an organisation can use to help it

identify the present and future needs of its Stakeholders, for example: Surveys,

Focus Groups, Scenario Creations, Benchmarking and SWOT analysis (Strengths,

Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats).

The excellent organisations set clear goals and objectives for innovation and refine

their strategy in line with innovation achievements.


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What information, from what sources, do you use to help inform your futuredirection?

The EFQM Excellence Model, with its focus on taking a Stakeholder approach to

management, can help an organisation concentrate on the vital few pieces of

information it needs rather than risk drowning in data.

Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the clear linkage between how an

organisation could take the results of its performance and planning its future

direction. Knowing what your current performance level is, how it compares with

past performance, how it compares in relation to your competition and best in class

is a powerful input to any debate on your organisations future direction.

How do you develop, review and update your plans for the future?

Whoever is involved in the development of your future plans (it depends on the sizeof your organisation) it is at this stage that the information gathered from your

Stakeholders and other sources is converted into a tangible strategy for moving

forward.

The strategic plan should include information on what is expected to be achieved,

the resources necessary to deliver it, the timescales for completion, the key

processes involved, clarity on the ownership of specific components within the

strategy and the costs and benefits expected.

The Balanced Scorecard is a useful tool for helping to develop the strategy further,helping the decision maker(s) ensure a holistic view of the business and take into

account all Stakeholders' needs.

How do you deploy your plans for the future throughout the organisation?

Having identified the future direction and desired end state, an organisation needs

to have a way to deliver this end state. GoodPractice organisations achieve this by

taking a Process Management view of the world rather than one based on a

traditional functional approach. Firstly they establish their key processes. Typicallythese are the ones that deliver value to the external customer and other identified

Stakeholders. They will reach agreement on the vital ingredients required to help

ensure the success of each of these key processes. These vital ingredients are often

called Critical Success Factors.

Good Practice organisations establish frameworks for managing these key

processes. The framework will need to be reviewed regularly to make sure that it is

still "fit for purpose". Allowing for sector specific issues, one might reasonably expect

the framework to be reviewed at least annually through a process involving senior

executives, process owners and others with knowledge about the various processes.


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How are your plans for the future communicated and implemented?

Having determined the future direction based on a Stakeholder focused approach,

and identified the keyprocesses and Critical Success Factors, the next challenge is to

make sure everyone in the organisation understands the direction, the reasons why,

plus their own roles in the future.

Communication of the plans for the future is an important factor in being successful

and GoodPractice organisations recognise that it is not enough simply to send, for

instance, e-mails to everyone, or post a letter to employees homes.

In Good Practice organisations, communication of the plans for the future is

recognised as a three way process: top down, bottom up and sideways.

- The bottom up channel gives managers an opportunity to test understanding andcommitment.

- The sideways channel helps to reduce the risk of more than one department or

team assuming responsibilities that are inappropriate.

Good Practice organisations use a number of tools and techniques to help them

communicate the plans for the future. At the same time they make them relevant

and meaningful to their people by converting them to specific objectives linked to

the tasks that individuals and teams perform. It is important to align people in order

to maximise their contribution. The strategy has to be communicated with

Stakeholders too.

Probably the three most widely used tools and techniques at the moment for

converting plans into cascaded objectives in a linked and integrated manner are:

- The Balanced Scorecard

- Dashboards

- Hoshin Planning

So, the strategy is deployed in a systematic manner to achieve the desired set of

results, balancing short and long term objectives.


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3. People

WhyPeople?

1.1. Overview

People have always been essential to organisation, because they provide inspiration,

creativity, vision and motivation that keeps an organisation alive. They provide the

skills and competencies necessary to make an organisation work. And of course they

provide the labour that produces the goods and services that an organisation

supplies. They are a major and often the most important resource that an

organisation has.

The post-Industrial Revolution model is obsolete, the economy is changing to a new

ways of working, where one of the major determinants of an organisations success

is the intelligent use ofknowledge.

1.2. Who are your people?

You could say that your people are your full-time paid employees. This is of course

true and for some organisations this would be the whole story. However, there are

many other ways in which people contribute to your organisation:

- Have part-time or piece-work contracts, short-term contracts

- Temporary labour to fill in for peaks in demand or sickness

- Sub-contractors

- Support staff: security guards, kitchen staff or cleaners

In some circumstances you may choose to work very closely with your supplier or

partner. Consider whether it is useful to integrate some aspects of your people

management, for example, training.

1.3. What doPeoplemean to your organisation?

All Good Practice organisations recognise and value the vital contribution that

people make to their success. But this implies that, in order to be successful, you

have to ensure that you have the people that you need. Even in these days of

advanced technology, without people your organisation does not exist. Its as easy

and as hard as that!

You also need to engage the energies and enthusiasm of your people in the most

effective way.


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How do you manage, develop and involvePeoplein your organisation?

2.1. Plan, manage and improve yourPeopleresource

You cannot determine what people you need unless you know what you wish to

achieve! This may seem obvious, but many organisations struggle on with the status

quo without really knowing what they are trying to do.

Ideally, you will already have started work on your Business Plan, based on your

Strategy, and have identified objectives, targets and priorities. If not, think carefully

whether you know what is expected. It is possible that the requirements are the

same as last year. But the world is constantly changing. There are pressures from the

changing demands of customers, technology, legislation, not to mention financial

constraints. It is highly likely that you need to adjust your people resource, either in

numbers or by changing the focus of their activity.

Of course you need to involve your People in this planning process, although many

managers are reluctant to, because they think that maybe the change upsets them.

But your People have valuable knowledge that you need and you need to

understand the effect that the changes will have on them.

Good Practice organisations integrate their review of People resource within the

planning cycle.

To improve your People resource, you need to consider how your People are alignedto your Mission, Vision, strategic goals and processes. Regardless of your

organisational structure, your People should be allocated according to the priority of

the process and understand the processes to which they are contributing.

Another aspect of managing People which no organisation can afford to ignore is

fairness. Equal opportunities regardless of race, sex, creed or colour are required by

many national legislation. It is always in an organisations interest to ensure fairness

and transparency when dealing with its people as this minimises suspicion, envy and

the consequential loss of motivation.

2.2. Develop your Peoplesknowledgeand competencies

- Choose the right People!

It is very important to match your People to the organisation and the specific job.

The most common criteria used to select People for a job are qualifications,

technical skills and experience. But these criteria are never the only considerations.

In many cases, providing that People have the basic skills needed and the right

attitude to learning, they can often be trained in the specifics of a job. If they dont

have the right approach and personal culture, it is much more difficult to teach them


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to be friendly to customers, co-operate with their team mates and accept change.

You also need to match the People you employ with the culture of your organisation

and vice-versa or they will find it frustrating and hard to integrate. There are many

standard tools and techniques that help to assess the suitability of individuals for a

job, but before using them, make sure that you have the following requirements

clearly in mind: the culture of your organisation, the competencies required by the

job and the approach an attitude of the person that you need.

- Appraise and review your people.

In Good Practice organisations, performance appraisal is a well-established and

integral part of the management and development of their people. Some of the

main objectives are: review past performance against targets, recognise success,

identify skills and competencies, agree targets for future performance and identify

training and personal development needs. There is often a formal review on anannual or 6-monthly basis. But this should not be seen as the only or main

opportunity for identifying or discussing performance which should be ongoing

throughout the year.

- Train your people:

People that are not competent become less inclined to help customers and

colleagues in case their ignorance becomes known. They also lose their pride in

doing a job well and have the impression that the company is not interested in them.

So this sets up a vicious circle of ignorance and results in dissatisfied, de-motivatedand potentially disruptive staff. Even people who can do their current job will feel

neglected and under-valued if you do not take an interest in their personal and

career development. So there are very good practical and financial reasons to

undertake proper training.

Besides, training and development does not necessarily mean sending People on a

course, there are more options: can be done in the workplace using colleagues as

mentors, Self-learning using books and manuals, using computer and internet based

training packages,...

2.3. Involve and Empower your People

Involving and empowering your people is taking a risk, but the rewards are a much

more flexible and effective organisation, improved performance and happier and

more committed people.

- Encourage teams:

One of the most effective ways of involving and empoweringPeople is helping them

to build teams, but not in the traditional way of functional groups. Functional teams


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have a tendency to focus on the function rather than the desired result, they can

have a narrow view of a problem because they do not know what other departments

do. A team can be defined as a group ofpeople acting with a common purpose and

shared responsibility for the success or failure of their efforts.

- Empower yourPeople:

When empowerment is done properly, it can be a great liberator of energy. It can

motivate and expand peoples horizons. It gives the organisation a great deal more

flexibility and robustness against unexpected events. Empowerment is giving people

the right environment and training in which to make their own reasoned decisions. It

requires support and coaching and setting guidelines for their sphere of action. It

views power as a collective responsibility rather than an individuals prerogative.

2.4. Communicate with your people

Communication with your People is fundamental to achieving your organisations

objectives. At the most basic level, if they dont know what you want, how can they

do it? But communication is much more than conveying instructions; it is the means

of involving and motivating your People.

There are many ways for getting the message across, you will need to choose the

most effective and appropriate technique baring in mind the size of your

organisation, the number of locations that you have and the distances between

them.

2.5. Reward, recognise and care for your People

Good Practice organisations recognise that their relationship with their People

should go beyond the specifics of the contract and the financial remuneration. They

acknowledge the value that the person brings to the organisation through

recognising, rewarding and caring for them.

It is part of human nature to like to be recognised and rewarded for doing something

well. It makes people feel good about themselves and their organisation. Itmotivates People to try again the next time. It is also good manners to thank People

for a job well done. It shows that you have noticed their efforts and appreciated

them.

You have to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for your People, and

encourage them, along with other stakeholders, to participate in activities that

contribute to wider society.

Rewarding, recognising and caring for your people is good for them. But it is also

good for the effective working on your organisation, so it is a win-win opportunity.


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How do you review and improve your Peoplemanagement?

3.1. Reviewing techniques

Your people know how well you are doing at managing them. They know both from

the evidence of what is happening within the organisation and also how they feel

about it. They can give you feedback on how well they are doing and also how this is

impacting the customers and the organisation.

There are several techniques that can help you to assess and measure the

effectiveness of your approach. Here are some examples:

- Staff meetings

- Staff Appraisals

- Staff Surveys

- Self-Assessment

Whichever method you choose, it is important to review the effectiveness regularly.

On a formal basis this should be at least annually. But dont wait for a formal review.

Make sure that you keep in touch with your people on a regular basis monthly or

even weekly so that you can spot a problem before it has the chance to grow.

3.2. How to improve

Using one or more of the techniques above, you will have a list of those areas thatneed improvement. You will also have a measure of which are the most urgent to

resolve. This is the time to involve your colleagues and agree an Improvementplan.


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4. Partnerships & Resources

Partnerships

1.1. What do we mean byPartnerships?

We define a partnership as a working relationship between 2 or more parties

creating added value for the customer. Partnership may be formed with amongst

others, customers, society, key suppliers, educational bodies or Non-Governmental

Organisations (NGO).

Excellent organisations plan and manage external partnerships, suppliers and

internal resources in order to support strategy and policies and the effective

operation of processes. They ensure that they effectively manage their

environmental and societal impact.

1.2. How do I decide who could be a good Partnerand supplier for me?

Excellent organisations segment and differentiate partners and suppliers, in line with

the organisations strategy, and adopt appropriate policies and processes for

effectively managing them. They build a sustainable relationship with partners and

suppliers based on mutual trust, respect and openness.

1.3. What about my current Suppliers? Where do they fit?

The concept of Partnerships goes beyond the traditional customer/supplier

relationships but normal suppliers still have their place and role to play.

Indeed, a good place to start thinking about ones Partnershipstrategy is with your

Suppliers. Examine your supply chain, what does the Pareto (80/20) rule tell you?

Which 20% of your suppliers provide you with 80% of your products, parts,

components or software support? What might be the benefits of a more integratedrelationship with some or all of this 20%?

There is no doubt that the trend in recent years has been to reduce the supplier base

of the organisation. The relationship becomes closer with those that survive and,

indeed, in many organisations there are examples of suppliers moving into a

Partnership with one of its customers.

1.4. What are the benefits?

The purpose of entering into a Partnership is to provide the organisation with some


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added value that it cannot achieve in any other way for the same, or led, outlay in

time, money and materials. Typical benefits can include one, some, or all of the

following: Reduction in time to market, First to market with new technology and

Reduction in costs.

The management of Finances to secure sustained success

Whatever the sources, an Excellent organisation will have systems in place that help

it to both fund its ambitions and, just as importantly, manage its financial resources

in support of its daily operations, including funding for improvement activity.

All organisations need to be clear on what their most important financial

performance parameters are, Cash Flow and Turnover for instance. You may also be

aware of other measures which are important for your organisation, given the

nature of your business. Use of tools such as Risk Management, Discounted Cash

Flow (DCF), sensitivity analysis, Internal Rate of Return (IRR), cost benefit analysis,Economic Value Add (EVA) and Activity Based Costing (ABC) can all help an

organisation to better manage its financial capabilities.

The concept of delegation of financial control is a common theme shared by

Excellent organisations, also, the development of financial control is linked with the

individuals performance appraisal.

There are different criteria to plan the future and decide whether a particular

investment is the correct one, for example: an estimate of costs, capital expenditure,

customer benefits and an estimate of deadlines. Excellent organisations deliver highlevels of stakeholder confidence by ensuring financial risks are identified and

appropriately managed.

One of the basic tenets of the EFQM Excellence Model is the concept of Assessment

and Review. The Model is a dynamic framework, not a static one, and it demands

that no matter how good you think you might be, there is always room for

improvement.

The management of Buildings, Equipment and Material in a sustainable way

Apart from your people, you need to know what your key assets are, how to

segment them and what percentage of your capital employed is given to fixed

assets.

We can use different tools to help maximise assets, some are the following that

tends to be used in a Manufacturing environment:

- Just in Time (JIT): Is a methodology for increasing productivity, reducing

throughput times, inventory and time to market.


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- Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): It takes a preventative approach to

maximising the potential output of your equipment by creating conditions for

perfect production (zero losses, zero defects, zero accidents...).

- The 5S Philosophy:focuses on effective work place organisation and standardised

work procedures. 5S simplifies the work environment, reduces waste and non-valueactivity while improving quality efficiency and safety.

One of the biggest challenges facing organisations today is to identify how to get

more out of the resources it uses than perhaps it currently achieves and, at the same

time, recognising its responsibility to be a good corporate citizen, minimise the harm

it currently causes to the environment (and manage any adverse effects). A growing

number of organisations are adopting the ISO 14000 standard to help them gain

control in this area. This standard does not specify levels of environmental

performance and is not meant for specific business activity. Instead, it offers a

framework for an overall strategic approach to your policies, plans and actions. Asecond framework is the Eco-Management Audit Scheme (EMAS). The overall

objective of this European Commission initiative is to promote continuous

environmental performance improvement and provide relevant information to the

public.

The management of Technology to support the delivery strategy

The organisations that aspire to Excellence recognise the impact potential of

technology embrace new technologies and use them to help keep ahead of the

game. They involve their people and other relevant stakeholders in the

development and deployment of new technologies to maximise the benefits

generated. They use technology to support innovation and creativity.

The management of Information and Knowledgeto support effective decision making

Excellent organisations have processes in place that help them to manage this

mountain of data, information and knowledge to best effect. They know what is

important, why it is important and who needs to have access to it.

- Data are the raw facts which of themselves do not offer insight.

- Informationis data with context and perspective.

- Knowledgeis itself split into two.

Explicit knowledge is that which can be transmitted through formal,

systematic processes and tacit knowledge which is personal, context specific

and not easy to articulate or formalise. It is based on experience, instinct and

intuition.

The concept of the right people having the right information at the right time, in the

right place and in the right formal extends beyond your people. It can equally apply

to your Partners, your Suppliers and your Customers. The Excellent organisations


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use data and information in the current performance and capabilities ofprocesses to

identify opportunities for, and generate, innovation.

Returning now to the concept of managing the knowledge an organisation

possesses, the challenge is to manage both the tacit and explicit types ofknowledge

in an integrated and coherent manner that is linked to the overall plans for the

future of the organisation. How might an organisation best manage its explicit

knowledge and equally, how might it facilitate and manage the transference of tacit

knowledge to explicit to support the concept of organisational learning? The biggest

enabler is the commitment of your people to move from a culture where

knowledge is power, where if I tell you what I know I lose my power base, to one of

if I tell you what I know I will be valued, recognised and rewarded.


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5. Processes, Products & Services

Process, Product and Services in Excellent organisations

Excellent organisations design, manage and improve Processes, Products and

Services to generate increasing value for customers and other stakeholders.

Excellent organisations design and manage Processes to optimise stakeholdervalue.

They clearly define process ownerships and roles and responsibilities in developing,maintaining and improving the framework ofkeyprocesses. New ideas are turned

into reality through innovation-processes that fit the nature and importance of the

changes they will make.

Your processes are meant to develop Products and Services that create optimum

value for customers. In order to be innovative, use market research, customer

surveys and other forms of feedback to anticipate and identify improvements in your

product and service portfolio. Involve your people, customers, partners and

suppliers in the development of innovative products, services and experiences.

Design them for both existing and new customer groups.

Excellent organisations define their business model in terms of core capabilities,

processes, partners and value proposition in order to effectively promote and

markettheir product and services.

What do we mean by Processes?

A process is a sequence of activities which adds value by producing required outputs

from a variety of inputs. So, all organisations use processes ordering material,

making products, selling services...

The inputs will generally be the outputs of other processes. During the

transformation, value is added and resources consumed. The output can be an

object, information, data or a decision. The customer may be either external or

internal to the organisation. Any representation of a process should therefore

include the input, activities, output and the resources required.

There are four basic questions for each process step:


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Who are the Suppliers?

Who are the Customers?

What are the performance indicators that describe how well the process is

performing?

Are the right control loops in place?

Good Practice organisations have clear statements of Vision, Purpose and Values

that allow them to set strategies and plans for achieving their Mission. These

strategies and plans set out the organisations objectives and targets and it is the

organisations keyprocessesthat will deliver those organisational goals and Critical

SuccessFactors (CSFs). CSFs are statements that define what the management team

must accomplish for the organisation to achieve its mission. Typically, each CSF will

begin with the words we mustor we need.Accepted GoodPractice suggests that no

more than eight CSFs should be identified.

The needs of all Stakeholders help define the strategies and plans for the

organisation. These strategies and plans, in turn, help to identify the keyprocesses,

the outputs of which, will satisfy the Stakeholders needs.

So, once the organisation is clear on its overall strategy and business goals and

knows what the CriticalSuccessFactors are, then it is possible to identify the key

processes that will help deliver the required strategy.

How do I identify my KeyProcesses?

- Brainstorming: people discuss all the business activities and then decide which are

the most important.

- Interviewing key Stakeholders: those people affected by or having an impact on

the processes

- Using the services of an externalconsultant

- A further option is to start with the generic Porter model and then customise it to

the organisation.

In determining your keybusinessprocesses, a main question to ask yourself is: from

the perspective of my business strategy, which process are key to achieving my

business objectives? It is worth mentioning here that when defining the

performance requirements of your key processes, as well as ensuring that the

business objectives are met, you take into account other considerations such as:

Key Stakeholders view of performance,


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The organisations desired future state and

What the competition is doing.

Building a ProcessModel of the Organisation

The next step is to build a top level Process Model of the organisation that begins to

show the flow of activities and the inter-relationships. This top-level view can be

used to understand and describe the activities of the organisation. Below that,

processes can be modelled in more detail. This can lead to modelling of sub-

processes to describe at the working level, the process operation, and to allow both

re-engineering and step-by-step improvements to improve efficiency and

effectiveness.

At the top level, generally speaking, most Good Practice organisations appear to

segment their key processes into two categories: Business or Customer facing

processes (those processes that deliver the added value product or service to thecustomer) and Support processes & Management processes (those processes that

provide the resources required for the Business/Customer facing processes to work

in accordance with the overall strategy and objectives of the organisation).

The analysis of your key processes then continue as you decompose each key

process into its component parts. Typically, organisations will break a keyprocesses

down to at least another two layers: sub-process level and procedure or task level

(where each task or procedure represents a step in the specific sub-process level).

The Process Model and ProcessMapping Tools

The top-level process model is really a container for the detailed keyprocesses. To

extend it beyond a simple block diagram, the descriptions need to represent the

linkages in some way. This is known as process-mapping.

A simple way of representing a process is to use a flowchart that can link (in a logical

sequence) the activities that make up the process. The advantages of this method

are that it is simple, requires no significant investment in expensive software tools or

training, and is relatively quick. A disadvantage is that on a flowchart it can be

difficult to describe the resources required to carry out the activities. A refinement isto use the technique known as deployment flowcharting.

The Role of Measurement inProcessthinking

If your organisation aspires to improve, then measurement is critical in tracking

progress. Measures need to be in place at each of these levels. However, they must

not be disconnected from each other and instead they should complement each

other, making up a measurement set or system that helps the organisation

manage the process across the different functional silos to good effect.


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Measurement is important because it is the critical element that drives process

performance. We measure so that we can monitor, control and improve the overall

performance of the process and without the right measures there is no basis on

which one can manage by process. Typically, the measures used will cover Time,

Cost and Quality dimensions and there should be a healthy balance of Quantitative

and Qualitative measures. Measure should address both the effectiveness and

efficiency of the process.

How do you Manage and Review yourProcesses?

Generally speaking, GoodPractice organisations put in place a combination of the

following:

The CEO or one of her/his direct reports is recognised as the champion for the

overall Process Management and Improvement approach and all the keyprocessesare owned at the most senior level of the organisation.

Clear roles and responsibilities for managing processes exist.

Cross functional teams, trained in process improvement, are in place.

A system of recognition and rewards is in place and is aligned with process

performance measurement.

Appropriate measures in place.

There are a number of tools and techniques that can be used to help you manageand review your processes. Amongst these are standards such as ISO 9000 & ISO

14000, plus techniques such as Statistical Process Control (SPC), Failure Mode Effects

Analysis (FMEA) and Six Sigma.


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6. Customer Results

Why are CustomerResults Important?

1.1. Overview

Excellent organisations design and manage processes and systems that enable them

to understand, monitor and assess their customers needs and opinions.

They have a structured approach to approach valuable customer-related data as

well as Customer Results.

1.2. Definition of aCustomer and CustomerResults

According to EFQM, The customer is the final arbiter ofproduct and service quality

and the Customer Focus is a FundamentalConceptofExcellence.

Customer Results express the level of delivery of the Mission and the achievement

of its Vision and what that means for the customers. Good practice organisations

invest a substantial amount of time understanding customer requirements and

establishing processes that deliver the products and services that customers want

within the agreed parameters of TIME, COST and QUALITY. A Customer Result is thereported outcome of those efforts and actions.

1.3. Lagging and Leading Indicators Explained

- Lag Indicator: A measure that quantifies some characteristics after an event.

- Lead Indicator: A measure with proven ability with respect to some output.

1.4. BeyondCustomerSatisfaction

EFQM used to refer to Customer Satisfaction as the key lag Indicator for Customerperception results. A study by the EFQM Customer Satisfaction Task Force revealed

that while Good Practice organisations do measure Customer Satisfaction, they

often progress to a broader understanding that includes customer loyalty and

customer value.

The more an organisation learns about the impact of customer patronage on

business results, the more skilled it will become at asking the right questions and

collecting the right sort of information from Customers and internal processes. The

more an organisation understands the range of success drivers that influence a

Customer's choice of Suppliers, the more likely it is to measure relevant areas of the


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relationship with the Customer, producing results that reflect an accurate and

complete picture of the nature of the relationship - past, present and future. Good

Practice organisations use these results as the basis for reviewing strategy,

improving processes and producing new products and services.

What are you Measuring and Reporting?

2.1.Perception Measures

The EFQM Excellence Model separates Customer Results into two distinctive groups

of measurements that also correspond to lagging and leading indicators. Customers

perceptions of the organisation (obtained, for example, from customer surveys,

focus groups, vendor ratings, compliments and complaints), represent the most

important dimension of Customer Results and contain the majority of lagging

indicators.

The first challenge facing an organisation is to decide on a relevant set ofperception

measures. There are two main considerations. The first is to ensure that the process

of perception measurement provides information on the various activities

undertaken by the organisation in its pursuit of fulfilling customer requirements. The

second consideration is the importance and priority attached to the measures by the

Customer. The most sophisticated measurement system in the world is of little value

if it does not deliver data that is relevant to the Stakeholder group! "Good" results in

irrelevant areas will not help an organisation to focus on improvement actions that

will make a difference

2.2. Performance Indicators

These measures are the internal ones used by the organisation in order to monitor,

understand, predict and improve the performance of the organisation and to predict

perceptions of its external Customers. Organisations rely on lead indicators that will provide

data on its operations by the day, week and month that help to predict the response of

Customers well before they are canvassed for their opinions.

2.3. Range of Results (Scope and Segmentation)

What does a comprehensive set of Customer Results mean for your organisation?

The answer is directly related to the range ofCustomers that you serve and the size

and nature of your portfolio of products and services. An incomplete set of

Customer Results can have a dramatic impact on the value of the information

collected for informing improvements, future strategy and business results. There

are three potential mistakes:

To assume that Customers think alike and act alike. Organisations that assume

success because they receive positive feedback from a majority of Customers

may be ignoring an important message from the minority that account for most


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of the revenue, or who may be influential in the future allocation of public funds.

Segmenting Customers into meaningful groups ensures that the diversity of

requirements and needs is identified and effective strategies determined for

each group.

To canvass opinion and collect performance data on a limited or popular groupofproducts and services, neglecting other aspects of the organisations offerings

that might be high or low maintenance, high or low revenue generating, or key

differentiators in the market place. Asking only about the most popular products

or services could prevent you from identifying some important opportunities.

To limit the collection or analysis of Customer Results to certain geographical

locations or functions within the organisation.

2.4. Setting Targets

One component of assessing an organisations performance in relation to Customer

Results is to see the results matched against the targets set by the organisation. Even

then, we might not be fully satisfied unless we know if the targets set are relevant in

terms of an organisations declared aspirations. Effective organisations apply specific

targets to specific indicators rather than setting one or two general targets to cover

whole groups of indicators.

2.5. Trends

The EFQM Excellence Model encourages organisations to plan and manage forrepeated, durable, good performance, rather than be satisfied with "one-off"

success relying more on good fortune and serendipity. Sustainability is assessed by

the degree to which the organisations Customer Results show positive trends over

three to five years and evidence of the likelihood of it continuing.

2.6. Use ofBenchmark Data

Using Benchmark Data begins with the development of a Benchmarking strategy

that will direct your efforts as you Benchmark at the process, organisational and

metrics levels. The critical success factors for successful Benchmarking are yourBenchmarking methodology and your choice of Benchmarking partners. The

successful selection of both should lead to the collection of data that could have a

very significant effect on the improvement of your Customer related processes, the

targets you set and how you interpret the results.

Presenting Results:

The most effective way of presenting Customer Results is graphically. They need to

be communicated to all the organisation. A Balanced Scorecard can be used as an

important tool for communicating that.


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7. People Results

Why arePeopleResults Important?

Motivated and satisfied People are essential to success because they are the

resource that differentiates your organisation. People provide the inspiration,

creativity, vision and motivation that keeps an organisation alive. They provide the

skills and competencies necessary to make an organisation work. And of course theyprovide the labour that produces the goods and services that an organisation

supplies. They are a major and, many would say, the most important resource that

an organisation has.

People who have no job satisfaction (motivation, enthusiasm, commitment) are not

productive as they could be. They will not give your customers the best service, they

wont bother if they produce errors, they wont be innovative and wont optimise

use of resources.

In order for People to be satisfied with their job and motivated to do their best, theyneed to be convinced that the organisation acts in their best interest, provides them

with the facilities, tools and techniques to do their job properly and is concerned for

them both in the short-term and through longer term career development. People

are also concerned with how their organisation is perceived by the outside world.

They realize that, on the long term, this outside perception indicates the probability

of secured and rewarding employment.

You need to know how people feel, behave and perform in your organisation. This

gives you the basis to increase productivity, solve issues, celebrate achievements.

Knowing your People Results, in order to be able to act upon them, is an essentialpart of the delivery of your strategy.

Starting with the Enablers

People results are influenced by how you manage your people, how you implement

your strategy and how you manage your processes. All these factors, which are

covered by the Enabler Criteria within the EFQM Excellence Model, will strongly

influence how your people feel about working in your organisation. People Results

are a very important tool in understanding where and how to improve your people

management.


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How do you Measure and Report PeopleResults?

2.1. Choosing the right measures

There are many different measures that you can use to gain an insight into what

your People think, but first, you have to consider what are the fundamental drivers

that motivate and satisfy People (Maslows Hierarchy of Needs).

People are motivated to satisfy the lower level needs before they can move to the

higher levels. Within each need however, everyone has different specific wants. So,

in order to understand your People and the focus of their motivation, you need to

understand how they are acting and how they perceive themselves within the

need hierarchy. You also need to understand the specifics of what they want.

Measures that enable you to do this are the most useful and also help you identify

how to improve your people results.

Within the EFQM Excellence Model, two categories of measures are identified:

PerceptionMeasures: are of the Peoplesperception of the organisation.

Performance Measures: are the internal ones used by the organisation to

monitor, understand, predict and improve the performance of the organisations

People and to predict their perceptions.

2.2. PerceptionMeasures

Perception Measures are how People feel about themselves, their job and about the

organisation. These are subjective measures but should be treated seriously as they

provide you with a very useful indicator of the health of the relationship between

the organisation and its People. As these measures focus on the effect of what has

already happened, they are sometimes called Lagging Indicators.

Peoples perceptions of the organisation can be measured through their assessment

of two main factors: their motivation and their satisfaction.

It is important to understand that, although motivation and satisfaction are inter-

related, they do in fact have very different consequences. A person who is happy

with the terms and conditions of their job may be satisfied but not necessarily

motivated. Someone who agrees with the organisations strategy and relates to its

leaders may be highly motivated to succeed but may not be satisfied with the pay.

To measure your Peoples perception, you need to look at the topics that are

important to your organisation, but it is insufficient to know what people think

about an issue without understanding their view of the importance of the issue.


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2.3. Performance Measures

Performance Measures are measures of independent internal indicators showing how

well People are performing. They can also be used to help predict future performanceand perceptions and are sometimes called Leading Indicators. Performance indicators

identified in the EFQM Excellence Model are categorised into 5 sections:

Involvement and engagement

Target setting, competency and performance management

Leadership performance

Training and career development

Internal communications

2.4. The Path to Excellent Results

The Excellence of the Result is determined by the degree to which an organisation

can demonstrate trends, targets and comparisons (numerically) with clear references

to causes and the presentation of a set of results that correspond to the range of

activities and the size and nature of the organisations.

- Setting Targets: The targets need to be relevant in terms of the organisations

declared aspiration and should be demonstrably stretching in a direction that

supports your business strategy and not easily achieved without effort.

- Trends: the EFQM Excellence Model encourages organisations to plan and manage

for repeated, durable good performance (at least 3 years).

- Benchmark data: you can Benchmark processes, organisations and/or metrics

(measurements).

2.5. Getting started

The most common technique is the staff survey, but there are others that you can

use too. You will find numerous staff survey formats in books, Internet, HR

department... Whatever the tools you choose, you will then need to follow a very

similar process and survey structure (you can improve it). Once you have established

a structure, try to keep it so that you can do year on year comparisons. Try to repeat

your data gathering at least annually.

The results need to be segmented to understand the needs and expectations of

specific groups within your organisation.


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Communicating and Acting on yourPeopleResults?

Once you have done all explained before, it is important to ensure that you tell

People what the Results are, because people dont like being asked to give opinions

without receiving feedback. Besides, communicating the results gives you a golden

opportunity to get them involved. There are myriad of different media for

communicating the results to your people, so choose the best to your organisation.

In order to be credible to your people, they need to see the complete picture and be

convinced that the organisation is being open and honest with them.


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8. Society Results

Why are SocietyResults Important?

1.1. Overview

Nowadays, whilst financial performance continues to be a vital factor, other

parameters such as a focus on Customer Value, Employee Satisfaction, Strategy

Deployment, Supplier Performance and Partnership and Alliance Success Rates are

also important Key Performance Indicators. Some organisations have gone much

further than this, they have extended their definition of Excellence to an

examination of the extent to which they conduct their business ethically and co-exist

in harmony with different groups in Society.

Customers and potential customers can, and do, exercise choice. Price is not the

only determinant - an organisations stance on social and environmental issues can

carry significant weight in the mind of the consumer and can have a dramatic impact

on the bottom line. Legal Responsibilities are increasing too, so the organisations

need to adapt their performance in order to obey the law.

Environmental policies bring real benefit to shareholder value. Your organisation will

benefit from recycling, supporting the local community, involve your people in localactivities, donate de-commissioned assets, create employment in the area, etc.

There are also situations where social responsibility actions have its origins in the

need for an organisation to stop a crisis arising, limit the damage already caused, or

protect the organisations reputation. No organisation is immune from potential

conflict and problems with their societal responsibilities.

Excellence organisations design and manage processes and systems that enable

them to understand, monitor and assess their engagement with Society

Stakeholders. Collecting and analysing Society Results is a crucial part of the waythey operate.

1.2. Definition ofSociety

By the term "Society", we are referring to any individual or group that is impacted on

by your existence, apart from when they are in the role of customer, supplier,

partner or staff member. This means that when a customer or a member of staff is

in the building, the impact of your relationship with them is measured under

Customer Results or People Results or Key Performance Results (Criterion 9).

However, when they are at home, sitting in their favourite chair watching the


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television, these people become members ofSociety, living within communities that

may, or may not, be impacted on by your organisation. Society is also the

environmental world within which the organisation inhabits. In this sense, the

definition includes the flora and fauna surrounding an organisations place of work.

There is an Internal Society too, which is inside the organisation, between

different employees.

1.3. Starting with the Enablers Policy and Strategy

Practical experience has taught us that when organisations start to use the EFQM

Model, they find Society Results very challenging if they have not developed a

strategy for managing their relationships with the different groups in Society. To

develop that strategy, you need to follow a process following the steps suggested

below:

1.Identify your society Stakeholders and determine the desired relationships andpolicies

2.Create approaches / processes and measures to deliver the desired relationships

3. Ensure that society stakeholders management has full support ofleaders

4. Ensure that staff are appraised and recognised for supporting the strategy

5. Measure your success from the perspective ofsociety, customers and people

6. Consider the results in relation to your strategy and business plan / budget

7. Learn lesson, review and revise your society strategy, approaches and targets

Making your approach to Society and the environment an explicit part of your

Strategy conveys a powerful message to all of your Stakeholders. But one significantdifference between Good Practice organisations and other is the degree to which

Societystrategies are made tangible and relevant to everyone involved.

Producing Tangible Results

2.1. A Cultureof Non-Measurement

Experience shows that organisations undertaking Self-Assessment often find

themselves with low scores in the area of Criterion 8 because even though they

perceive themselves to be environmentally friendly and society aware, theyhave never quantified their efforts and have only a general sense and a set of

assumptions about the impact they are having. Some organisations take the attitude

that measurement is not important, but Good Practice organisations apply the same

rigour to their relationships with Society Stakeholders that they apply to other

Stakeholder groups.

2.2. PerceptionMeasures

The EFQM Excellence Model separates Society Results into two distinctive groupsof

measurements: Societys Perception of the organisation (obtained, for example,


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from surveys, reports, public meetings, public representatives, governmental

authorities) and Performance Indicators, such as quantity, frequency, volume or

weight, measured by the organisation.

There are two main ways of collecting data in relation to SocietysPerception:

- Direct canvassing,usually via surveys commissioned (survey measures are often

called laggin indicators because they happen after event

- Indirect collection,benefiting from data collected by other parties.

2.3. Performance Indicators

These measures are the internal ones used by the organisation in order to monitor,

understand, predict and improve the performance of the organisation and to predict

perceptions of its external customers. Performance measures are usually linked with

volume, frequency, time and weight. Organisations often find that it takes littleeffort to install a measurement system in relation to their activities. Perception

Measures and Performance Indicators quantify efforts and help organisations to

understand the degree to which policies are being deployed and efforts are justified.

Bringing a measurement culture to your Societal and Environmental activities will

enable you to focus your improvement efforts and determine accurately if you are

part of the problem or the solution!

2.4. Achieving ExcellentSocietyResults

The Excellence of the Result is determined by the degree to which an organisationcan demonstrate trends, targets and comparisons (numerically) with clear references

to causes and the presentation of a set of results that correspond to the range of

activities and the size and nature of the organisations.

- Setting targets:

An organisations performance in relation to Society Results cannot be assessed fully

unless the results are matched against the targets (relevant in terms of the

organisations declared aspirations) set by the organisation.

- Trends:

Sustainability is assessed by the degree to which the organisations Society Results

show positive trends over a period of years.

- Use of Benchmark data: Regardless of whether you Benchmark at the process,

organisational or metrics level, using Benchmark data should begin with the

development of a Benchmarkingstrategy that will direct your efforts.


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- Range of Results: An incomplete set ofSociety Results can have a dramatic impact

on the value of the information collected for informing improvements, future

strategy and business results. The Results need to be segmented to understand the

experience, needs and expectations of specific stakeholders within Society.

How are you communicating the Results?

Managing your communication processes as well as your content will enable you to

use your Society Results as a way of building even better relationships with your

Stakeholders and reinforcing the concepts of win-win.


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9. Business Results

Begin with the End in Mind

1.1. Overview

Everything an Organisation does produces an outcome or result

This is an important message for all organisations. In addition to the more traditional

types of results associated with volume, cost and quality ofproducts or services, all

organisations generate results from the action of transacting information and

knowledge between two or more parties everyday (e.g. staff to staff, staff tocustomers etc).

In Good Practice organisations, all actions of every employee are designed to add

value to the business and therefore to influence performance and the specific results

the organisation achieves.

1.2. The Significance of Results

The significance of your results extends to your partners and suppliers who will want

to trade with you for as long as there is a win-win, no one wants to be the creditorof a bankrupt. These Stakeholders will determine if you are achieving good results

by looking at your solvency, your ability to settle invoices on time and the degree to

which you respect their brand integrity when using their products or services to

enhance your own. Customers and beneficiaries have a similar interest in knowing

that you are a reliable organisation to do business with, that you will honour

commitments made and continue to meet present and future needs. Employees rely

on sound financial results as some insurance for future employment. They will look

to see if the company pension scheme is secure, employee share schemes beneficial

and remuneration paid on time and at an appropriate rate in the market place.

1.3. Definition of a Business Performance Result

EFQM does not want you to expend time and energy collecting data to produce

results that do not contribute a great deal to understanding your performance or

your Stakeholders' satisfaction. Instead, we urge you to identify the most significant

areas in terms of the impact on the business strategy, plans and customer

experience. It is useful the Principle of Pareto, which typical pattern will show that:

80% of output is divided from 20% of inputs

80% of consequences flow from 20% of causes

80% of results comes from 20% of effort


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The 80/20 Principle challenges us to find the 20% of measurement points that provide

80% of the most valuable information about our processes, our products and our

services. We can start to identify what our measures should be and what we should be

delivering as our Key Performance Results by applying Pareto Analysis.

Business Performance Outcomes:

There is no doubt that the financial performance of an organisation will be among its

most important Key Performance Outcomes. Within Kaplan and Nortons Balanced

Scorecard four perspectives, the Financial Perspective with its emphasis on measures

such as Revenue Growth, Asset Utilisation, Growth and Operating Costs. However,

when EFQM refers to Key Performance Outcomes, do not be fooled into thinking

that we are only talking about financial results also Non Financial Outcomes such

as Volume of Products Produced, Market Share and Frequency of Services

Delivered.

Business Performance Indicators:

These measures are the operational ones used in order to monitor, understand,

predict and improve the organisations likely key performance outcomes. Within

Kaplan and Nortons Balanced Scorecard four perspectives, the Internal Perspective

and Learning Perspective come closest to the idea of KPIs.

1.4. Differences between Commercial (large and small), Public Sector and Not-for-Profit

Organisations

It is a myth that there are vast differences between the method of measurement,

the choice of measures and the quality and excellence of the results obtained

between commercial companies and the public sector and not-for-profit

organisations.

1.5. Achieving Excellent Key Performance Results

We have made several references to achieving good results and the need to

understand good from your Stakeholders perspectives. The rigorous scoring

framework that accompanies the EFQM Excellence Model (RADAR scoring matrix -Results, Approach, Deployment, Assessment and Refinement) offers a very clear

picture of its expectations in relation to Results. The Excellence of the Result is

determined by the degree to which an organisation can demonstrate trends, targets

and comparisons (numerically) with clear references to causes. The results must also

correspond to the range of activities, size and nature of the organisation.

- Trends:

The EFQM Excellence Model encourages organisations to plan and manage for

repeated, durable good performance rather than be satisfied with one-off success.


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Sustainability is assessed by the degree to which the organisations Key Performance

Results show positive trends over a period of 3 years.

- Setting Targets:

An organisations performance in relation to Key Performance Results cannot be

assessed fully unless the results are matched against the targets set by the

organisation. Even then, we might not be fully satisfied unless we know if the targets

set are relevant in terms of the organisations declared aspirations.

- Use ofBenchmarkData:

The Critical Success Factors for Benchmarking are the methodology you use and

your choice ofBenchmarkingpartners.

- Range of Results (Scope and Segmentation):

Although you may be measuring a range of activities and processes, both in terms of

Outcomes and Indicators, there are a number of interesting questions: How

selective are you in what you are choosing to measure and what you are choosing to

report? Does your set of results align with your strategy, your business plan and your

core and key processes? Are you producing a pertinent, comprehensive set of

Results for your organisation?

1.6. Organisations without aCultureof Measurement or Results-Orientation

In organisations that dont measure or set targets, results are still produced but the

degree to which they meet Stakeholders requirements will depend more on good

fortune than planning. When organisations start to use the EFQM Excellence Model,

a substantial proportion of them score low in the Results criteria, not because their

work does not produce results, but because they have never managed their activities

with the end in mind.

Building a Cultureof Measurement and Results

Measurement is the main ingredient of Performance Management, and theExcellence of your Key Performance Results depends upon the complete

deployment in your organisation of a Performance Management culture. This culture

will besupported by processes, systems and, above all, the passion of every single

person to make a difference through theachievement of pre-determined objectives

and targets. A Performance Management System or Process (to use Kaplan and

Nortons preferred term) is designed to help you todetermine and deliver the type

of results that you want, and keep your Stakeholders satisfied and loyal.

- Data Collecting, Reporting and Communicating:


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The core components of data collection are linked with clearly defined processes for

collection, with more and more organisations using software and often Intranet

collection and display solutions. The results need to be segmented to understand the

performance levels and strategic outcomes achieved within specific areas of the

organisation. A good set of results can have an immediate impact on Stakeholders

confidence and it is important to convey the right message to the right people.

- Employee Involvement and Empowerment:

PerformanceManagement Systems cannot work if the staff do not play a full role.

- Role ofLeadersand Managers:

Leaders and managers have important roles to play in developing, promoting and

deploying the Performance Management System. They have to be results oriented.

- Training for Measurement, Results and Improvement:

Good Practice organisations use intensive training to enable employees to

understand their measurement frameworks.

- The ImprovementProcess:

Underlying all aspects of this Booklet is the belief that whatever our level of

performance today, we want to do even better tomorrow. However, the secret toeffective improvement is knowing what to improve and how to improve it. Results

will provide us with valuable data but the full story cannot emerge until we first

determine our results with reference to our plans and our priorities, execute,

measure the results or outputs of our efforts and take remedial action.


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Benefits of using the EFQM Excellence Model

The general benefits of using the EFQM Model are the following:

Satisfied and loyal customers Successful leaders A common sense of purpose throughout the organisation Constant, well managed change Engaged and motivated people and other stakeholders An upward flow of ideas Efficient and effective use of data Efficient and effective operation Pride and the desire that drives further improvement Minimal fire-fighting / recurring problems Innovation is the norm Excellent results, including good financial performance

The specific benefits of using the EFQM Model are the following:

Future Focus Key Results Innovation Sustainability Reactive to change in the environment

The typical Benefits for Management are the following:

See the link between strategy and operations Engage employees in change Lead improvements

The typical Benefits for Leaders are the following:

Help deliver the strategy Understand what is important to do as a leader Develop a unique culture where excellence is the norm

The typical Benefits for Employees are the following:

Provide their input to build a common direction Understand the impact of their action Contribute to progress


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Self-Assessment

The EFQM definition of Organisational (Performance) Assessment:

Is a comprehensive, systematic and regular view of an organisations activities and results

referenced against the EFQM Excellence Model. The assessment process allows the

organisation to discern clearly its strengths and areas in which improvements can be made

and culminates in planned improvement actions that are then monitored for progress.

As the definition above makes clear, the primary purpose of undertaking Assessment

should be to drive improvement. Furthermore, to be successful it must be linked to other

management processes within the organisation, primarily the strategy development and

business planning processes.

What are the benefits of Self-Assessment?

Providing a highly structured, fact-based technique to identifying and assessingyour organisations Strengths and Areas for Improvement and measuring its

progress periodically.

Improving the development of your strategy and business plan. Creating a common language and conceptual framework for the way youmanage and improve your organisation.

Educating people in your organisation on the Fundamental Concepts ofExcellence and how they relate to their responsibilities. Developing the

management skills of staff.

Involving people at all levels and in all units process improvement. Assessing, in a coherent manner, the organisation at a macro and/or micro level. Identifying and facilitating the sharing of your good practice within theorganisation.

Facilitating comparisons with other organisation, of a similar or diverse nature,using a set of criteria that is widely accepted across Europe and beyond.

Integrating the various improvement initiatives into your normal operations. Providing opportunities to recognise both progress and outstanding levels ofachievement through internal awards.

Preparing the organisation before it applies for the EFQM Excellence Award or anational or regional award of a similar nature.

How do I conduct a Self-Assessment?The generic 8-step process


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Step 1 Gain & retain management commitment.

There is a greater chance of success if the senior management team has an active

involvement in the process plus a sound grasp of the EFQM Model and the Fundamental

Concepts of Excellence.

Step 2 Develop and deploy the communications strategy.

For Self-Assessment to be successful in your organisation it is imperative that early on in

the process you have a clear strategy for the message you want to communicate.

Step 3 Plan for Self-Assessment.

When considering which specific Self-Assessment technique to adopt, the current culture

of your organisation needs to be taken into consideration.

There is no superior technique for Self-Assessment. The most important factor is for the

organisation to have clarity on the outcomes it is looking to achieve and then choosing the

specific Self-Assessment technique that is the most appropriate for delivering those

desired outcomes (you also can run two different techniques at the same time).

There are no set rules, the Self-Assessment can be carried out at any and all levels.

However experience shows that many organisations first undertake one or more pilots to

test the water and learn more about the process.

Step 4 Select and train people directly involved in the process.

When undertaking a Self-Assessment there are a number of different roles that can come

into play dependent upon the specific technique employed. Some roles, such as sponsor,

project manager and staff will feature regardless, others (Assessor, Assessor Team Leader,

Facilitator, Data gatherer, Report writer) are very much dependent on the technique

chosen.

Step 5 Conduct Self-Assessment.

The introduction of any new process needs careful management. Self-Assessment is no

exception to this rule and it is best managed as a project.

The primary objective of Self-Assessment is to identify an organisations strengths and

areas for improvement and create the energy to improve the organisations performance.

Step 6 Consider Outcomes & Prioritise.

Organisations are unlikely to have the resources to address all these opportunities

concurrently and it would be unrealistic for them to try. Indeed some improvement

opportunities may have limited impact on the organisations key results. Therefore you

also need clear processes in place for the prioritisation of the outcomes, as well as the

management of the subsequent improvement action plans and the ongoing monitoring of


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progress through business as usual review cycles.

Step 7 Establish & Implement.

The outcomes from conducting the Self-Assessment provides the moment in time

picture of the status of the organisation, usually expressed in terms of Strengths, Areas for

Improvement and sometimes a score. Step 6 provides us with the list of prioritised

improvement opportunities.

Project management provides a structured methodology for implementing the action

plans. Regardless of the size and nature of the specific activities committed to in the action

plan, it is a good practice to:

Produce a synopsis of the problem/gap to be tackled. Define the required deliverables. Determine the indicators of success. Include an indication of timescales and project resources. Have visible and specific accountability for delivery. Make sure actions are integrated into the organisations planning cycle.

Action plans and the updated strategic direction should be communicated to all interested

parties.

Step 8 Monitor Action Plan Progress and Review the Self-Assessment process.

As with any other activity, progress in implementing the improvement actions should be

reviewed regularly and the whole process for linking Self-Assessment and businessplanning should also be reviewed and improved ready for the next Self-Assessment.

Also, as mentioned previously, when introducing Self-Assessment into the organisation it

should be positioned as a long-term intervention, not a one-off activity. Therefore a review

of the process is a critical function if the organisation is to maximise its learning.

An important part of the feedback loop between Step 8 and Step 1 is keeping the

momentum going.


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GLOSSARY OF EXCELLENCE TERMS

Approach

The overall way by which something is made to happen - an approach comprises ofprocesses and structured actions within a framework of principles and policies.

Benchmarking

A systematic comparison of approaches with other relevant organisations that gainsinsights that will help the organisation to take action to improve its performance.

Benchmarking is about identifying best practices that can help you boost your organisation

performance. Accessing benchmarks means comparing your results to the ones a relevantcompany.

Benchmark

A measured achievement for comparison and target setting purposes.

Business Model

The elements of the business that create and deliver value; these elements normally

include the value proposition, the profit formula, key resources and key processes ofthe organisation.

Change Management

The approach during which the changes of an organisation or system areimplemented in a controlled manner by following a pre-defined framework orprocesses, to support the achievement of the strategic goals. Change managementenables the transition from a current state into a desired future state.

Continual Improvement

The ongoing improvement of processes that lead to achievement of higher levels ofperformance through incremental change.

Core Competence

A well performed internal activity or capability that is central to the organisationscompetitiveness, profitability or efficiency.

Corporate Governance


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A framework of authority and control within an organisation used to help it fulfil itslegal, financial and ethical obligations.

Creativity

The generation of ideas for new or improved products, services, processes,systems or social interactions.

Critical success factors

Limited number (usually between 3 to 8) of characteristics, conditions or variables,that have a direct impact on the effectiveness, efficiency and viability of anorganisation, programme or project.

Culture

The specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups inan organisation that control the way they interact with each other and withstakeholders outside the organisation.

Customer

The recipient of products or services provided by the organisation.

Empowerment

The process by which individuals or teams are able to take decision makingresponsibilities, and operate with a degree of autonomy in their actions.

Equal opportunity

The practice of ensuring that all people receive fair and equal treatment regardlessof gender, age, race, nationality, religion, disability or sexual orientation.

Fundamental Concepts of Excellence

The set of key and proven principles upon which the EFQM Excellence Modelframework is based.

Good/best practice

Superior approaches, policies, processes or methods that lead to exceptionalachievement. Since it is difficult to find out what is best, the term good practice ispreferred by most organisations. Ways to find good practice outside theorganisation can include benchmarking and external learning


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Innovation

The practical translation of ideas into new products, services, processes, systems orsocial interactions

Intellectual Capital

The value of an organisation that is not captured in its traditional financial accounts.It represents the intangible assets of an organisation and is often the differencebetween market and book value.

Key Processes

The processes that are of the utmost importance for the organisation since theydeliver and support the strategy and drive the value chain.

Knowledge

Knowledge is expertise and skills acquired by a person through experience andeducation, involving the theoretical and/or practical understanding of a subject. Whiledata are raw facts and information is data with context and perspective, knowledge isinformation with guidance/ability for action.

Leaders

The people who coordinate and balance the interests and activities of all who have astake in the organisation.

Management System

The framework of proces

EFQM Excellence Model Guide 2010

Documents

Transcript of EFQM Excellence Model Guide 2010