Four of Seven Organizations Honored by The Partnership for Excellence are from Indiana!

On May 8, The Partnership for Excellence (TPE) announced its 2012 Award Winners. Of the 7 award recipients, 4 are from Indiana!

The Indiana organizations are:

• Citizens Energy Group (Indianapolis) - Platinum, Governer's Award for Excellence.
• Good Samaritan Hospital (Vincennes) - Silver, Commitment to Excellence.
• Westfield Washington Schools (Westfield) - Silver, Commitment to Excellence.
• Working Well, (Michigan City) - Bronze, Pledge to Excellence.

2012 is the first year that Indiana has had a local or regional Baldrige-based performance excellence award program. The Fall of this year is also the first time that Baldrige Examiner training will be offered in Indiana (VHA Central office, Indianapolis). Note that this training is to specifically serve TPE, not the national Baldrige program.

To learn more about TPE: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/
To learn more about Baldrige Examiner training offered by the TPE: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/doc/2012_Call_for_Examiners_03-13-12.doc

The full press release announcing the 2012 TPE Award Recepitants is here: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/html/press_releases/press_release_05-08-12_Award_Recipients_2012.htm

Schneck Medical Center (Seymour, IN) posts Baldrige Application Documents

As required by all Baldrige Award winners, Schneck Medical Center has made portions of its Baldrige Application available to the public. Although the full application is not yet posted on the NIST website, most* of it can be found on the Schneck baldrige website.
Schneck Category 1 - Leadership
Schneck Category 2 - Strategic Planning
Schneck Category 3 - Focus on Patients
Schneck Category 4 - Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management
Schneck Category 5 - Workforce Focus
Schneck Category 6 - Process Management

*As of April 28, 2012, the Organizational Profile and Category 7 (Results) have not yet been posted.

2012 Baldrige Examiner Training in Indiana

The Partnership for Excellence (TPE), the local / regional Baldrige program for Indiana, has announced an examiner training session in Indiana for 2012. In 2011, training sessions were only available in Ohio.

Applicants to be TPE Baldrige Examiners will have a training session at the VHA Central office in Indianapolis (by the Fashion Mall) on November 15-16, 2012. Other sessions are available throughout Ohio and West Virginia over the next month as well.

You can learn more about TPE and the process to become a TPE Baldrige Examiner at: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/

Note that under the new eligibility rules for the National Baldrige award, organizations must first participate through their local Baldrige program (unless certain exceptions apply). A great way for organizations to start their Baldrige journey is to have a trained examiner within their organization.

New Baldrige Eligibility Rules Impacts Indiana Organizations

On December 21, 2011, the national Baldrige program announced via its blog that the eligibility rules for 2012 have changed. Under the new rules, organizations interested in applying for the national Baldrige Award must meet six new conditions as follows:

1. Be a previous Baldrige Award recipient
2. Have received the top-tier award from an Alliance member award program within the past 5 years
3. Have received a site visit at the national level within the past 5 years
4. Have received a combined scoring band range of 8 or better (e.g., process band 4 and results band 4) in the past 5 years
5. Have 25% or more of your employees/staff outside of your organization's home state
6. Have no Alliance member program available for your organization.

This impacts interested Indiana organizations because Indiana now does have an Alliance member program  available: The Partnership for Excellence.

In other words, if your organization is just getting started with the Baldrige journey, it generally must win The Partnership for Excellence's not yet named Indiana award before it can apply for the national Baldrige award.

Given the amount and type of assistance The Partnership for Excellence makes available to organizations, this change will likely accelerate the Baldrige learning curve for an organization rather than slow down or delay progress towards excellence.

You can learn more about The Partnership for Excellence at its website: http://www.thepartnershipforexcellence.org/html/home.htm

You can learn more about the national Baldrige program at its website: http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/