(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- If your organization is eager to learn about how the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence can help chart a course toward innovation and performance excellence, then a new brochure from the Baldrige National Quality Program at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may be just what you need.

Your Guide to Performance Excellence briefly describes the Baldrige Program, defines performance excellence, and enumerates what the Baldrige Criteria offers organizations. No matter if an organization is new to the criteria or a veteran traveler on the Baldrige journey, the information in the brochure shows the benefits of a Baldrige self-assessment, and the tools, approaches, and resources available to make self-assessment effective and easy to quickly achieve results.

The brochure folder includes a CD containing the three 2009–2010 Baldrige Criteria (business and nonprofit, education, and health care), a complete set of CEO issue sheets and Baldrige improvement tools.

A downloadable copy of the text of Your Guide to Performance Excellence is available at www.baldrige.nist.gov/Your_Guide.htm. To order free copies of the brochure folder with the enclosed CD, call (301) 975-2036 or send an e-mail to baldrige@nist.gov.