Is Baldrige Worth the Investment?

Arecent online story in TIME magazine, “A Better Return on Investment” profiled the U.S. Army’s Fort Stewart in Georgia, focusing on the base’s Baldrige journey. Baldrige staff and stakeholders that I’ve heard from have varying opinions of whether the article has a negative or neutral spin. Regardless, in my opinion, what we need to continue to do is educate organizations on the return on investment inherent in Baldrige—the value proposition, if you will.

And to borrow something I heard a Baldrige stakeholder say, “Government is spending money to save money—that sounds paradoxical.” I contend that the military is saving money investing in Baldrige.

Here’s the letter that we wrote to TIME’s editor:

“Thank you for your recognition of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and its value to military and other organizations.

“We’d like to share with your readers the heavy return on investment experienced by military and veterans’ affairs organizations that invest in the resources of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, including the Baldrige Award, in which each applicant receives an evaluation by up to 18 trained Baldrige examiners whose expertise spans the entire U.S. economy.

“Let me offer a shining example from within the military ranks. Through investment in the Baldrige Criteria and feedback gained through its application for the Baldrige Award, 2007 Baldrige Award recipient Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC):
• Increased overall revenue from $640 million in fiscal year (FY) 2001 to over $1 billion in FY2007, with an overall cost avoidance of $3.22 billion from 2001 to 2007. Furthermore, in the same period, ARDEC saw revenue from non-Army customers grow from $60 million to $140 million
• Achieved overall improvements in quality (91 percent), cost reduction (70 percent), schedule (67 percent), and risk management (84 percent), with an overall cost avoidance of $3.22 billion since 2001
• Increased overall customer satisfaction ratings from 3.48 (on a four-point scale) in FY2000 to 3.75 in FY2007, exceeding both government and industry benchmarks.

“Education and award programs based on Baldrige at all levels of the military also have reported significant returns on investment. These include the Army Communities of Excellence Program for all Army National Guard organizations, and the Secretary’s Robert W. Carey Performance Excellence Awards for all U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) agencies. In fact, Carey Award-recipient hospitals have consistently outperformed other VA and non-VA hospitals.

“We invite you to contact us to follow up on ARDEC’s success, as well as the success of the Army, National Guard, VA, and other organizations across all sectors of the U.S. economy, including two city governments, on the savings achieved through investing in Baldrige.

“Said Dr. Joseph A. Lannon, ARDEC’s director, “[The men and women of ARDEC] have earned distinction for our organization, the new high-technology Army, and the Department of Defense by embracing the Baldrige Criteria.... We [adopted the Baldrige Criteria] in order to become the best organization we can possibly be and provide the best products and support we can to the U.S. warfighter.”

What examples would you share on whether Baldrige is worth the investment?

This column first appeared June 6, 2013, on Blogrige. Reprinted with permission from the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, Gaithersburg, MD.

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