Consultative Assessment

A Less Resource Intense Way of Identifying and Prioritizing Improvement Opportunities

The Network also offers a “consultative” evaluation process – one that is not eligible for our formal Award but offers a quicker, less resource-intense assessment for organizations either just getting started with the Baldrige framework and/or already on the journey but interested in more consultative (prescriptive) feedback.

This process has four phases:

1. Prepare

The main task in this phase is to scope the assessment, determine the assessment timeline, and select resources. On the latter, this assessment will use sub-contracted consultants approved and managed by the Network (and selected by you, the organization). Consultants may come from our Consultant Referral Network and will be highly skilled in the Baldrige framework. The assessment may also use a complementary team of volunteer sector experts facilitated by the consultant.

2. Preliminary Data Gathering

This phase consists of a half-day facilitated session that includes some education on Baldrige and a working session to complete the Baldrige Organizational Profile. The session is facilitated by a consultant and is designed to have senior leaders and other key resources participate. The output of this session will be used to set the context of the assessment, but the dialogue will be useful in building consensus and understanding across leadership. After the half-day session, the organization is asked to compile their organization results, and senior leaders will complete an abbreviated Baldrige Express survey (see above). This phase will take about a month in total.

3. Site Visit / Data Gathering

This phase is a one-day “site visit” facilitated by the consultant (and an optional expert team). The consultant/team will have prepared a list of interview questions based on the context set by the Organizational Profile, the responses from the Baldrige Express survey, and the organizational results supplied. Most of the discussions will be held with leadership, although there may be a few interviews/discussions with the “field” to consider potential differences in deployment. The purpose of this phase is to gain clarity on the organization’s strengths and improvement opportunities but also to educate the organization through dialogue.

4. Improvement Planning

The final phase, occurring about two weeks after Phase 2, is a half-day facilitated session with senior leaders in which feedback is presented and discussed, and priorities for improvement are identified. This phase is most similar to the “Improvement Planning Session” in our Award process (above) and is intended to promote understanding and build momentum for improvement. The final product of this assessment is a feedback report (which is an abbreviated version of the Award report above); Baldrige scores are provided in ranges to help leaders gauge progress and determine priorities.

The total process takes about two months, so offers a quick, less intense way to evaluate an organization’s management system. However, the process is less rigorous and does not address the more complicated parts of an organization’s management system (issues like alignment, integration, and thorough levels of deployment).

Organizations that successfully complete this process will be recognized at the annual conference the following year.

Investment & Next Steps

Investment for a Consultative Assessment is:

Member Non-Member
Consultation Only $10,000 $14,000
Consultation plus Expert Team $14,000 $18,000

Ready to get started?  Contact us or complete a Letter of Intent.
Start (or accelerate) your journey to excellence today!

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