PEN Announces New & Modified Baldrige-Based Organizational Assessment Options

St. Paul, September 9, 2019 — The need to improve your organization’s performance has perhaps never been greater: there are early signs that the economy is tightening; customers expect more; competent workers are scarce; and competition is intensifying in many industries.  But — with the complexity of organizations — where does one start?  How do you know on which processes to focus?  And how to do you sustain the improvement over time?

The Performance Excellence Network (PEN) offers a portfolio of diagnostic organizational assessments, all validated and based on the Baldrige Framework, which represents what the highest performing organizations in the US are doing to achieve great results. 

Last month, we were happy to announce PEN’s newest, easiest assessment: First Step, a simple set of 19 questions that helps leaders identify where their organization may have gaps.  Take it as an individual (free!) or as a team ($500) to identify areas of consensus or differences of opinion.  Click here to take that First Step on the journey to excellence.

Today, we’re excited to announce that PEN has changed our Performance Excellence Award process to offer more assessment options.  In the past, an organization only had one option: to complete a 50-page narrative application that responded to the full Baldrige Framework.  Beginning this fall, PEN will offer three tiers of evaluation:

• Option 1 is an Organization Profile only (a brief 7-page application that focuses mainly on the organization’s environmental context)
• Option 2 is a 30-page application that focuses on a subset of the Baldrige Framework (the Basic and Overall level questions)
• Option 3 is the original 50-page application that focuses on all of the Baldrige Framework (the Basic, Overall and Multiple level questions).

In this way, organizations have a more paced, gradual pathway that “meets the organization where it is” and helps leaders identify and prioritize just the right level of opportunities for improvement. And for organizations earlier on the journey to excellence, it offers faster, less intense ways to improve processes and outcomes.

Click here for more information on all three Award levels.  Letters of Intent for all three Levels of the Performance Excellence Award are due Sept 30 (extended from Sept 1), and applications due Nov 1.

First Step assessments (along with PEN’s Self Assessment and Collaborative Assessment) can be done at anytime throughout the year, though they are not eligible for our Award consideration.

We hope you (re)consider an evaluation that’s right for your organization!  To explore the value or learn more about the process, contact us!

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