Sustaining American Excellence
July 29, 2015
Earlier this month, we celebrated our 239th birthday as a nation. Most of us probably had a picnic with family, enjoyed a parade, or watched fireworks with friends. But all of us enjoyed the freedom – the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness that has made this country strong for nearly a quarter millennia. Let’s hope it lasts.
I hate to get fatalistic, but consider this: most world powers last 200-500 years. In fact, a study of 55 historic empires showed a median age of 330 years. The Ancient Greek Empire lasted about 350 years; the Roman Empire about 500; the Ptolemaic Egyptian civilization about 300; and even the British Empire spanned just under 350.
The United States as a nation turns 250 in the year 2026, which is why a small group of visionaries created a nonprofit called Communities of Excellence 2026. Our collective goal is not just to make it to 2026, but to create a framework that systematically addresses our nation’s issues at a grass roots level – within the communities in which we all live, work, and play – such that we sustain our nation’s strength for many generations, many centuries to come. The philosophical foundation of COE2026 is that the continuous improvement tools which have been proven to impact outcomes within organizations can be used to improve community outcomes across organizations.
So imagine a time when leaders within a community – official leaders (those elected or appointed to their formal positions), as well as the many informal community leaders – work together to set community vision; listen to community stakeholders to better understand community assets and needs; (re)allocate resources to address community issues or advance community initiatives; use community scorecards to monitor progress of those initiatives and the outcomes they intend to impact; and engage, mobilize, and align people resources – workers, volunteers, and citizenry – on the initiatives that will make a difference in a given community. That’s how high performing organizations succeed; we believe that’s how high performing communities will succeed.
Communities of Excellence 2026 envisions using a validated improvement framework – the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework – to improve health status, educational attainment, economic vitality, and other key community outcomes by focusing on improving overall community performance in addition to individual components within communities. If it’s worked successfully for 28 years to improve and sustain organizational outcomes, why wouldn’t it work to improve community outcomes?
I have been a practitioner of the Baldrige Framework for 20 years, as an examiner at both the state and national levels, as a judge for several Baldrige-based award programs (such as American Health Care Association and the Veterans Administration’s Carey Award), as president of the Performance Excellence Network (the regional Baldrige-based program serving Minnesota and the Dakotas), and as chair of the Alliance for Performance Excellence (the national consortium of state/regional Baldrige-based programs). In these roles, I have seen the impact Baldrige has had on improving performance of American hospitals, schools, nonprofits, governmental agencies, and businesses. It improves outcomes, aligns activities, and optimizes resources. I am convinced that the Communities of Excellence 2026 vision will help community leaders – both formal and informal – better allocate resources, solve problems, and address some of the pervasive challenges we face as a nation.
I am honored to serve on the Communities of Excellence 2026 board, because I believe in the potential of this vision. And I am honored to help execute Communities of Excellence 2026, because I believe this country needs bold, innovative solutions to address our complex problems.
In many ways, America is at a crossroads. We are still the best nation on earth, but we are now facing increasing challenges and vexing problems that may threaten our ability to stay on top. I look forward to working with Communities of Excellence 2026 to achieve and sustain the highest level of performance for our communities and build a lasting culture where passion for community excellence is the norm in our country. I invite you to join the cause!
For more information on Communities of Excellence 2026, visit http://www.communitiesofexcellence2026.org/.
What other insights do you have regarding community collaboration and community improvement? Participate in a discussion on this topic:visit our LinkedIn group to post a comment.
Never stop improving!
Brian S. Lassiter
President, Performance Excellence Network (formerly Minnesota Council for Quality)
www.performanceexcellencenetwork.org
