Reap the rewards of Baldrige-worthy excellence

One of America’s best-kept secrets is the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Created during the Reagan administration and named for the Secretary of Commerce after his untimely death in a rodeo accident, the Baldrige provides a sophisticated framework for managing and running companies with excellence. It is the only quality award which has been presented by United States presidents.

So many companies are trying to improve their performance by giving their customers less while charging more. They get more and more frustrated because that just doesn’t work. The Baldrige, on the other hand, provides a framework enabling companies to eliminate waste, improve quality and become far more competitive. It works.

Here in New Hampshire, our very own Northeast Delta Dental (NEDD) has just won the award and will be formally recognized in a ceremony at the 36th Quest for Excellence Conference in April. This effort has enabled them to approach 100% market share with organizations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. (Companies headquartered elsewhere are not approachable.)

In order to continue to grow, NEDD began selling to the general public. They bought the naming rights to the baseball stadium in Manchester to get name recognition in this new market. They also expanded into vision care insurance.

Tom Raffio arrived as CEO in 1995. They had so many problems, they didn’t know what to fix first. So, he instituted his “Guarantee of Service Excellence” program, which awarded customers a $25 check for each legitimate complaint. When customers called, there was no hassle. Customer Service would ask a few questions to make sure they understood the issue and send the check.

Imagine paying for complaints most people don’t even want to hear! It was a stroke of genius hiring customers as consultants at an incredibly low rate. At first, there were an awful lot of checks flying out the door, but they began fixing the things people complained the most about first. That began a continuous improvement effort which continues to this day.

Now, some are awarded $50 checks — one award was for $10,000 to the City of Manchester, and NEDD was happy to pay it. That’s how valuable this kind of information is.

There’s nothing like a little success to make you want even more. Shortly after coming to New Hampshire, Raffio started the Granite State Quality Council, now ExcellenceNorth Alliance, to administer our local Baldrige efforts, even training examiners to evaluate participants.

But this was only a step along the way, as he was really after the national award, not so much for the prestige but for the excellence they would have to develop and practice in pursuit of it.

The Baldrige is really a massive effort in essentially rebuilding a company. It’s like converting a tired old Chevy into a new Corvette, but the rewards are incredible.

Northeast Delta Dental has around 200 employees, and about 50 of them are intensely familiar with the Baldrige criteria. Yet, all employees are very familiar with the criteria that apply to their particular jobs. We’re talking about a complete culture change for most companies.

Admittedly, it’s a lot of work, but so is excellence in any endeavor, and it’s only for people who aren’t afraid of making too much money.

Trial and error management is also a lot of work, and it’s never ending. “I’ll try this, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll try that.” How many iterations do we have to go through before we find something that actually works? And then something changes, and we have to start all over again. Always fighting fires … sound familiar?

Managing a Baldrige company is so much easier. It took NEDD 29 years, but you could be starting much further along than they were. Additionally, you reap additional performance benefits with each new improvement making you hungry for the next one.

Visit the Baldrige website (nist.gov/Baldrige) to get better acquainted. You might even want to download the application. It’s extensive, but you don’t have to apply right away. Review the application and see what good ideas jump out at you. Start making some of these improvements and enjoy the rewards of improved performance. You just might find you want to keep going.

Visit www.nedelta.com/corporatemetrics to see what it did for NEDD. Why not enjoy some of these performance improvements for yourself?

Ronald J. Bourque, a consultant and speaker from Salem, has had engagements throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He can be reached at 603-898-1871 or RonBourque3@gmail.com.