Performance excellence

The criteria used to assess performance

The term ‘performance excellence’ refers to an integrated approach to organisational performance management which results in:

– delivery of increasing value to customers and stakeholders

– improvement of overall organisational effectiveness

– organisational and personal learning

 

The Baldrige framework used by the directors during the brainstorming meeting is a holistic approach which sees the organisation as a group of linked processes with each criterion linked to the others.

 

1. Leadership

This area considers our senior leaders’ responsibilities, with the aim of creating an organisation which is successful now and in the future. Senior leaders play a central role in communicating and setting values and directions for all stakeholders and creating an organisational focus on action.

 

We identified in the brainstorming session that Dulce has a strong leadership team but we also need to assess how our senior team leads the organisation and develops plans for the future. An example to support our effective leadership is that the board regularly reviews our mission and aims, which is a key process of effective leadership.

 

A further key question to ask in relation to our leadership processes is how is Dulce governed and how do we manage our relationships with the wider society? Although in the brainstorming session we identified that we have ‘strong governance procedures’, in that we follow our government’s corporate governance guidelines, we need to analyse this further to understand

whether our current governance processes are effective and how effectively we interact with the wider society.

 

We clearly have processes in place to engage effectively with our customers but we also need to consider other processes which may allow us to engage with all stakeholders, in particular our investors and suppliers. More effective interaction with the wider community may bring positive attention in the wider society and present us with more opportunities to attract new customers.

 

2. Strategy

This category considers how we develop strategic objectives and action plans, implement them, change them if circumstances require, and measure progress. This category stresses that our organisation’s long-term organisational success and competitive environment are key strategic issues which need to be integral parts of overall planning.

 

This area was not considered as part of our brainstorming session and therefore is an area which requires attention. While we clearly review our vision and mission and undertake strategic planning, how we execute these plans effectively needs to be considered. Given the nature of our market place, as identified in the risk register, our market demands us to be agile and prepared for unexpected change, including volatile economic conditions or changing customer tastes which could impact on our marketplace.

 

3. Customers

This category requires us to consider how we engage customers for long-term marketplace success, and stresses customer engagement as an important outcome of an overall learning and performance excellence strategy. For Dulce, the voice of the customer will provide meaningful information not only on our customers’ views but also on their behaviours and on how these contribute to our current and future success in the industry. Therefore, we need to ask how do we obtain information from customers and how do we engage with customers and build long-term relationships with them?

 

In the recent brainstorming session, we identified a number of processes which we carry out in relation to our customers, including sending out regular email and promotional offers to customers in order to stimulate interest and loyalty which should assist us in understanding their views and maintain a relationship with customers. Customer surveys are a useful way of engaging with customers to assess and respond to their needs. We also identified training our staff in customer engagement which is likely to be an important process in developing and maintaining customer loyalty and retention and building relationships with our customers.

 

4. Measurement, analysis and knowledge management

This category is the main point within the criteria for all key information on effectively measuring, analysing, and improving performance and managing organisational knowledge to drive improvement, innovation, and organisational competitiveness. Key to this use of data and information are their quality and availability.

 

In our brainstorming session, we identified our performance measurement activities relating to key financial, shareholder and customer performance measurement. Importantly, we must consider how useful this information is to us and how we can use it to drive improvement and innovation. We also identified our use of big data analytics which should be a key driver in analysing and understanding key performance information and using this for our competitive advantage (particularly in relation to customer activity and preferences).

 

5. Workforce

This category addresses key workforce practices. This includes those directed toward creating and maintaining a high-performance environment and those directed toward engaging our staff to enable them and the organisation to adapt to change and succeed.

 

One of the key questions to evaluate our staff processes is how do we build an effective and supportive workplace? From the brainstorming session, we identified the process of undertaking regular staff training and skills updates, which should help our staff to remain loyal and motivated, which in turn should impact on the quality and innovation of our products.

 

A second question to consider is how do we engage with staff to achieve a high-performance work environment? From the brainstorming session, we identified the use of annual appraisals and staff surveys which should assist in making staff feel engaged. However, we would need to assess this further by asking staff how far they believe that these performance appraisal and staff surveys assist in their overall engagement in the business. Staff surveys will only assist in achieving performance excellence if staff feel engaged and committed to the process and believe that their opinions are valued and acted on by senior leadership.

 

Engaged and committed staff throughout our business, from senior management to shop assistants, will drive product innovation and customer engagement and loyalty, assisting in us achieving our strategic aims.

 

6. Operations

This category asks how do we focus on our organisation’s work, product design and delivery, innovation, and operational effectiveness to achieve organisational success now and in the future. Key questions we must ask are how do we design, manage and improve our key products and work processes and how do we ensure effective management of our operations?

 

From our brainstorming session, we identified the investment we have made in the latest production processes, which should improve our operational effectiveness. Also, investment in e-commerce should assist us in developing and delivering our operations overseas and to new customers. We also identified our regular re-design of products which is a key criterion in our ability to be innovative, in order to continue to satisfy customer needs and build long-term relationships.

 

7. Results

This category provides a systems focus which encompasses all results necessary to sustain our organisation: our key processes and product results, our customer-focused results, our workforce results, our leadership and governance system results, and our overall financial and market performance. This is not something which we considered in our brainstorming session.

 

Therefore, we must now capture and measure the ‘real-time’ information (measures of progress) for evaluating, improving, and innovating processes and products, in alignment with our overall organisational strategy. Using all of the information we have gathered from understanding the importance of the processes we carry out in the previous six areas, we need to now focus on monitoring the outcomes of our operational performance which can then help us to predict our future performance and drive performance excellence throughout our business.