MassExcellence—Examiner Experience
Our state Baldrige-based Examiner training is our signature program. This particular event is held to accommodate our Award cycle. This is what professionals seek in order to gain an in–depth comprehensive understanding of the Baldrige Criteria categories of Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, Information and Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Process Management, and Results.
It is more than a workshop—it’s an experience. The learnings gained from participating in the entire length of this program have been compared to completing an accelerated MBA program. This event is open to any business professional, regardless of field.
What does this entail? The first step is to register. We also ask each attendee for their professional resume. This helps us in planning the right team member with the right applicant. After the first day of training in December, faculty and team leaders select members for the application assessment teams based on the backgrounds, experiences, and education to best provide a 360° assessment. The Applicant is your customer. NOTE: Although the occurrence is rare, we can not guarantee placement on an examiner team, nor can we guarantee that we will have available applications.
THE EXAMINER PROCESS
Beginning in early December, all prospective examiners are required to attend a one-day training conducted by nationally Baldrige–trained colleagues. This attendee group will become the key volunteers that participate in our award cycle process.
At the end of that day, we will address any potential conflicts of interest you may have with the applicant. Then you will be placed on the appropriate team and will meet with your fellow team members and team leader for requirements, deadlines, and instructions on how to proceed into your Independent Review.
The Independent Review will take approximately 40 hours, which can be done anytime over the course of the next six weeks. This activity involves assessing their business systems against the seven Criteria Categories.
After completing the independent review, all examiner teams meet in a facilitated three-day workshop to conduct consensus meetings. During this time, your team will come to a single outcome originating from the findings of each examiner.
Preparations are then made for a site visit. After several conference calls, all teams will visit the applicant’s site for about three to five days, depending on the complexity of the company. This is where the learnings really are. As category champions, each team member will have items to clarify and verify. This will involve personal interviews and data review. You may even find it necessary to attend an internal meeting or two. Once completed, all comments are refined and placed into a feedback report for the applicant’s senior leadership.
This is all completed from December to April. Adequate time is given between stages to complete the work and minimize the impact to your time. Realistically, the entire process takes approximately 150 hours of time over this five month period. Examiners are required to attend the first day training, the three days of consensus, and the time at site visit, which is realistically three to five days.
TEAM LEADERS
Team Leaders are pivotal in carrying their team through the process to completion and completing the feedback report for the applicant’s senior leadership. To be a team leader, we first look for prior State or National Baldrige Examiner experience. We also consider giving this key role to those having good leadership skills. If you believe that you possess these attributes, and enjoy managing volunteers and activities and would like to keep your skills sharp, and are able to facilitate a team to full closure, this is something we’d be glad to talk to you about. Our faculty and coaches are always available throughout this process to assist the team leaders when needed. Once the feedback report is reviewed by the senior leadership team of the applicant, it is common that the CEO of that organization will request to meet with the Team Leader to help them put the feedback report in perspective. The Executive Director of MassExcellence also accompanies you to that meeting.
OTHER EXAMINER RELATED TRAINING
We also offer non–application Baldrige Training. Instead, it is based on the case study used by the National Examiners for their training. These two–day events are held in different locations throughout the state several times a year. It is as close as you can get to the real thing without having to take off the time necessary to participate in our award cycle activity. This workshop is designed for senior leaders, department managers, and business professionals that want to learn more about what to look for in their organizations, or just even learn more about the Criteria.
As you see from the list of our examiners, some companies send multiple individuals to benefit themselves. It creates internal experts to help them build business excellence. As an individual, many attendees desire this workshop to build their personal and professional development. The examiner training and assessment process is an investment that pays off. For more information on membership, contact our Executive Director, Len Deneault at 978-934-2403 or len@massexcellence.com.
| Our Massachusetts 2007-2008 State Baldrige Team | |
| Faculty and Coaches | |
Len Deneault Past Senior/Alumni—National Baldrige Examiner |
len@massexcellence.com |
Dick Eppig Past Senior/Present Alumni–National Baldrige Examiner |
dick@smcginc.com |
Steve Hodlin Past Senior/Present Alumni–National Baldrige Examiner |
shodlin@dstoutput.com |
Kay Kendall Past Judge/Present Alumni–National Baldrige Examiner |
kay.kendall@sun.com |
Sharon Muret–Wagstaff, PhD Past National Baldrige Senior/Present Alumni Examiner |
smuretwagstaff@gmail.com |
| Senior Examiners | |
Steve Cano Chief Pharmacy Officer |
scano@challiance.org |
Lisa Puskey Performance Improvement Specialist |
lpuskey@bhs1.org |
| Board of Examiners | |
Gary Belt Business Manager |
gbelt@nebs.com |
Adam Cohen Quality Assurance Manager |
ascohen@dstoutput.com |
Thomas Heller MIT Sloan Fellow and Certified Internal Auditor |
hellertm@yahoo.com |
Christopher Hutchins Present Baldrige Examiner |
chutchins2@hasbro.com |
Catharine Curran–Kelly, PhD Editor, Marketing Education Review |
ckelly@umassd.edu |
Diane Kelly Vice President of Quality & Safety |
dkelly@bhs1.org |
Scott Pfeffer Business Manager |
pfeffer_scott@emc.com |
Tony Raymond Consultant |
tonyraymond@newharborsqua.com |
Eberhard Schmidt Consultant |
eb@productivity21.com |
Stacey Scott Vice President of Quality & Safety |
sscott@actionambulance.com |
Timothy Shea, PhD Charlton School of Business |
tshea@umassd.edu |
Peter Viele Vice President of Operations |
pviele@actionambulance.com |
Mike Woronka Chief Executive Officer |
mworonka@actionambulance.com |
Sharren Zetterholm Executive Director |
zetterholm@cox.net |
