business Improvement Assessment

You may want to improve the way your organization performs including enhancing customer service, streamlining how work gets done, or increasing profitability.  The critical question is how do you decide what to change to get the results you want?


We offer a business assessment that provides you with concrete information on how the key areas of your business are functioning. You will learn about strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for change. We will provide you with specific recommendations about where to put your resources and energy so that you can truly realize your intentions.


Purpose:
The Business Improvement Assessment (BIA) is a tool designed to assist companies and organizations in assessing their business improvement fitness and in meeting their business improvement goals. Both the private and public sectors use this process. The BIA is based on the seven categories from the http://www.quality.nist.gov/ (MBNQA*) They are as follows:

    • 1.0    Leadership
    • 2.0    Strategic Planning
    • 3.0    Customer and Market Focus
    • 4.0    Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management
    • 5.0    Human Resource Focus
    • 6.0    Process Management
    • 7.0    Results

The Business Improvement Assessment is not a substitute for the Baldrige Award application and assessment process, but it is a valuable tool with which a company or organization can assess its potential competitiveness before spending time and resources on the application. Even more importantly, the BIA can be a critical step in a company or organization’s improvement journey and planning process.

The entire question set for the 7 categories is tailored to the specific organization. This process entails using the language of the organization and adding or omitting specific questions not appropriate to that organization. The outcome is a question set that assesses that organization’s fitness to a set of standards that are appropriate to either the private or public sector organization.

If you do not accurately know where your organization is how can you effectivly change it?

Benefit:
Assessment
The BIA uses an in-depth interview process based on the Baldrige criteria. Through this process, leaders and members of the organization learn how they are performing compared to world class, organization improvement criteria. During the post-assessment feedback session, the BIA team identifies both strengths and areas for improvement within the organization, and offers appropriate recommendations. This clearly written report and presentation of the data gathered can then act as a baseline for the business or organization to focus its planning and improvement efforts.
Education
Because the BIA involves members at all levels and functions within the organization, it acts as an educational tool as well as assessment tool. The in-depth interviewing process stimulates discussion and helps familiarize the participants with the concepts of business improvement and assessment.
Planning
The BIA team provides feedback identifying what the organization is doing well and what it needs to improve. The team also recommends how to improve the organization based on the recommendations of the interviewed members, the assessment team’s findings as well as our expertise. This information is critical input to meaningful Strategic and Tactical Planning.

Leadership benefits by hearing the attitudes, concerns, achievements and suggestions of people throughout
the organization. think tank

Participants benefit by having their thoughts and achievements heard and recognized by leadership.


Involvement
A critical aspect of any organization’s improvement effort is employee involvement and recognition. The BIA team conducts 50 to 60+ minute interviews with a valid random sample (or all where appropriate) of members at all levels in the organization. This interview process allows people to anonymously express their views and share their ideas and concerns with leadership. Leadership benefits by hearing the attitudes, concerns, achievements and suggestions of people throughout the organization. Participants benefit by having their thoughts and achievements heard and recognized by leadership.
(*) The MBNQA is an annual Award to recognize the best large, medium and small U.S. companies and organizations for business excellence and achievement. The President of the United States presents it to the winners.

Structure:

    • We start with a discussion to determine what is going on with your company and how an assessment may assist you in your change efforts.  We will have you complete a company worksheet (a short questionaire) which will provide us with the parameters for the survey
    • Then we will prepare a recommendation for the sample size, question set and data collection methods to be used
    • We will conduct all interviews, review relevant documentation, and increase our own understanding of how your company currently works
    • Then we prepare a detailed Assessment Report which highlights the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement
    • We will also provide a detailed in depth set of recommendations for long term improvement

How to Get Started:

If you are concerned about your organization’s performance but don’t know how to start, an assessment can help you formulate a plan of action that will make a difference.  Contact us today for more information.