Harry Hertz about Performance Excellence at the PMA 2014 Conference
On the first day of the PMA 2014 Conference, Harry Hertz, Director Emeritus of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program held a keynote presentation titled “The challenge of being outstanding: A look back and ahead after 25 years of guiding performance excellence in the U.S.” His research focused on the past and present challenges of achieving performance excellence in the United States of America, and provided some hypotheses on performance related future developments.
The insights that Harry Hertz presented at the PMA 2014 Conference were gained within The Baldrige Program, a framework that aims at improving U.S. organizations’ competitiveness and performance. The Baldrige Award is offered to role-model businesses on specific criteria and, according to the Programs’ Director Emeritus, the sector that stands out the most is healthcare, followed by government and electronics.
One of the key contributions of Harry Hertz’s presentation was reducing Performance Management to three representative questions:
- Is your organization doing as well as it could?
- How do you know?
- What and how should your organization improve or change?
When it comes to organizational excellence, Harry Hertz’s research revealed some main drivers, those specific elements that companies have to focus on in order to perform at the desired level:
- Customers;
- Employees;
- Designing and implementing Work Systems;
- Nurturing and managing innovation.
Having the first three questions in mind and focusing on what matters are, in Harry Hertz’s opinion, elementary steps of an integrated Performance Management System which will eventually lead, if properly implemented and conducted, to the following results:
- Over-improving value to customers and stakeholders;
- Improving the overall effectiveness and capabilities;
- Organizational and personal learning.
Tags: Performance Management, PMA 2014 Conference
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