Q&A:
Baldrige and Studer Group’s Nine Principles^®: Prescriptive Answers to Non-Prescriptive Criteria
Hardwired Results® interviews Studer Group coach Lucy Crouch…

HR: As a long-time Studer Group coach and past Baldrige National Examiner, can you share your observations about where both processes align and where they differ?

LC: Any organization that has been applying Studer Group's Must-Haves ^SM1 and Nine Principles®² for 18 to 24 months will find that the Baldrige Criteria is less about doing new things and more about describing Studer Group tools that have already been implemented. For example, Category 5 Criteria asks how an organization recruits, hires and retains new staff. An organization using our prescriptive to do's would answer by describing the peer interview process, the 30 and 90 day questions and how the Standards of Performance are used in the selection process.

However, when an organization begins to apply the Baldrige Criteria they will find some gaps that Studer Group processes and tools do not fully address. For example, Baldrige includes Criteria on governance (Category 1); safety and disaster preparedness (Category 5); and market analysis (Category 3) that are not a focus of Studer Group coaching. While Studer Group's Five Pillar framework³ and 90-day plans offer a foundation for how organizations will achieve short-and long-term goals with respect to strategic planning, it is not as comprehensive an approach as the Criteria require.

HR: Are there lessons health care can learn from other industries that have won the Baldrige?

LC: Countless lessons. The Baldrige Categories are the same for all industries. Anyone applying has to address a focus on staff, leadership, strategic planning, and focus on the customer, etc. We're just not that different in health care from other businesses. What works well in leadership (Category 1), strategic planning (Category 2), or for employees (Category 5) is not necessarily industry specific. If an organization believes it can only learn from a similar health care organization, they have immediately lost a great deal of opportunity in learning from the best.

HR: Any insights for Studer Group partner organizations that are considering Baldrige?

LC: I find that high-performing organizations are at a risk for "declaring victory". Once you declare victory, you lose momentum. This is an idea first put forth by John Kotter in his article "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.⁴ He postulates that it can take five to ten years for changes to sink deeply into a company's culture—we'd call it "hardwiring”"—and that during this time new approaches are fragile and subject to regression. And while celebrating wins is key to generating the energy required to get to the next level, declaring victory is fatal.

I always encourage successful organizations I coach to apply for Baldrige. When an organization starts using the Baldrige Criteria, pockets of opportunity become quickly evident. If you're on a journey to excellence, it's a journey that never ends. The Criteria force the organization to always ask, "What can we do better?" So while there is no "victory", the journey hardwires aculture of continuous quality improvement.

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With a background in case management and quality improvement, Lucy Crouch, R.N. has served as a Baldrige National Examiner for two years and coached Studer Group organizations for five years.

1 Studer Group's six Must-Haves^SM for service and operational excellence include Rounding for Outcomes, Employee Thank You Notes, Selection and the First 90 Days, Discharge Phone Calls, Key Words at Key Times, and Aligning Leader Evaluations with Desired Behaviors. For more information, visit www.studergroup.com and search on "Must Haves."

2 Studer Group's Nine Principles® provide organizations with a sequenced step-by-step process to attain desired results. For details, visit studergroup.com and search on "Nine Principles®."

3 Studer Group's Five Pillars include People, Service, Quality, Finance, and Growth. For more information, visit www.studergroup.com and search on "Pillars."