Paul Dreiss Quality Advisor
Paul Dreiss has a proven track record of establishing and revitalizing organizational quality systems in multiple industries and service organizations. Two areas of focus...
Key Themes and Integration[i]
Definitions and notes:
Note: Key Factors are typically described as your response to the Organizational Profile.
Key Themes Tool
The Key Factors, Criteria, Core Values and Concepts, and Scoring Guidelines provide a framework and assessment tool for understanding your organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement and, thus, guiding your planning toward achieving higher performance and striving for excellence. The Key Themes Tool uses this framework for performance excellence. Starting with The Bookends (Figure 1), then everything happens between these two standards.
Figure 1 – The Bookends
Integration-Mapping
Integration-Mapping is an approach that will help you discover your organization’s Key Themes.
The concept is on based picking a topic and using the “text mapping” technique to flush out Key Themes. See Figure 2 using the topic “Visionary Leadership” and the seventeen basic Criteria questions which are the most central concept of the item (see basic question, Figure 3). You can create an Integration-Map for all Core Values, Purpose, Mission, Challenges / Opportunities, etc.
Figure 2 – Integration of the Basic Criteria Requirements
Figure 3: Criteria for Performance Excellence Structure
The key is to listen and to learn from the interrelated information the you discover during the process. Integration-Mapping uses the Book Ends (Figure 1, Ideal and Ability) as lens to determine your organizations own maturity.
The other variations of Integration-Mapping include:
Figure 4 – Example, Basic Response (and Map for Focus on Success and Innovation)
Figure 5 – Example, Posting TAGs from Feedback Report (and Map to Key Themes)
The TAGs (Topic All Get) posted above are from the feedback report for fictitious application. The Case Study and Feedback Report are available (Baldrige Site) for your review. The key themes are:
Process, Key Themes (TAGs)
+ Integrated Processes Support Mission
+ Fact-Based Management
+ Value/Results – Multiple Systematic Integrated Approaches
+ Engagement for Values & Valuing People
– Opportunities, Meaningful Changes to Offerings
– Alignment to Integrated (Work Systems, VOC, Learning & Development, Core Competencies)
– Capacity for agility, transformational change and projections
Results, Key Themes (TAGs)
+ Key Results Performance (industry – focus areas of finance, customers, and team members)
+ Many favorable customer-focused results
+ key workforce measures
– Several areas of importance (key customer, market, and process requirements)
– Segmentation of Results Data
Figure 6 – Form with subtext content (and Map for Valuing People)
Figure 7 – Form with overall requirements (Left-side of Form, Management by Fact)
Figure 8– Form with overall requirements (Right-side of Form, Management by Fact)
Use this approach to help you refine and build new strength and maturity within your organization. A new post in the series Integration within the Organization is coming next week. Hope to see you there.
[i] Definitions and text adapted and based on the Baldrige Criteria – 2021-2022 Baldrige Excellence Framework