Things We Learned Along the Way... 7

Transcription

1 The Baldrige Journey Things We Learned Along the Way! By Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO, MidwayUSA Wisconsin Forward Award Conference February 11, 2010 Contents Larry Potterfield Bio... 2 To Whom Am I Speaking?... 3 Here s What We Are Going to Do Today!... 3 The Soap Box... 4 The Benefits MidwayUSA Received from Baldrige... 5 The MidwayUSA Approach... 6 Things We Learned Along the Way... 7 Beyond Baldrige

2 Larry Potterfield Bio Larry Potterfield is founder and CEO of MidwayUSA, a 2009 recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. MidwayUSA is a 33 year old, privately held, catalog and internet retailer of sporting goods for the hunting, shooting and outdoor products market. Headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, the firm employs 350 people, 33 of which are trained Baldrige Criteria Examiners. Larry is a serious student of the Baldrige criteria and brings a unique perspective to the Baldrige journey. The title of his presentation is The Baldrige Journey, Things We Learned Along the Way. He will cover a wide variety of general topics with a Question and Answer segment at the end, covering all categories. MidwayUSA set a goal in November of 2006 to apply for and receive the Baldrige award in In 2008, they received the Missouri Quality Award. They applied only one time for the Baldrige Award, so you can appreciate the amount of planning, studying and changing they packed into three short years. If you cannot attend his presentation, you can download a copy from 2

3 To Whom Am I Speaking? 1. How many of you are not currently engaged in the Performance Excellence movement and are just here to learn? 2. How many of you are examiners or overseers or judges at the state level at the national level? 3. How many of you are senior leaders; that is, you report directly to the CEO or President? 4. Any Presidents or CEO s? Here s What We Are Going to Do Today! I ll try to present something for everyone. 1. Soap Box 2. Benefits of Baldrige 3. The MidwayUSA Approach to Baldrige 4. Things We Learned Along the Way. This is the bulk of my presentation. 5. Beyond Baldrige 6. And, you will probably learn the most from the Questions and Answer segment at the end. 3

4 The Soap Box The first thing I d like to do this morning is get on the Baldrige soap box. America Needs Baldrige! Wisconsin Needs Baldrige! Baldrige helps improve performance through teambuilding, continuing education and a focus on what s important in each of our organizations. For those Senior Leaders in the audience who are riding the fence and have not yet committed your organization to creating a culture worthy of a Baldrige Award, I implore you to commit now. To retain our position as the leading nation on earth, American organizations must achieve Performance Excellence in Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer Focus, Measurement Analysisand Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Process Management and of course Results. The Baldrige criteria is the only tool that has demonstrated its ability to deliver Performance Excellence in each of these categories. For $100,000 a year in tuition and fees, our leading business schools Chicago, Harvard, Northwestern and Wharton don t even offer a competing tool. Every sector in our economy must achieve Performance Excellence Education, Manufacturing, Health Care, Government, Service and Nonprofit. For those of us who are recipients of The Baldrige Award, we must provide leadership in the state and national performance improvement effort not just by accepting invitations to speak at state quality conferences, but by promoting performance excellence through the Baldrige criteria in our local communities. I challenge each of you here today to support Baldrige with a passion and do your part to keep American great. We need Baldrige! I m Larry Potterfield with MidwayUSA and that s my soapbox message for today! 4

5 The Benefits MidwayUSA Received from Baldrige Short Term Benefits In the short term, we enjoyed performance improvement in the following key areas: 1. Customer Satisfaction 93%, brought about through process improvement and Customer Engagement 2. Employee Satisfaction 82%, brought about through improved communications and deployment of our Strategic Plan 3. Revenues +20% per year, brought about through new Customers acquisition and Customer Retention 4. Net Income +40% per year, brought about through process improvement and growth. The Baldrige Journey wasn t about the bottom line for MidwayUSA, but was about serving our Customers better and providing for long term sustainability. Our long term benefits: 1. We have a high level of confidence. 2. Capability to Sustain our performance Long Term Benefits a. We now understand what s important. b. We embrace change for continuous improvement c. We systematically run the business for the benefit of our Customers 3. We have the Capability for continuous improvement a. We have Confidence! b. We enjoy a Team Environment! c. Continuous Learning is a way of life! d. Future State and Baldrige awards are rallying points 5

6 The MidwayUSA Approach 1. Our approach to Baldrige has been called unique! 2. But it is really very simple and logical. 3. As a small business CEO, I approached Baldrige from the standpoint of winning. I m a competitor! What do we have to do to win? Now, winning wasn t the primary goal, but approaching it in this fashion help mobilize us to develop an award winning organization. 4. First, we set a specific year to apply for and receive the award in Then we studied and learned the criteria with a strategy of writing a nearly perfect application. Part of our studying and learning was developing 33 Baldrige criteria examiners in house. 6. We began writing the application early in the process. 7. We concurrently improved processes and created new ones. 8. We applied for the State award (answering every question) and were awarded it. 9. We applied for the Baldrige award (answering every question) 10. We provided great leadership to our site visit team, and here we are. 11. Now, please let me share with you some of the things we learned along the way. 6

7 Things We Learned Along the Way 1. First was the importance of a total, sustained commitment a. CEO b. SLT members volunteering as Baldrige criteria examiners was priceless. c. Commitment to fundamental changes in the day to day activities 2. The importance of setting the goal to receive the award. I call this category 8. a. Must be definable, measureable and achievable b. 3, 4 or 5 years if you have #1 above 3. The importance of getting Baldrige on the Strategic Plan a. Strategic Objective or Action Plan b. Detailed Action Plan, reviewed monthly c. Must be a high level champion(s) 4. The importance of learning and understanding the criteria a. Study groups b. Volunteer examiners c. Early writing of the application, answering every question with examiner review. 5. The importance of the Mission Statement a. Vision, Purpose, Mission and Values (The need to include all four) b. Our Vision To be the best run business in America, for the benefit of our Customers. c. Should be Baldrige aligned d. Deployable e. Deployed f. Code of Conduct 6. The importance of a Master Planning Calendar (Developed 4 th Qtr) a. Microsoft Outlook + Discipline Rules the World b. Need to Focus on each Baldrige Category c. Helps ensure Learning and Integration d. Helps address We don t have time. e. Helps re define role of Senior Leaders f. Another Soapbox moment 7

8 7. The importance of adopting the Baldrige Terminology a. Senior Leadership Team b. Strategic Objectives c. Action Plans d. Core Competencies e. Stakeholders 8. ADLI a. The importance of Approach, Deployment, Learning and Integration b. You must be able to provide Examples of Learning when answering questions c. You must be able to provide Examples of Integration 8

9 Beyond Baldrige 1. We have set goals to receive future awards the Baldrige award every fifth year and out State Quality award every three years. 2. Continuing to study Baldrige and improve our organization a. Core Competencies i. The ones we have ii. The ones we want iii. Development plans for additional core competencies at all levels iv. Deployment of Core Competencies 3. Better understanding and deployment of strategies 4. Baldrige Performance Excellence Support Groups a. Continuous Learning through teaching b. Leadership through involving others in Baldrige 9