For nearly 20 years, the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence have proven themselves time and again to be a path to exceptional organizational performance. Used in more than 70 countries around the world, the seven categories of the criteria are often seen as essential for excellence.

What’s so brilliant about the criteria is that they can have an immediate effect on an organization. Once you do a self-assessment and organizational profile, you know exactly what to change and improve, and that points you toward a range of methods and tools that may be applicable. It’s different for everyone. Every organization will find and follow its own path. As a living, changing document that may adapt to each organization, the criteria will endure.

While the categories have evolved over the years, how they’re viewed and the relationships among them have changed little.

The traditional Baldrige model (Figure 1) continues to serve its purpose well. Sometimes called the “Baldrige burger,” it shows the link from the leadership triad (leadership, planning, and customer focus) to the results triad (staff, processes, and results) and how measurements affect both. This diagram gives those new to the criteria a basic view of how all the pieces fit together. It’s a systems view of the criteria and how they penetrate the entire organization.

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