The Business Excellence Tool ...

As part of our sponsorship of the Rockhampton Regional Development Limited & Ergon Energy Business Excellence Awards 2008, Performance People created a tool for assessing the excellence of organisations. This tool is still being used for the annual awards (now known as the Capricorn Tourism and Economic Development Limited & Ergon Energy Business Excellence Awards). The tool was developed to provide a transparent method of assessing the excellence of organisations by applying a range of relevant criteria.

Download the Self-Assessment document
by clicking here: BET-Self-Assessment(DATE).doc

The Elements of Excellence

1. Strategic Planning - Because if organisations do not plan for the future, they will not be prepared for the future.

2. Competitive Advantage - Because organisations must compete to be successful. This can mean competing in the usual way with other organisations offering the same products and services; or competing with other demands for the resources needed to be successful.

3. Innovation - Which assists organisations in meeting ongoing challenges and being at the forefront of their industry.

4. Customer Service - Because we know that quality is defined by our customers, so excellence is achieved by meeting and exceeding their expectations.

5. Staff Development - Because the statement that ‘people are our most important asset’ is true.

6. Social & Environmental Responsibility - Because organisations exist within a wider social and environmental context, and must attend to their obligations in this context.

Online Sources of Advice

1. Strategic Planning

Management Alternatives Pty Ltd provides a strategic planning outline. http://www.mapl.com.au/A10.htm
A series of practical videos on creating the strategic plan by Erica Olsen, author of Strategic Planning for Dummies. http://mystrategicplan.com/resources/section/videos/

2. Competitive Advantage

Michael Porter's ‘generic strategies’ are explained clearly and with a diagram. http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml
Seth Godin challenges people to consider how their product/service differs from others. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

3. Innovation

Fast Company, an ezine, has many articles on innovation. Here are a few of them. http://www.fastcompany.com/topics/innovation
Ideo presents (mainly) product innovation in a hectic way. See if you can see the pattern. http://patterns.ideo.com/archive/
Innovative Regions is a Queensland state government initiative. You can findout about their services at their website. http://www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au/who/innovativeregions/

4. Customer Service

A thought provoking blog about customer services, by Maria Palma. http://www.people2peopleservice.com/
Fast Company, an ezine, also has articles on customer service. Here are a few of them. http://www.fastcompany.com/guides/custserv.html

5. Staff Development

http://trainingpd.suite101.com/article.cfm/best_practices_in_professional_development
An audio podcast: Harvard Business Review Ideacast #83 Learning Organisations (requires iTunes)

6. Social & Environmental Responsibility

An Ideo pattern that is specifically about corporate social responsibility. http://patterns.ideo.com/issue/beyond_corporate_social_responsibility/
A thought provoking slideshow called ‘The Future of Green Business Strategy’. http://www.slideshare.net/futurethink/the-future-of-green-business-strategy-presentation
(if you are interested in ecomagination, here is more: http://ge.ecomagination.com/ )

The Development Process

If you are interested in 'how' we developed the tool, you may wish to read the following:

Identified 6 Elements of Excellence, based on (but not exactly matching) the selection criteria used in the 2007 awards.
Developed Draft Criteria for the assessment of organisations’ within the Elements, based on the business and educational experience the principals of Performance People Pty Ltd.
Requested Suggestions for Improvement from a range of experts - business and academic - mainly living in Central Queensland.
Finalised the Tool for this Year. This is provisional, as changes are expected based on the performance of the Tool.
Developed the Submission Form for use in the Rockhampton Regional Development Limited & Ergon Energy Business Excellence Awards 2008.
Developed allied materials, including a Judges’ Assessment Form and Participant Feedback Template for the awards, and the Self-Assessment Tool that is attached above.

Stephanie Jackson, Julie Tanner, Michelle Major and Sharyn Lowth have provided support, encouragement and feedback during the development of the Business Excellence Tool.

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