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May 2012

www.efqm.org

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Editorial: Celebrating 20 years of Assessments

From 1992 to 2012

Assessor or Assessment?

The Model for Strategic Assessment

Blending Government and Private Sector

EFQM At Volvo Cars

The Assessor Training

People Make the Difference

Fit for the Future

A Common Vocabulary

An addiction

Work-Life Balance

A Stimulating Experience

New @EFQM

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The EFQM Excellence Model is used to assess organisations, to understand their strengths and

opportunities to grow. Often organisations organise such assessments internally using one of our

self-assessment questionnaires, for example. But very often, companies seek an external opinion.

Not surprisingly, as an outside point of view can be very refreshing, perhaps more objective and

motivational. Especially, if that external standpoint comes from a team of professionals from

different companies, cultures, countries and sectors. With the experience they have gained in their

current and previous organisations, they bring a different perspective on the challenges and

opportunities.

This year, we are celebrating our 20th year of external assessments! Over the last 2 decades more

than 4000 people assessed for the EFQM Excellence Awards.

This edition of Excellence in Action is dedicated to those assessors. To all of you, who have

contributed to the success of our Awards and other recognition schemes! I want you to know that

EFQM is very grateful for your support. Even more, because I know it is not an easy job. It can be

stressful, time-consuming and challenging. As an assessor, you do not only need to master the

mechanics of the Excellence Model, but you also need a set of interpersonal and analytical skills.

But assessing can also be rewarding, inspiring and exciting! Why should you act as an assessor? I will

not tell you… Our assessors will!

This month over 100 assessors will travel across Europe to assess 2012’s very best organisations. We

asked them what they think, what they feel and how they see the future!

Enjoy the reading!

Yours sincerely,

Pierre Cachet,

Chief Executive Officer, EFQM

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From 1992 to 2012

The very first EFQM Assessor trainings were held in Brussels in 1992, over a six week period starting

on the 3rd of March. These courses were all lead by Mike Gallagher, who was back in Brussels just a

few weeks ago for yet another training delivery!

EFQM: what do you remember from those

first sessions in 1992?

Mike: The over-riding feeling, at the start of

the first course, was one of stepping into the

unknown. Launching The European Quality

Award in 1992 meant an extremely busy year

working to tight deadlines. Everything was

new; there were no experts on the Model or

the “Blue Card” (the first assessment tool) and

little practical experience to draw on. In fact,

we only knew a little more of the subject

matter than those being trained – so fielding

questions was sometimes a nightmare.

As the six weeks of training went by though, it

became clearer and clearer from the

feedback, that the training had been well

received. It was obvious that we had on board

an enthusiastic group of assessors – all they

had to do now was to put their learning into

practice! After the final of six courses I

breathed a deep sigh of relief, sat back in my

seat and felt I had earned the small bottle of

champagne that was standard (in economy!!)

on the flight home.

EFQM: What did you see as the major

change over those 20 years?

Mike: At the beginning of 1992, the EFQM

Model was only known to a relatively small

group - mainly specialists in the “Quality”

arena. Following the above Assessor trainings,

EFQM had about 120 trained assessors.

Nowadays several thousands of people have

trained as an EFQM Assessor. Though the

broad structure remains the same, the course

today is much different in detail and much

more rigorous than twenty years ago; it has a

strong focus on assessing the competences of

the delegates and helping them to acquire

assessment skills.

Secondly, there's the expansion of EFQM

recognition schemes to include the Public

Sector, Recognised for Excellence and

Committed to Excellence - to match the range

of maturity of Excellence programs in

Snapshots from the first Assessors trained in 1992

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organisations large and small across Europe

and beyond.

EFQM: Can you share with us one of your

most memorable experiences?

It is difficult to select one particular event

from the many, so let me mention a few

concerning the EFQM Forum. This is the

highlight of EFQM’s year and marks the end of

the Award cycle with the public recognition of

high performing organizations that have

participated that year.

Seeing King Carlos II of Spain present the

very first Awards in 1992 and realizing

what a high profile event we had become

involved in.

The Forum at Stockholm in 1997 where

the dinner was held in the same room as

Nobel Prize dinners, indeed the menu was

the same as for a recent Nobel ceremony;

sitting with my wife, Charmian, a few

seats away from the Queen of Sweden –

the guest of honour.

But perhaps the most memorable of all

was the Amsterdam Forum in 1994. After

the main presentations, a real elephant

shuffled past our dinner tables and up to

the front of the room. Before we had time

to take all this in, the elephant vanished. I

believe they are still looking for it in

Amsterdam today!

Looking back on a working life that goes back

nearly 50 years, I really can say I have enjoyed

it all, there is no doubt as to the highlight

however and it’s the 10 year period

1991/2000 when I was closely associated with

the European Quality Award at EFQM.

Snapshots from the first

Assessors trained in 1992

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Arkadiusz Miłak Schenker Sp. z o.o. Head Office Quality and processes

improvement manager

You’ve just gone through a Recognised for Excellence assessment; which side of the table do you

prefer being on? The assessor or the applicant?

Surely the most interesting, full of challenges and development possibilities is the role of an assessor.

In my opinion the most valuable aspect is the ability to meet people representing different countries

in Europe. Furthermore, the possibility to share experience among assessors and to learn about used

practice by different organizations in Europe is an invaluable quality of an assessor's work.

As an applicant the main task involves preparing our organization for an assessment. During the visit

we do our best to emphasize and highlight used practice that can be utilized as a competitive

advantage on a given market.

Nevertheless, from the point of view of the organization, which I represent it is hard to say which

role is more important. The optimal solution seems to be to use both approaches – obtaining the

knowledge about the good practice available in the whole Europe as an Assessor and being assessed

for the implementation of this practice in our “own company” as an applicant.

How do you think your experience as an applicant will help in your role as an assessor?

Certainly this kind of experience is helpful also for an assessor. Most of all, I am familiar with the

EFQM Model for its practical side- that is how it is used and where we can usually find strengths and

areas for improvement. As an assessor I will know how, where and who to ask to create a pleasant

and cooperative atmosphere. Moreover, I know how to obtain information needed to create a

valuable feedback report. I also know how to prepare an application form and why it sometimes

lacks relevant information. Finally, I can examine the assessment process through the “eyes of an

applicant” . This way, I can emphasize those areas that could prove useful and contribute to the

further development of the applicant.

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How does the EFQM Model help you in your daily business?

For me the EFQM Model is the perfect strategy development tool. As responsible for Strategy and

Target Management at BMW Welt, the BMW Group experience and delivery center in Munich, I

always have the challenge to motivate the organisation for strategic views and strategy

development. Every year we have a 360 days business with over 2 million visitors, more than 300

events and about 20.000 car deliveries. So it is clear, that we are very customer orientated and our

people and processes have to be best in class to manage that business. As a result the organisation

concentrates on business operations, which is very good for our customers .

On the other hand strategy development is something you have to put in the right light. The yearly

EFQM Self-Assessment is my chance to involve the Top Management in a 360 degree review, to focus

on strategic decisions and to derive strategic measures to achieve a continuous improvement. In

general and so more on a daily basis the EFQM Model helps to cross check any decisions. It is very

helpful to check with the EFQM Model which criteria are affected and if it might be necessary to

slightly adapt the decision to reach even more effect.

In your role as Manager Strategy and Targets, how are you getting ready for the future?

Getting ready for the future needs at least 2 dimensions of work: 1st Enabling in terms of skills and

2nd Enabling in terms of space for development. What I mean is, that is obvious that you have to

develop knowledge and competencies e.g. by lifelong learning, doing benchmarks, building networks

and innovation research. Although this is the basis for being ready for the future, you will not

succeed, if you have no possibility to implement change. Therefore you have to prepare yourself and

the organisation for change. You need free resources (e.g. your time!). In conclusion it is elementary

that you organise your present business so that it works well and needs less management attention.

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Just by assessing other type of organisations, one can see approaches that weren’t thought of before

in our organisation. Typically an organisation considers itself as unique and not comparable to any

other type of organisation, but in reality a lot of similarities are visible like for example how vision and

strategy is developed, how people are trained, and so on. By assessing excellent organisations, I do

see a lot of fantastic examples which one could use in a government situation. The biggest mistake

one can make is to think that government organisations are not comparable to private and thus

ignore those good practices.

In one of the organisations, I was impressed by the use of the balanced scorecard as a tool to

translated and cascade vision and strategic objectives into personal objectives. Through the use of

this BSC as a top-down and bottom-up tool to report individual, team and group progress, there was

a good view of the organisational performance at any time. Of course this is what BSC is all about,

but between theory and practices lies sometimes a big distance. This practical approach helped me to

start to implement a traffic light report (TLR) into my organisation starting with the different team

objectives and connecting them to the overall strategic ones. This was a slow process, but people saw

the advantages over time.

Marc Gernaey

Safety Engineer at the Flemish

Government

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Dear All,

Volvo Cars won the Award in 1999(I believe it was), with our Manufacturing

operations in Gent, Belgium.

So what motivates us to go on: I think besides the fact of the fierce

competition out there I think I can point out some characteristics that is

Unique for Volvo Cars.

First of all I would like to point towards the fact that already a year after we

won the Award we got a new owner, we were separated from the Volvo Group

bought by Ford Motor Co.

This started a journey for us whereas Excellence maybe wasn't defined as we

knew it before. We both learned from this even though integrating different

cultures is not always succesful.

I think now for the first time as a 'Stand Alone Company' separated from

Volvop Group and Ford with new owners but with a separate Board of

Directors for Volvo Cars we're defining our own path and definition of

Excellence again. This is very exciting as we have the opportunity to

capitalise on what's good in the Volvo Culture and elaborate this into the

framework of true Excellence.

Therefore we're now setting a plan for Excellence that will enable us to reach

our Company objectives 2020.

Niklas Blomqvist

Process Assessment and Audit Manager

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Registration fees: € 1720 for members and € 2150 for non-affiliated organisations (excl. VAT).

For more detailed information on content and dates, please visit our website (www.efqm.org)

or contact our training department at training@efqm.org or on +32 2 7753511

Learn to effectively apply the RADAR scoring to produce value adding performance analyses Individual coaching and personal development Understand the EFQM Excellence Model and its links to the Fundamental Concepts Understand the culture of an organisation Act as an EFQM Award Assessor

This course is addressed to individuals who intend to become a

qualified EFQM Assessor, and those who would like a more detailed

understanding of the EFQM Excellence Model and the RADAR Logic.

This course is a pass or fail. For 3 days, you will be assessed based on

your team work contributions, your evaluation of information, your

feedback and written exercises. Prior to the training, you will be asked

to analyse a case study - another pre-requisite for successfully going

through the training. Passing formally qualifies you as an international

EFQM Excellence Assessor and enables you to act as an EFQM Award

Assessor.

You get a lot of learning in a short time span. It is very concentrated which for me is the best

thing. It is very valuable. It is like a living or better a practical MBA. It is not merely a technical

training, but also a personal and leadership training where you start understanding organisations

– which is not easy and definitely not easy to learn.

Julio Gonzalez Bedia, General Manager, Aliad Spain

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Full name: Celal Seçkin Faculty member since: 2000

Dear Celal, you were one of the first trained assessors and have been a faculty member for 12

years. Obviously all organisations are different, but in your opinion, what is the one thing leading

organisations have in common?

After around 20 years of experience in assessments and organisational excellence, I recognised that

many organisations can establish the infrastructure for a strong organisation, employ technical staff

with necessary skills, knowledge and capabilities, buy and install the most recent technologies and

use all resources such as finance, material and equipment in the most effective way through

advanced processes. But only the organisations which have role model leaders in ethics,

organisational values and excellence; and people who are committed to excellence and empowered

to contribute to continuous improvement are the outstanding and sustainable ones. People make

the difference! This reality is common to all sizes of organisations, all industries and all cultures or

countries. Excellence is meaningful and contributes to the sustainable success of the organisation

only if it is part of the organisation’s culture and daily life. Then it is clearly seen from the eyes,

reactions and behaviours of the leaders and people in the organisation. I am happy that I had the

chance to see such examples in my life.

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How will the market look 20 years from now? Where will we be

working? What will excellence look like? How fit is your organisation

to face the future?

Hear from experts how future customers, products and services will be managed. Understand how

people and talent management will look like 20 years from now. Get an idea of forthcoming

technologies and online communication.

The EFQM Forum is an excellent opportunity for you to learn from experts and expand your

professional network. Block your calendar today! More information soon available on

www.efqmforum.org

9.30 - 11.00 Speed Networking Meet the EFQM staff and other delegates.

11.00 - 11.30 Opening Ceremony 11.30 - 12.00 Future of Europe

Dr. Richard Corbett, Member of Cabinet of President Van Rompuy, European Council

12.00 - 13.00 Keynote speaker - To be confirmed 13.00 - 14.00 Lunch 14.00 - 15.30 Future Markets

Understanding how the markets, and how we interact with our customers will change Julie Meyer, Founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital Julie Meyer is one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe and the UK as a force for growth and inclusiveness. Julie founded Ariadne Capital in August 2000 to create a new model for the financing of entrepreneurship in Europe and the UK - "Entrepreneurs Backing Entrepreneurs". And other case presentations from leading organisations

15.30 - 16.00 Coffee break

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16.00 - 17.30 Future Talents Where we will find future talent and how this may change the way we work Marc Buelens, Professor, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School

Prof Dr Marc Buelens is Doctor in Industrial Psychology (Ghent University). Professor Buelens currently teaches General Management and Organisation at both Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School and Ghent University.

And other case presentations from leading organisations

19.00 - 24.00 EFQM Award Celebration Dinner Château du Lac, Genval

09.00 - 10.30 Networking Café Structured networking on the theme of the Forum as well as their learning from Day 1. Doors close at 9.15 to enable the participants to take full benefit of the full session.

10.30 - 11.00 Coffee break 11.00 - 13.00 Future Technologies

How technology will change the way we live & work Keynote speaker: Peter Cochrane Peter Cochrane is one of the world's most respected and sought-after speakers on technology, change and the future effects of change on corporations and individuals. Peter produces a monthly blog for Silicon.com, one of the leading information sites for the technology industry. And other Case presentations from leading organisations

13.00 - 14.00 Lunch

14.00 - 15.30 Future Model Specific information on this session will be provided in due time.

15.30 - 16.00 Closing ceremony 16.00 - 17.00 Open discussion

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After the assessor training, and now with your first experiences as an EFQM Assessor, how would

you describe the advantages of implementing the EFQM Model?

There have been many advantages in using the Model within our organisation. Firstly, it helps

provide a common vocabulary and definitions. For example, when we need to have conversations

about our leadership development programme, we don’t have to spend a long time trying to define

the qualities of good leaders – the Model gives us a head-start and sets some ambitions to aim for.

Secondly, we have found the Model useful in helping teams within the organisation to assess their

own strengths and areas for improvement. When we have worked with management teams of units

within the organisation, it has been a powerful tool for that team to take a balanced view of their

current situation and to help them develop their own improvement agenda.

What are the major challenges for UNOPS in 2012?

UNOPS is currently at the mid-point of a strategic planning cycle meaning that we are currently

evaluating and adjusting our current business strategy. Obviously there are many inputs into that

evaluation but one key component will be a self-assessment by the organisation’s entire

management of the progress that we are making. We will use the EFQM Model as the tool for that

self-assessment and for benchmarking ourselves against other organisations.

UNOPS was established in 1974 as part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and

became an independent organization in 1995.

UNOPS mission is to expand the capacity of the UN and its partners to implement peacebuilding,

humanitarian and development operations that matter for people in need.

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You’re one of our most experienced team leaders; what is it about assessing in the EFQM Award

that is so addictive?

My role in Siemens UK is to promote the application of EFQM Excellence Model Assessment, and

encourage best practice sharing (We call this “Pinch with Pride!”). It’s a great job, because I get to

help businesses, teams and individuals improve on their collective journeys to Business Excellence.

There is no better way for me to keep up current with what best practice looks like than to spend a

few weeks understanding and analysing an EFQM Excellence Award applicant. Each assessment I

have done in the past 17 years has yielded at least one best practice approach that I could share

within Siemens.

Can you share with us one of your most memorable experiences?

Over 17 years an assessor builds up a number of memorable experiences, some good, some bad. One

of the most memorable was only last year when my assessment team performed the first ever

assessment of a global organisation, which included one brave assessor visiting Japan immediately

after the Tsunami. One bad experience (before the days of mobile phones) was losing an assessor

whilst we all changing planes at Frankfurt airport (he had decided to go off and buy shoelaces!) and it

took ages to find him again. On one site visit the applicant had their own hospital, which we asked to

visit. As soon as we had made this request my assessment partner collapsed from a minor heart

attack (he made a full recovery). The unfortunate applicant did not know if his heart attack was real

or some cunning new part of the site visit evaluation!

It’s a great job, because I get to

help businesses, teams and

individuals improve on their

collective journeys to Business

Excellence.

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As an HR Manager, how do you think work– life balances

will change in the next 20 years?

The increasing workforce ageing and the progressive lack

of financial availabilities by public entities will be two big

issues for welfare policies. Probably the companies will

have to build stronger partnerships with both the Public

and other companies specifically involved in providing

sustainable welfare services, in order to optimize

resources and build good service packages. I think that

child care and health care will be the two big issues on

which give people some help.

When you see that employees don’t have a sense of

belonging, what are companies doing wrong?

I think the really important thing is to encourage people to

contribute with their ideas, proposals and knowledge to

the shaping of their company. The company’s vision,

mission and strategy must be communicated, of course,

but it’s important that people are given the chance to

“shape” them, to give their own little contribution to the deployment of them, in order to increase

their identification with their company, their

feeling of the company as a part of their life.

I think the really

important thing is to

encourage people to

contribute with their

ideas, proposals and

knowledge to the

shaping of their

company.

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Assessing

requires a

great deal

more

planning,

knowledge

and

maturity.

Last year your organisation was assessed, this year you are assessing? How does it feel to stand on

the other side?

Being on the other side will be an incredible achievement for me so that I can learn new

management forms. Being on the other side signifies a much bigger responsibility on the assessor

before the two institutions: the applicant and EFQM. Assessing or being

assessed implies different responsibilities. Assessing requires a great

deal more planning, knowledge and maturity.

The concern over planning the assessment is a great challenge for any

assessor. Carefully reading the application documents and clearly

understanding its organisational environment will allow for a better final

report that exceeds the expectations of the applicant.

How do you think your experience as an applicant will help in your

role as an assessor?

That experience is helping me enormously on my job as an assessor.

Supplying all the data to the assessor team that visited us so that their

work was of the highest quality was a very important, unique and

strengthening experience for me. Acting in accordance with the highest

ethical standards with transparency from all of the assessors was very stimulating for me.

Knowing all the details of an application process, planning with the assessors team all the details and

accompanying the assessment has allowed me to consolidate and mature all of my knowledge. This

entire process will significantly help me in the coming assessment.

How has Business Excellence, basically the department you are leading, contributed to the success

of Bosch Car Multimedia?

The acquisition of several skills at the EFQM Headquarters in Brussels, at the training programs, at

the Forums in Bilbao and Munich and at the Community of Practice - Applying Lean Principles has

enabled me to widen my horizons. My area is focused on strategic planning, change management,

the innovation process, the suggestions program and the development of partnerships with key

stakeholders. Assimilating everything that I have learned from EFQM with my responsibilities has

allowed me to implement sounder processes that enable a more sustainable development of Bosch

Car Multimedia Portugal.

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EFQM is committed to help organisations drive improvement through the use of the EFQM

Excellence Model, a comprehensive management framework used by over 30 000 organisations in

Europe. For the last 20 years, we manage the development of this Model, incorporating the

experiences and learning from these organisations to ensure it reflects reality.

To help you implement our Model, we provide training, assessment tools and recognition. But our

real talent comes from gathering good practices and integrating those within our portfolio. EFQM, a

not-for-profit membership Foundation, aims to share what works, through case studies, online

seminars, working groups, conferences and thematic events. We nurture a network of world-class

organisations and their leaders who share our passion for business excellence.

We believe that the EFQM Model is a common framework that helps us all to improve our

businesses. Sharing our member’s enthusiasm, their motivation and the results they achieve; that is

what we work for at EFQM.

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Organisations can join the EFQM member community and enjoy some exclusive benefits such as

access to free assessment and improvement tools, participation to events, themed webinars and

good practice visits. To learn more about our member community, feel free to contact us or to join

one of the free introduction meetings at our offices in Brussels.

As a member of EFQM, you will enjoy the following exclusive benefits:

Expert advice and support for your organisation’s journey towards excellence.

Access to the EFQM Knowledge Base is a database containing a number of free to download

assessment, management and improvement tools; as well as Good Practices identified from

the last 3 years of the EFQM Excellence Awards.

Members receive a discount of 20% on EFQM Products & Services, including Training,

Publications and Recognition.

There are themed events and webinars throughout the year, with Good Practices and new

tools being shared and explained by EFQM and member organisations.

For more information, please e-mail info@efqm.org

We published a new Good Practice case study on our website!

Developed, in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University, you can read about about their

“World of Work” programme, in full details! Through this programme they ensure that the

graduates are ready to work, that they have the skills employers look for when hiring a recently

graduate person. This case study is not only interesting for the Education Sector organisations, as it

is a case about how an efficient and effective partnership was developed to cover a need identified

by the University.

Enjoy the reading!

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