2021

2022

BALDRIGE 

EXCELLENCE 

BUILDER

Key questions for improving your 

organization’s performance

business 

nonprofit

government

education

health care

LEADERSHIP

STRATEGY

CUSTOMERS

MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

WORKFORCE

OPERATIONS

RESULTS

www.nist.gov/baldrige
Improve Your Performance

The Baldrige Excellence Builder self-assessment helps you identify and improve what is critical 

to your organization’s success. By completing and acting on this assessment, you will be better 

positioned to accomplish your mission, improve your results, and become more competitive.

The Excellence Builder is based on the more detailed Baldrige Excellence Framework and 

its Criteria for Performance Excellence.

Here’s what the Baldrige Excellence Framework can do for you.

City Government 

Rated in top 10% of cities 

nationally for best place to 

live and work, culture and 

recreation, and job 

opportunities

Manufacturer

Achieved annual cost savings of 

$225 million through process and 

performance improvements 

Small Business 

Increased total gross profit by 

13% over 3 years, 8.4 points 

better than the national 

benchmark

Leadership

Strategy

Customers

Workforce

RESULTS

Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management

Integration

Core Values and Concepts

Operations

Organizational Profile

Nonprofit

Achieved customer 

satisfaction of 100%

Community College 

Outperformed local and national peers 

by more than 200% in growth rate for 

completion of associate degrees and 

certificates 

Hospital

Set national benchmarks 

for patient safety

Purchase the Baldrige Excellence Framework Today! 

www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications
Contents 

2 About the Baldrige Excellence Builder 

The Baldrige Excellence Builder represents proven leadership and management 

practices for high performance. 

4 Core Values and Concepts 

These beliefs and behaviors found in high-performing organizations are the basis of the 

Baldrige Excellence Builder. 

5 Baldrige Excellence Builder 

Answer these questions about the most important features of organizational 

performance excellence. 

14 Assessing Your Responses 

Assess your answers to the Baldrige Excellence Builder questions. 

16 Glossary of Key Terms 

Learn the defnitions of key terms in the Baldrige Excellence Builder. 

I have always envisioned Stellar to be a company that is built 

to last. . . . And if you ask how we can ensure that we are 

built to last, I would say the answer is Baldrige. . . . Unlike 

many other certifcations or performance excellence measures, 

it is not prescriptive—it is adaptable to any organization, at 

any point on its journey to excellence. 

—Celeste Ford, Founder and CEO, Baldrige Award recipient

 Stellar Solutions 

1 
About the Baldrige Excellence Builder 

Is your organization doing as well as it could? How do you know? What and 

how should your organization improve or change? 

Whether your organization is new, is growing, or has existed for many years, it faces daily 

and long-term challenges. It also has strengths that have served you well so far. The Baldrige 

Excellence Builder helps you assess your organization’s strengths and opportunities for 

improvement. By completing and acting on this assessment, you will be better positioned to 

accomplish your mission, improve your results, and become more competitive. 

The Baldrige Excellence Builder is based on the more detailed Baldrige Excellence Framework 

and its Criteria for Performance Excellence (see www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications). For more 

than 30 years, Baldrige has been globally recognized as the leading edge of validated leadership and performance practice. Baldrige is a nonprescriptive framework that empowers your 

organization to reach its goals, improve results, and become more competitive. The Core Values 

and Concepts (see page 4), a set of beliefs and behaviors found in high-performing organizations, are the foundation of this framework. 

A Focus on Improvement 

The Baldrige Excellence Builder helps you understand how well you are achieving your goals 

and objectives: 

• Are your processes consistently effective? 

• Do your approaches address your organization’s needs? 

• How good are your results? 

• Is your organization learning, innovating, and improving? 

As you answer the Baldrige Excellence Builder questions and assess your responses, you will 

identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Then, as you build on your strengths 

and address your opportunities, you create cycles of improvement within your organization. 

A Systems Perspective 

A systems perspective means managing all the parts of your organization as a unifed whole to 

achieve your mission. It means ensuring that your plans, processes, measures, and actions are 

consistent. And it means ensuring that the individual parts of your organization’s management 

system work together in a fully interconnected, unifed, and mutually benefcial manner. 

2 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
 

How to Use the Baldrige Excellence Builder 

Answer the Organizational Profle questions. The Baldrige Excellence Builder does not 

prescribe how you should structure your organization or its operations, or what its mission 

and goals should be. In the Organizational Profle (pages 5–6), you defne what is most 

relevant and important to your organization’s mission and performance. 

The Organizational Profle sets the context for your answers to the rest of the questions. It 

can also serve as your frst Baldrige self-assessment: if you identify topics for which you have 

conficting, little, or no information, you can use those topics for action planning. 

Answer the questions in categories 1–7 (pages 7–13). Your answers to these questions 

are an assessment against the most important features of organizational excellence. The 

categories represent seven critical aspects of managing and performing as an organization: 

(1) Leadership; (2) Strategy; (3) Customers; (4) Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge 

Management; (5) Workforce; (6) Operations; and (7) Results. 

Categories 1–6 (pages 7–12) each consist of two items (e.g., 1.1, 1.2), with many of the 

questions beginning with “how.” In answering these questions, give information on your key 

processes: 

• Approach: How do you accomplish your organization’s work? How systematic and 

effective are your key approaches? 

• Deployment: How consistently are your key approaches used in relevant parts of 

your organization? 

• Learning: How well have you evaluated and improved your key approaches? Have 

improvements been shared within your organization? Has new knowledge led to 

innovation? 

• Integration: How well do your approaches refect your current and future organizational needs? 

For the fve items in category 7 (page 13), report on the results that are the most important to 

your organization’s success: 

• Levels: What is your current performance? 

• Trends: Are the results improving, staying the same, or getting worse? 

• Comparisons: How does your performance compare with that of other organizations 

and competitors, or with benchmarks or industry leaders? 

• Integration: Are you tracking results that are important to your organization? Are you 

using the results in decision making? 

Assess your answers: process and results. Use the rubric on pages 14–15 to assess your 

answers to the questions in each item. Identify your strengths. Then look at the next higher 

level to see what you might improve. 

Prioritize your actions. Celebrate your strengths and build on them to improve the things 

you do well. Sharing the things you do well with the rest of your organization can speed 

improvement. Also prioritize your opportunities for improvement; you cannot do everything at 

once. Think about what is most important for your organization at this time, and decide what 

to work on frst. Develop an action plan, implement it, and measure your progress. 

After you use the Baldrige Excellence Builder, please email us at baldrige@nist.gov to tell us 

about your experience. 

About the Baldrige Excellence Builder 3 
 

Core Values and Concepts 

The Baldrige Excellence Framework and Baldrige Excellence Builder are 

based on these core values and concepts. 

Systems perspective. A systems perspective means managing all the parts of your organization as a unifed whole to achieve your mission and strive toward your vision. 

Visionary leadership. Your organization’s senior leaders should set a vision for the organization, create a customer focus, demonstrate clear and visible organizational values and ethics, 

and set high expectations for the workforce. 

Customer-focused excellence. Your customers are the ultimate judges of your performance 

and of product and service quality. Thus, your organization must consider all product and 

service characteristics, and modes of customer access and support, that contribute to customer 

satisfaction, loyalty, positive referrals, and ultimately your organization’s ongoing success. 

Valuing people. A successful organization values its workforce members and the other people 

who have a stake in the organization, including customers, community members, suppliers 

and partners, and other people affected by its actions. 

Agility and resilience. Agility requires a capacity for rapid change and for fexibility. Organizational resilience is the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and recover from disruptions, and to 

protect and enhance workforce and customer engagement, organizational performance, and 

community well-being when disruptions occur. 

Organizational learning. Organizational learning includes both continuous improvement of 

existing approaches and signifcant change or innovation, leading to new goals, approaches, 

products, and markets. 

Focus on success and innovation. Ensuring your organization’s success now and in the 

future requires understanding the short- and longer-term factors that affect your organization 

and its environment. It also requires the ability to drive organizational innovation. Innovation 

means making meaningful change to improve your products, services, programs, processes, 

operations, and business model, with the purpose of creating new value for stakeholders. 

Management by fact. Management by fact requires you to measure and analyze your 

organization’s performance, both inside the organization and in your competitive environment. Analysis of performance should support organizational evaluation, alignment, and 

decision making. 

Societal contributions. Your organization’s leaders should stress contributions to the public 

and the consideration of societal well-being and beneft.Your leaders should be role models 

for the well-being of your communities. 

Ethics and transparency. Your organization should stress ethical behavior by all workforce 

members in all stakeholder transactions and interactions. Senior leaders should be role models 

of ethical behavior, including transparency, characterized by candid and open communication 

on the part of leadership and management and by the sharing of accurate information. 

Delivering value and results. Your organization should choose and analyze results that help 

you deliver and balance value for your key stakeholders. Thus, results need to include not just 

fnancial results, but also product and process results; customer and workforce satisfaction and 

engagement results; and leadership, strategy, and societal performance. 

4 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
 

 

 

Baldrige Excellence Builder 

The Baldrige Excellence Builder includes questions on the most important 

features of organizational excellence, starting with a full Organizational 

Profle. For a more comprehensive set of questions, see the Baldrige Excellence 

Framework booklet (Business/Nonproft, Education, or Health Care; 

www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications). 

P Organizational Profile

P.1 Organizational Description: What are your key organizational 

characteristics? 

a. Organizational Environment 

(1) Product Offerings What are your main product offerings*? What is the relative importance of each to your success? What mechanisms do you use to deliver your products? 

(2) MISSION, VISION, VALUES, and Culture What are your MISSION, VISION, and VALUES? 

Other than VALUES, what are the characteristics of your organizational culture? What are 

your organization’s CORE COMPETENCIES, and what is their relationship to your MISSION? 

(3) WORKFORCE Profile What is your WORKFORCE profle? What recent changes have you 

experienced in WORKFORCE composition or in your needs with regard to your WORKFORCE? 

What are 

• your WORKFORCE or employee groups and SEGMENTS; 

• the educational requirements for different employee groups and SEGMENTS; 

• the KEY drivers that engage them; 

• your organized bargaining units (union representation), if any; and 

• your special health and safety requirements, if any? 

(4) Assets What are your major facilities, equipment, technologies, and intellectual property? 

(5) Regulatory Environment What are your KEY applicable occupational health and safety 

regulations; accreditation, certifcation, or registration requirements; industry standards; and 

environmental, fnancial, and product regulations? 

b. Organizational Relationships 

(1) Organizational Structure What are your organizational leadership structure and 

GOVERNANCE structure? What structures and mechanisms make up your organization’s 

LEADERSHIP SYSTEM? What are the reporting relationships among your GOVERNANCE board, 

SENIOR LEADERS, and parent organization, as appropriate? 

(Continued on the next page) 

*For health care organizations,“product offerings” are health care services. 

For education organizations,“product offerings” are educational programs and services. 

See www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications for Baldrige frameworks tailored to the health care and education sectors. 

Baldrige Excellence Builder 5 
 

(2) CUSTOMERS** and STAKEHOLDERS What are your KEY market SEGMENTS, CUSTOMER 

groups, and STAKEHOLDER groups, as appropriate? What are their KEY requirements and 

expectations for your products, CUSTOMER support services, and operations, including any 

differences among the groups? 

(3) Suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS What are your KEY types of suppliers, 

PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS? What role do they play in producing and delivering your 

KEY products and CUSTOMER support services, and in enhancing your competitiveness? 

What role do they play in contributing and implementing INNOVATIONS in your organization? What are your KEY supply-network requirements? 

P.2 Organizational Situation: What is your organization’s 

strategic situation? 

a. Competitive Environment 

(1) Competitive Position What are your relative size and growth in your industry or the 

markets you serve? How many and what types of competitors do you have? 

(2) Competitiveness Changes What KEY changes, if any, are affecting your competitive 

situation, including changes that create opportunities for INNOVATION and collaboration, as 

appropriate? 

(3) Comparative Data What KEY sources of comparative and competitive data are available 

from within your industry? What KEY sources of comparative data are available from outside 

your industry? What limitations, if any, affect your ability to obtain or use these data? 

b. Strategic Context 

What are your KEY STRATEGIC CHALLENGES and ADVANTAGES? 

c. PERFORMANCE Improvement System 

What is your PERFORMANCE improvement system, including your PROCESSES for evaluation and 

improvement of KEY organizational projects and PROCESSES? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

**For health care organizations,“customers” are the users of your health care services (e.g., patients, families, insurers, and 

other third-party payors). 

For education organizations,“customers” are the users of your educational programs and services (e.g., students and 

parents). 

6 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
 

 

1 Leadership 

1.1 Senior Leadership: How do your senior leaders lead the organization? 

(1) HOW do SENIOR LEADERS set and DEPLOY your organization’s VISION and VALUES? 

(2) HOW do SENIOR LEADERS’ personal actions demonstrate their commitment to legal and 

ETHICAL BEHAVIOR? 

(3) HOW do SENIOR LEADERS communicate with and engage the entire WORKFORCE, KEY 

PARTNERS, and KEY CUSTOMERS? 

(4) HOW do SENIOR LEADERS create an environment for success now and in the future? 

(5) HOW do SENIOR LEADERS create a focus on action that will achieve the organization’s 

MISSION? 

1.2 Governance and Societal Contributions: How do you govern your 

organization and make societal contributions? 

(1) HOW does your organization ensure responsible GOVERNANCE? 

(2) HOW do you evaluate the PERFORMANCE of your SENIOR LEADERS and your GOVERNANCE 

board? 

(3) HOW do you address current and anticipate future legal, regulatory, and community 

concerns with your products and operations? 

(4) HOW do you promote and ensure ETHICAL BEHAVIOR in all interactions? 

(5) HOW do you incorporate societal well-being and beneft into your strategy and daily 

operations? 

(6) HOW do you actively support and strengthen your KEY communities? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

Baldrige Excellence Builder 7 
 

2 Strategy 

2.1 Strategy Development: How do you develop your strategy? 

(1) HOW do you conduct your strategic planning? 

(2) HOW does your strategy development PROCESS stimulate and incorporate INNOVATION? 

(3) HOW do you collect and analyze relevant data and develop information for use in your 

strategic planning PROCESS? 

(4) HOW do you decide which KEY PROCESSES will be accomplished by your WORKFORCE and 

which by external suppliers, PARTNERS, and COLLABORATORS? 

(5) What are your organization’s KEY STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES and their most important related 

GOALS? 

(6) HOW do your STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES achieve appropriate balance among varying and 

potentially competing organizational needs? 

2.2 Strategy Implementation: How do you implement your strategy? 

(1) What are your KEY short- and longer-term ACTION PLANS? 

(2) HOW do you DEPLOY your ACTION PLANS? 

(3) HOW do you ensure that fnancial and other resources are available to support the 

achievement of your ACTION PLANS while you meet current obligations? 

(4) What are your KEY WORKFORCE plans to support your short- and longer-term STRATEGIC 

OBJECTIVES and ACTION PLANS? 

(5) What KEY PERFORMANCE MEASURES or INDICATORS do you use to track the achievement 

and EFFECTIVENESS of your ACTION PLANS? 

(6) For these KEY PERFORMANCE MEASURES or INDICATORS, what are your PERFORMANCE 

PROJECTIONS for your short- and longer-term planning horizons? 

(7) HOW do you recognize and respond when circumstances require a shift in ACTION PLANS 

and rapid execution of new plans? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

8 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
 

3 Customers 

3.1 Customer Expectations: How do you listen to your customers and 

determine products and services to meet their needs? 

(1) HOW do you listen to, interact with, and observe CUSTOMERS* to obtain actionable 

information? 

(2) HOW do you listen to potential CUSTOMERS to obtain actionable information? 

(3) HOW do you determine your CUSTOMER groups and market SEGMENTS? 

(4) HOW do you determine product offerings? 

3.2 Customer Engagement: How do you build relationships with 

customers and determine satisfaction and engagement? 

(1) HOW do you build and manage CUSTOMER relationships? 

(2) HOW do you enable CUSTOMERS to seek information and support? 

(3) HOW do you manage CUSTOMER complaints? 

(4) HOW do your CUSTOMER experience PROCESSES ensure fair treatment for different 

CUSTOMERS, CUSTOMER groups, and market SEGMENTS? 

(5) HOW do you determine CUSTOMER satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and ENGAGEMENT? 

(6) HOW do you obtain information on CUSTOMERS’ satisfaction with your organization relative 

to other organizations? 

(7) HOW do you use VOICE-OF-THE-CUSTOMER and market data and information? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

*For health care organizations, “customers” are the users of your health care services (e.g., patients, families, insurers, and 

other third-party payors). 

For education organizations, “customers” are the users of your educational programs and services (e.g., students and 

parents). 

Baldrige Excellence Builder 9 
4 Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management 

4.1 Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement of Organizational 

Performance: How do you measure, analyze, and then 

improve organizational performance? 

(1) HOW do you track data and information on daily operations and overall organizational 

PERFORMANCE? 

(2) HOW do you select comparative data and information to support fact-based decision 

making? 

(3) HOW do you ensure that your PERFORMANCE measurement system can respond to rapid or 

unexpected organizational or external changes and provide timely data? 

(4) HOW do you review your organization’s PERFORMANCE and capabilities? 

(5) HOW do you project your organization’s future PERFORMANCE? 

(6) HOW do you use fndings from PERFORMANCE reviews to develop priorities for continuous 

improvement and opportunities for INNOVATION? 

4.2 Information and Knowledge Management: How do you manage your 

information and your organizational knowledge assets? 

(1) HOW do you verify and ensure the quality of organizational data and information? 

(2) HOW do you ensure the availability of organizational data and information? 

(3) HOW do you build and manage organizational knowledge? 

(4) HOW do you share best practices in your organization? 

(5) HOW do you use your knowledge and resources to embed LEARNING in the way your 

organization operates? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

10 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
5 Workforce 

5.1 Workforce Environment: How do you build an effective and 

supportive workforce environment? 

(1) HOW do you assess your WORKFORCE CAPABILITY and CAPACITY needs? 

(2) HOW do you recruit, hire, and onboard new WORKFORCE members? 

(3) HOW do you prepare your WORKFORCE for changing CAPABILITY and CAPACITY needs? 

(4) HOW do you organize and manage your WORKFORCE? 

(5) HOW do you ensure workplace health, security, and accessibility for the WORKFORCE? 

(6) HOW do you support your WORKFORCE via services, benefts, and policies? 

5.2 Workforce Engagement: How do you engage your workforce for 

retention and high performance? 

(1) HOW do you determine the KEY drivers of WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT? 

(2) HOW do you assess WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT? 

(3) HOW do you foster an organizational culture that is characterized by open communication, 

HIGH PERFORMANCE, and an engaged WORKFORCE? 

(4) HOW does your WORKFORCE PERFORMANCE management system support HIGH 

PERFORMANCE? 

(5) HOW does your LEARNING and development system support the personal development of 

your WORKFORCE members and your organization’s needs? 

(6) HOW do you evaluate the EFFECTIVENESS of your LEARNING and development system? 

(7) HOW do you manage career development for your WORKFORCE and your future leaders? 

(8) HOW do you ensure that your PERFORMANCE management, PERFORMANCE development, 

and career development PROCESSES promote equity and inclusion for a diverse WORKFORCE 

and different WORKFORCE groups and SEGMENTS? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

Baldrige Excellence Builder 11 
 

6 Operations 

6.1 Work Processes: How do you design, manage, and improve 

your key products and work processes? 

(1) HOW do you determine KEY product* and WORK PROCESS requirements? 

(2) What are your organization’s KEY WORK PROCESSES? 

(3) HOW do you design your products and WORK PROCESSES to meet requirements? 

(4) HOW does your day-to-day operation of WORK PROCESSES ensure that they meet KEY 

PROCESS requirements? 

(5) HOW do you determine your KEY support PROCESSES? 

(6) HOW do you improve your WORK PROCESSES and support PROCESSES to improve products 

and PROCESS PERFORMANCE, enhance your CORE COMPETENCIES, and reduce variability? 

(7) HOW do you manage your supply network? 

(8) HOW do you pursue your identifed opportunities for INNOVATION? 

6.2 Operational Effectiveness: How do you ensure 

effective management of your operations? 

(1) HOW do you manage the cost, effciency, and EFFECTIVENESS of your operations? 

(2) HOW do you ensure the security and cybersecurity of sensitive or privileged data 

and information and of KEY assets? 

(3) HOW do you provide a safe operating environment for your WORKFORCE and other people 

in your workplace? 

(4) HOW do you ensure that your organization can anticipate, prepare for, and recover from 

disasters, emergencies, and other disruptions? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

*For health care organizations, “products” are health care services. 

For education organizations, “products” are educational programs and services. 

See www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications for Baldrige frameworks tailored to the health care and education sectors. 

12 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
7 Results 

7.1 Product and Process Results: What are your product 

performance and process effectiveness results? 

(1) What are your RESULTS for your products and your CUSTOMER service PROCESSES? 

(2) What are your PROCESS EFFECTIVENESS and effciency RESULTS? 

(3) What are your safety and emergency preparedness RESULTS? 

(4) What are your supply-network management RESULTS? 

7.2 Customer Results: What are your customer-focused 

performance results? 

(1) What are your CUSTOMER satisfaction and dissatisfaction RESULTS? 

(2) What are your CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT RESULTS? 

7.3 Workforce Results: What are your workforce-focused 

performance results? 

(1) What are your WORKFORCE CAPABILITY and CAPACITY RESULTS? 

(2) What are your workplace climate RESULTS? 

(3) What are your WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT RESULTS? 

(4) What are your WORKFORCE and leader development RESULTS? 

7.4 Leadership and Governance Results: What are your 

senior leadership and governance results? 

(1) What are your RESULTS for SENIOR LEADERS’ communication and engagement with the 

WORKFORCE, PARTNERS, and CUSTOMERS? 

(2) What are your RESULTS for GOVERNANCE accountability? 

(3) What are your legal and regulatory RESULTS? 

(4) What are your RESULTS for ETHICAL BEHAVIOR? 

(5) What are your RESULTS for societal well-being and support of your KEY communities? 

7.5 Financial, Market, and Strategy Results: What are your 

results for financial viability and strategy implementation?

(1) What are your fnancial PERFORMANCE RESULTS? 

(2) What are your marketplace PERFORMANCE RESULTS? 

(3) What are your RESULTS for achievement of your organizational strategy and ACTION PLANS? 

Terms in SMALL CAPS are defined in the Glossary of Key Terms (pages 16–18).

Baldrige Excellence Builder 13 
 

Assessing Your Responses 

For scoring guidelines, see the Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet 

(Business/Nonproft, Education, or Health Care; www.nist.gov/baldrige 

/publications). 

Assessing Processes 

Processes are the methods your organization uses and improves to do its work. The four 

factors used to evaluate processes are approach, deployment, learning, and integration (see 

page 3). 

For process items (those in categories 1–6), read the process scoring rubric on page 15. For 

each item, assign one of the descriptors (Reactive, Early, Mature, or Role Model) based on a 

holistic assessment of your processes. 

Assessing Results 

Results are the outputs and outcomes your organization achieves. The four factors used to 

evaluate results are levels, trends, comparisons, and integration (see page 3). 

For results items (7.1–7.5), read the results scoring rubric on page 15. For each item, assign one 

of the descriptors based on a holistic assessment of your overall performance. 

14 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
DESCRIPTOR PROCESS RESULTS 

Reactive • Operations are characterized by activities • Results that are important 

rather than by processes, and they are largely to the organization’s Strategic responsive to immediate needs or problems. ongoing success are and Operational

Goals Goals are poorly defned. missing, not used, or 

randomly reported. 

Early • The organization is beginning to carry • Results that are important out operations with repeatable processes, to the organization’s 

Strategic and evaluation, and improvement, and there is ongoing success are Operational some early coordination among organizational reported, tracked over Goals units. Strategy and quantitative goals are being time, and improving. 

defned. 

• Operations are characterized by repeatable • Results that are important Mature 

processes that are regularly evaluated for to the organization’s Strategic improvement. Learnings are shared, and there ongoing success are and Operational is coordination among organizational units. trending in the right Goals Processes address key strategies and goals. direction and doing well 

relative to competitors or other relevant organizations. 

• Operations are characterized by repeatable Role Model • The full array of results 

processes that are regularly evaluated for that are important to the Strategic change and improvement in collaboration organization’s ongoing and Operational with other affected units. The organization success are reported Goals seeks and achieves effciencies across units and trended over time,

through analysis, innovation, and the sharing indicating top performanceof information and knowledge. Processes and relative to other measures track progress on key strategic and organizations. operational goals. 

Assessing Your Responses 15 
 

Glossary of Key Terms 

The terms below are those in SMALL CAPS in the Baldrige Excellence Builder, 

as well as terms relating to the scoring rubric. For additional defnitions and 

examples, see the Baldrige Excellence Framework booklet (Business/Nonproft, 

Education, or Health Care; www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications). 

ACTION PLANS. Specifc actions that your 

organization takes to reach its strategic objectives. These plans specify the resources committed to and the time horizons for accomplishing 

the plans. See also STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES. 

ALIGNMENT. A state of consistency among 

plans, processes, information, resource 

decisions, workforce capability and capacity, 

actions, results, and analyses that support key 

organization-wide goals. See also INTEGRATION. 

APPROACH. The methods your organization 

uses to carry out its processes. 

COLLABORATORS. Organizations or individuals who cooperate with your organization to 

support a particular activity or event or who 

cooperate intermittently when their short-term 

goals are aligned with or are the same as yours. 

See also PARTNERS. 

CORE COMPETENCIES. Your organization’s 

areas of greatest expertise; those strategically 

important, possibly specialized capabilities that 

are central to fulflling your mission or that 

provide an advantage in your marketplace or 

service environment. 

CUSTOMER. An actual or potential user of your 

organization’s products, programs, or services. 

See also STAKEHOLDERS. 

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT. Your customers’ 

investment in or commitment to your brand and 

product offerings. 

DEPLOYMENT. The extent to which your organization applies an approach in relevant work 

units throughout your organization. 

EFFECTIVE. How well a process or a measure 

addresses its intended purpose. 

ETHICAL BEHAVIOR. The actions your organization takes to ensure that all its decisions, 

actions, and stakeholder interactions conform to 

its moral and professional principles of conduct. 

These principles should support all applicable 

laws and regulations and are the foundation for 

your organization’s culture and values. 

GOALS. Future conditions or performance levels 

that your organization intends or desires to 

attain. See also PERFORMANCE PROJECTIONS. 

GOVERNANCE. The system of management 

and controls exercised in the stewardship of 

your organization. 

HIGH PERFORMANCE. Ever-higher levels of 

overall organizational and individual performance, including quality, productivity, innovation rate, and cycle time. 

HOW. The systems and processes that your 

organization uses to achieve its mission 

requirements. 

INNOVATION. Making meaningful change to 

improve products, processes, the organization, 

or societal well-being, and create new value for 

stakeholders. The outcome of innovation is a 

discontinuous or breakthrough change. 

INTEGRATION. The harmonization of plans, 

processes, information, resource decisions, workforce capability and capacity, actions, results, and 

analyses to support key organization-wide goals. 

See also ALIGNMENT. 

16 Baldrige Excellence Builder 
 

KEY. Major or most important; critical to achieving your intended outcome. 

KNOWLEDGE ASSETS. Your organization’s 

accumulated intellectual resources; the 

knowledge possessed by your organization and 

its workforce in the form of information, ideas, 

learning, understanding, memory, insights, 

cognitive and technical skills, and capabilities. 

LEADERSHIP SYSTEM. The way leadership is 

exercised, formally and informally, throughout 

your organization; the basis for key decisions 

and the way they are made, communicated, and 

carried out. 

LEARNING. New knowledge or skills acquired 

through evaluation, study, experience, and 

innovation. 

LEVELS. Numerical information that places or 

positions your organization’s results and performance on a meaningful measurement scale. 

MEASURES AND INDICATORS. Numerical 

information that quantifes the input, output, 

and performance dimensions of processes, 

products, programs, projects, services, and the 

overall organization (outcomes). 

MISSION. Your organization’s overall function. 

PARTNERS. Key organizations or individuals 

who are working in concert with your organization to achieve a common goal or improve 

performance. Typically, partnerships are formal 

arrangements. See also COLLABORATORS. 

PERFORMANCE. Outputs and their outcomes 

obtained from processes, products, and customers that permit you to evaluate and compare 

your organization’s results to performance 

projections, standards, past results, goals, and 

other organizations’ results. 

PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE. An integrated 

approach to organizational performance 

management that results in (1) delivery of everimproving value to customers and stakeholders, 

contributing to ongoing organizational success; 

(2) improvement of your organization’s overall 

effectiveness and capabilities; and (3) learning 

for the organization and for people in the 

workforce. 

PERFORMANCE PROJECTIONS. Estimates of 

your organization’s future performance. See also 

GOALS. 

PROCESS. Linked activities with the purpose of 

producing a product or service for a customer 

(user) within or outside your organization. 

RESULTS. Outputs and outcomes achieved by 

your organization. 

SEGMENT. One part of your organization’s 

customer, market, product offering, or 

workforce base. 

SENIOR LEADERS. Your organization’s senior 

management group or team. 

STAKEHOLDERS. All groups that are or might 

be affected by your organization’s actions and 

success. 

STRATEGIC ADVANTAGES. Those marketplace 

benefts that exert a decisive infuence on your 

organization’s likelihood of future success. These 

advantages are frequently sources of current 

and future competitive success relative to other 

providers of similar products. 

STRATEGIC CHALLENGES. Those pressures that 

exert a decisive infuence on your organization’s 

likelihood of future success. These challenges 

are frequently driven by your organization’s 

anticipated competitive position in the future 

relative to other providers of similar products. 

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES. The aims or 

responses that your organization articulates 

to address major change or improvement, 

competitiveness or social issues, and business 

advantages. See also ACTION PLANS. 

SYSTEMATIC. Well-ordered, repeatable, and 

exhibiting the use of data and information so 

that learning is possible. 

TRENDS. Numerical information that shows 

the direction and rate of change of your 

organization’s results or the consistency of its 

performance over time. 

VALUES. The guiding principles and behaviors 

that embody how your organization and its 

people are expected to operate. 

Glossary of Key Terms 17 
VISION. Your organization’s desired future state. 

VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER. Your process for 

capturing customer-related information. 

WORK PROCESSES. Your organization’s most 

important internal value-creation processes. 

WORKFORCE. All people actively supervised 

by your organization and involved in accomplishing your organization’s work, including 

paid employees (e.g., permanent, part-time, 

temporary, on-site, and remote employees, as 

well as contract employees supervised by your 

organization) and volunteers, as appropriate. 

WORKFORCE CAPABILITY. Your organization’s 

ability to accomplish its work processes through 

its people’s knowledge, skills, abilities, and 

competencies. 

WORKFORCE CAPACITY. Your organization’s 

ability to ensure suffcient staffng levels to 

accomplish its work processes and deliver your 

products to customers, including the ability to 

meet seasonal or varying demand levels. 

WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT. The extent of 

workforce members’ emotional and intellectual 

commitment to accomplishing your organization’s work, mission, and vision. 

18 Baldrige Excellence Builder 

The Baldrige Program thanks the Baldrige Foundation for 

supporting the program’s mission and the following Mac Baldrige 

Society organizations for supporting the publication of this booklet. 

BALDRIGE EXECUTIVE FELLOWS PROGRAM®, BALDRIGE PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM® 

and Design, CRITERIA FOR PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE®, MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY 

AWARD®, PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE®, and THE QUEST FOR EXCELLENCE® are federally registered 

trademarks and service marks of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and 

Technology. The unauthorized use of these trademarks and service marks is prohibited. 
You’ve used the Baldrige Excellence Builder to 

assess your organization.What’s next?

Purchase the Baldrige Framework Booklet

The Baldrige Excellence Framework (Business/Nonprofit, Education, or Health Care) 

is a more comprehensive guide to organizational performance excellence.

Attend the Quest for Excellence® Conference

At Quest and other Baldrige conferences, you will learn best performance 

management practices from Baldrige Award recipients. 

Attend the Baldrige Examiner Training Experience

In this nationally recognized Baldrige Examiner Training course, you will work 

with experienced Baldrige examiners and learn how to use the Criteria for 

Performance Excellence.

Apply for the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program

This one-year, nationally ranked leadership development experience prepares rising 

senior executives for impactful leadership and for achieving performance excellence 

in their own organizations. 

Request a Baldrige Collaborative Assessment

An assessment against the Baldrige Criteria by a team of experienced Baldrige examiners 

gives you timely, actionable feedback that you can begin using right away to improve 

your organization. 

Try the Baldrige Cybersecurity Excellence Builder

This voluntary self-assessment tool will help you better understand and improve the 

effectiveness of your organization’s cybersecurity risk management efforts.

Explore Local Baldrige-Based Offerings

The Alliance for Performance Excellence (www.baldrigealliance.org), the consortium 

of state, local, and sector-specific Baldrige-based programs, offers resources and 

services to help your organization get better, faster.

Contact the Baldrige Program

We’ll answer your questions about these and other Baldrige products and services. 

a powerful set of mechanisms 

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don’t

I see the Baldrige process as a powerful set of mechanisms for disciplined people 

engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action to create 

great organizations that produce exceptional results. 
Baldrige Excellence Framework 

LEADERSHIP

STRATEGY

CUSTOMERS

MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

WORKFORCE

OPERATIONS 2021 RESULTS 2022 www.nist.gov/baldrige

BALDRIGE 

EXCELLENCE 

FRAMEWORK

Proven leadership and management 

practices for high performance

2021–2022 Baldrige Excellence Framework

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What People Are Saying

Using the [Baldrige] Criteria, 

not only can you see your 

results improve, but you also 

are focused on the gap areas 

that are holding back 

your results.

Sue Dunn

President and CEO

Donor Alliance

Denver, CO 

Baldrige Award recipient

I have always envisioned 

Stellar to be a company that 

is built to last. . . . And if you 

ask how we can ensure that 

we are built to last, I would 

say the answer is Baldrige.

Celeste Ford

CEO and Founder

Stellar Solutions 

Palo Alto, CA 

Baldrige Award recipient

CONNECT WITH BALDRIGE

@BaldrigeProgram #Baldrige

business 

nonprofit

government 

LEADERSHIP

STRATEGY

CUSTOMERS

MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

WORKFORCE

OPERATIONS 2021 RESULTS 2022 www.nist.gov/baldrige

BALDRIGE 

EXCELLENCE 

FRAMEWORK

Proven leadership and management 

practices for high performance

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What People Are Saying

Howard Community College 

is a stronger, more resilient 

organization because of 

Baldrige. 

Kathleen Hetherington

President

Howard Community College 

Columbia, MD 

Baldrige Award recipient

I see the Baldrige Excellence 

Framework as such a useful tool 

for focusing on what truly gets 

results. For those of us in education, 

those results can change the 

trajectory of students’ lives.

JoAnn Sternke

Former Superintendent 

Pewaukee School District 

Pewaukee, WI 

Baldrige Award recipient 

CONNECT WITH BALDRIGE

@BaldrigeProgram #Baldrige

education The ratio of the Baldrige Program’s benefits 

for the U.S. economy to its costs is estimated

at 820 to 1.

121 Baldrige Award winners serve as national 

role models.

2010 –2020 award applicants represent 

676,535 jobs, 

5,001 work sites, over $189 billion in 

revenue/budgets, and about 614 million 

customers served.

248 Baldrige examiners volunteered 

roughly $5.6 million in 

services in 2020.

Baldrige-based programs annually evaluate 

and recognize more than 1,000 organizations that use the 

Baldrige Excellence Framework.

The ratio of the Baldrige Program’s benefits 

for the U.S. economy to its costs is estimated

at 820 to 1.

121 Baldrige Award winners serve as national 

role models.

2010 –2020 award applicants represent 

676,535 jobs, 

5,001 work sites, over $189 billion in 

revenue/budgets, and about 614 million 

customers served.

248 Baldrige examiners volunteered 

roughly $5.6 million in 

services in 2020.

Baldrige-based programs annually evaluate 

and recognize more than 1,000 organizations that use the 

Baldrige Excellence Framework.

2021–2022 Baldrige Excellence Framework (Education)

LEADERSHIP

STRATEGY

CUSTOMERS

MEASUREMENT, ANALYSIS, AND 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

WORKFORCE

OPERATIONS 2021 RESULTS 2022 www.nist.gov/baldrige

BALDRIGE 

EXCELLENCE 

FRAMEWORK

Proven leadership and management 

practices for high performance

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53000>

ISBN 978-0-9980827-7-6

$30.00

What People Are Saying

[Baldrige has] helped us create 

discipline around our processes, 

improved our financial performance, 

and improved our focus on 

key quality metrics.

Kyle Bennett

President and CEO

Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center 

Jasper, IN 

Baldrige Award recipient

Baldrige is a proven means of 

making your organization great for 

the people it serves and those 

who work for you. The framework 

supports long-term sustainability 

and leads to innovation.

Jayne Pope

CEO

Hill Country Memorial

Fredericksburg, TX

Baldrige Award recipient 

CONNECT WITH BALDRIGE

@BaldrigeProgram #Baldrige

health care The ratio of the Baldrige Program’s benefits 

for the U.S. economy to its costs is estimated

at 820 to 1.

121 Baldrige Award winners serve as national 

role models.

2010 –2020 award applicants represent 

676,535 jobs, 

5,001 work sites, over $189 billion in 

revenue/budgets, and about 614 million 

customers served.

248 Baldrige examiners volunteered 

roughly $5.6 million in 

services in 2020.

Baldrige-based programs annually evaluate 

and recognize more than 1,000 organizations that use the 

Baldrige Excellence Framework.

The ratio of the Baldrige Program’s benefits 

for the U.S. economy to its costs is estimated

at 820 to 1.

121 Baldrige Award winners serve as national 

role models.

2010 –2020 award applicants represent 

676,535 jobs, 

5,001 work sites, over $189 billion in 

revenue/budgets, and about 614 million 

customers served.

248 Baldrige examiners volunteered 

roughly $5.6 million in 

services in 2020.

Baldrige-based programs annually evaluate 

and recognize more than 1,000 organizations that use the 

Baldrige Excellence Framework.

2021–2022 Baldrige Excellence Framework (Health Care)

Purchase your copy today. 

www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications

Printed format: $30 

Electronic format: $12 

Volume discounts and 

enterprise licenses available

Contents

About the Baldrige Excellence Framework

How to Use the Baldrige Excellence Framework

Criteria for Performance Excellence

Scoring System

How to Respond to the Criteria

Core Values and Concepts

Changes from the 2019–2020 Baldrige Excellence Framework

Glossary of Key Terms

Contact 

For more information on the Baldrige Excellence Framework or other products and services:

www.nist.gov/baldrige | 301.975.2036 | baldrige@nist.gov 

CONNECT WITH BALDRIGE

@BaldrigeProgram #Baldrige

01/2021

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Photo credits: ©Ribah/Shutterstock, ©Rostizna/Shutterstock