Examiner Criteria

The ONESM Award Criteria continue to evolve to address the changes and developments in the environment encountered by organizations and leaders as well as in response to needs to clarify and deepen users’ knowledge about the content of the Criteria itself.

Through the ONE Award Criteria, we seek to ask the right questions to help you assess your organizational effectiveness and performance at all levels and in all aspects of your organizational operations and structure.

Full review of the Criteria takes place annually, with changes to the Criteria content made in even-numbered years. Major changes to the Baldrige Criteria take place in odd numbered years, with the ONE Award incorporating those changes as appropriate in the following, even-numbered year.

2008 is a year that is marked by a number of changes in the Criteria. Most of those changes are of a clarifying nature, helping applicants and Criteria users to conduct a more focused and effective assessment and complete a more robust assessment/ application.

The changes to the Criteria are detailed below on a category by category basis:

Organizational Profile

The applicant is requested to identify its key organizational performance indicators (outcomes/ results that drive the organization’s assessment of overall success as well as ongoing actions and decision making).

• The term “workforce” replaces “employees and volunteers” here and throughout the Criteria.
• Within the workforce of the organization, the criteria ask for identification of key workforce groups/segments as well as the key requirements of those groups/segments.
• In addition to seeking identification of the organization’s key Strategic Challenges as in the past, the Criteria also ask for identification of key Strategic Advantages.
• The applicant is asked to identify the organization’s “Core Competencies” (see the Glossary if clarification is required).

Category 1–People

• The applicant is asked to describe how key decisions are communicated to the organization by senior leaders.
• Emphasis has been placed on the personal involvement and action of senior leaders, how they personally model expectations and how they take an active, personal role in key leadership activities.
• The role of leaders in the area of organizational sustainability is examined more deeply through the need to address leaders’ collective and individual role in encouraging organizational improvement, bringing focus to the achievement of the organization’s mission and goals, and ensuring organizational and personal learning.
• The applicant is asked to describe its process to evaluate training needs and requirements.

Category 2–Principles

• Emphasis is placed on description of how the organization uses Voice of the Customer information.
• The applicant is asked to describe its process to review and improve its listening and learning methods.
• The applicant is asked to describe how it aligns its customer access methods with customers’ needs and requirements.
• The applicant is asked to describe how it evaluates and improves its governance system.
• The applicant is asked to describe its process to evaluate performance of its senior leaders and board members on both an individual and collective basis.

Category 3–Process

• The Criteria have been clarified to ask the applicant to describe how its strategic objectives address its strategic challenges and advantages.
• The applicant is asked to define how it tracks progress toward achieving/completing its action plans.
• The applicant is asked to describe its process to determine the financial and nonfinancial resources necessary to execute its action plans.
• The applicant is asked to describe how the organization is prepared to respond to emergencies and disasters.
• The applicant is expected to describe its process to engage its workforce in process improvement activities.
• The applicant is asked to describe how it determines its core competencies
• The applicant is expected to describe how it identifies its processes that exist to create value for customers as well as how it identifies the processes that support these value creation processes.

Category 4–Performance

• There is a specific request for the data that reflect performance of both the processes that create value for customers, as well as the processes that support value creation.

Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethical Conduct

All examiners must sign, date and send in the Conflict of Interest Statement once assigned an applicant.