Conference Kick-Off

Mercy Health System's Performance Excellence Journey
Javon Bea, President and CEO of Mercy Health System, Janesville, WI

2007 BALDRIGE HEALTH CARE RECIPIENT

Featured Speakers Session A

Keys to Delivering Service Excellence
Ryan Magnon, Vice President of Quality
The West Paces Hotel Group

This session walks attendees through The West Paces system for executing performance excellence, ultimately delivering incredible customer experiences.

What’s in Your Performance Excellence Toolbox?
Denise Haynes and Doug Serrano
Quiet Excellence

Baldrige does not limit organizations to a single improvement model. Like any do-it-yourselfer can attest, the job goes easier if you have the right tools. Remember, to a person with only a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This session shares some best practices on blending ISO, JCAHO, Lean, Six Sigma, etc. with Baldrige.

Performance Excellence Journey Case Study: Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation, Madison, WI

Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation has used feedback from both Wisconsin Forward Award and the National Baldrige Quality Award programs to drive organizational performance excellence in a competetive and dynamic marketplace. P-Plus recently received a site visit from national Baldrige Examiners.

Baldrige Goes to School Case Study: Pewaukee Public Schools, Pewaukee, WI

Pewaukee Public School District was the first K–12 district in Wisconsin to be recognized by Wisconsin Forward Award at the Mastery Level. Pewaukee's team will take participants on their journey to excellence using the Baldrige framework. They will learn why and how the Baldrige Criteria can help schools reflect upon improving their operations & performance, strategies for completing the application, hosting a successful site
visit, and reflecting and learning from the feedback report. This is a
session you will not want to miss! 

Featured Speakers Session B

Leadership Excellence—What Makes a Great Leader?
Ryan Magnon, Vice President of Quality
The West Paces Hotel Group

This session focuses on how managers/execs can become better leaders using the principles of performance excellence as well as approaches used by the West Paces Hotel Group.

Process Management at MESA: Lean at MESA and Why It Fits
Greg Thomas
MESA Products, Inc.

2006 BALDRIGE SMALL BUSINESS RECIPIENT

Getting from “We Got a Lot of Really Great People Doing a Lot of Really Great Stuff” to a Well Written Application
Denise Haynes and Doug Serrano
Quiet Excellence

This session focuses on the “how to” of capturing the thoughts, suggestions, and strengths of your organization, gathering them into one tool (provided with the session) and using them to craft your application. You’ll have plenty of “leftovers” to use for site visit, too—so you don’t spend the time repeating what was in your application.

Baldrige Goes to School Case Study: Holmen School District, Holmen, WI

Holmen's Viking Elementary was the first K–12 entity in Wisconsin to submit an application to Wisconsin Forward Award. This pioneering spirit has spread across Holmen School District, and the entire school system is embracing the Baldrige framework to achieve success for all learners by creating and utilizing an electronic PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) template to approach issues and create systems of improvement. The presenters will share the Leadership Team's journey through the PDSA process that was used to train administrators to use this process and supporting Quality Tools while focusing on real improvements needed for their team. The team will share lessons learned and the process and tools utilized to determine their strengths and opportunities for improvement as a cohesive, high-quality leadership team. By focusing on their own needs, the leaders of this school district have united to gain the skills and dispositions to lead a district-wide initiative of continuous improvement.

Morning Keynote

MESA's Quality Journey and Lessons Learned
Greg Thomas
MESA Products, Inc., Tulsa, OK

2006 BALDRIGE SMALL BUSINESS RECIPIENT

Afternoon Keynote

Using Baldrige to Lead Your Organization to Excellence
Michele Serbenski, Executive Director, Corporate Effectiveness and Customer Satisfaction
Bronson Methodist Hospital

2005 BALDRIGE HEALTH CARE RECIPIENT

Featured Speakers Session C

Bronson Methodist Hospital's Focus on Patients, Other Customers, and Markets
Michele Serbenski, Executive Director, Corporate Effectiveness and Customer Satisfaction
Bronson Methodist Hospital

2005 BALDRIGE HEALTH CARE RECIPIENT

What Are Core Competencies and How Do I Find Mine?
Denise Haynes and Doug Serrano
Quiet Excellence

The concept of “core competencies” was new for the Baldrige Criteria in 2007, and many organizations have struggled at recognizing and defining theirs. This session provides explanations and considerations to enable your team to use the concept to your advantage.

Visual Workplace and 5S
Kay Kendall
Sun Microsystems

This session will convince you that you don't need a professional organizer to get your workplace (and maybe your home!) in order. Reduce mistakes, rework, and unproductive time with a few simple techniques.

Writing an Organizational Profile
WFA staff

The organizational profile provides the "lens" through which Examiners evaluate your organization and sets context for the rest of the application. This session provides explanations and considerations for first-time writers as well as tips for veterans looking to enhance their Baldrige or WFA applications.

Relationships, Rigor, and Results
Patricia Herdrich
West Bend Joint School District #1

Discover how high-performing leadership teams build an urgency for change and a strong network of support for students and adults, and strategically align resources to realize learning results. Learn how the West Bend School District is using the Baldrige Framework to realize its vision for learning excellence while sustaining efficient operations.

Featured Speakers Session D

When is an improvement “innovative?” How many examples does it take to make a process? Is this new thing evidence of a cycle of learning, or lack of deployment? Learn how to differentiate these concepts, and how to show them to your advantage in your application.

Metrics that Matter: Implementing a Balanced Scorecard
Kay Kendall
Sun Microsystems

Most organizations have an extensive array of measures, but how many of these measures reflect the different stakeholder requirements? And how many are predictive rather than reactive in nature? Learn how to create the balance in your measurement system, bring focus and priority to your organization, and create alignment from the leadership level to your individual employees.

Launching an Application Writing Process in Your Organization

Your organization is going to write a Baldrige or WFA application. Now what? Join this roundtable discussion facilitated by veteran application process coordinator Tim Hallock to learn about approaches used by organizations to manage the application writing process. Bring your questions and best practice ideas.

Baldrige Goes to School Case Study: What Does Baldrige Really Look Like Throughout a School System?
Cheryl Kmiecik with Robin Kitzrow, Fritsche Middle School

Cheryl and Robin will share what it takes to develop aligned improvement plans for districts, schools, classrooms and students that use Baldrige as the approach to continual improvement. They will share real examples of how these organizations use the Baldrige Criteria to assess their organization as a system and then development of goals, measures, and an action plan for improvement.

Session A: Addicted to Excellence

Denise Haynes and Doug Serrano
Quiet Excellence

This session describes the 12 steps necessary to move from selection of the Baldrige Criteria as the organizational performance excellence model to completing and submitting an application.

Session B: Root Cause Analysis and Corrective Action

Kay Kendall
Sun Microsystems

Using case studies, this workshop demonstrates the power of techniques to identify root cause(s) beyond the 5-why's. Examples will include product, service, and process defects across a variety of sectors.

Session C: Beginning Steps of Applying Baldrige at the District, School, or Classroom Level

Cheryl Kmiecik

This workshop will help you learn how to apply the Baldrige principles to your position – district, school, or classroom. We will work together to develop goals, measures, and strategies to begin the journey toward continuous improvement (PDSA cycle). Participants will walk away with examples they can take back to their workplace the very next day.

Session D: 10 Essential Systems

Denise Haynes and Doug Serrano
Quiet Excellence

We have found that there are ten systems which are essential for organizations on a Baldrige journey to have in place: Leadership; Communication; Strategic Planning; Action Planning; Customer Relationship Management; Performance Measurement, Analysis, and Review; Knowledge Management; Workforce Engagement, Development, and Management; Disaster and Emergency Preparedness; and Process Management and Improvement. We will review the components of each, and how they answer the Criteria questions, considering that “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Session E: Benchmarking

Kay Kendall
Sun Microsystems

This workshop provides tools and techniques to help you identify best practices in other organizations, understand them, and implement them to achieve breakthrough improvements in your own organization. Learn how to scale your efforts to match resource and schedule constraints.