Consistent Use of Baldrige Leads to Multi-Year Winners, 255% Revenue Growth for Three-Time Winners

The Baldrige Excellence Framework and its Criteria are intended to be a collection of questions to provide all the considerations an organization needs to operate at the leading edge of validated leadership and performance practice. Indeed, Baldrige Overseer Ray Floyd called the Criteria a “ready reference manual for the practice of excellence.”

So, what could consistent use of the framework do for your organization?

The 2021 Baldrige Award winners—The Charter School of San Diego, Mid-America Transplant, and MidwayUSA—are the perfect examples of organizations that have used the Criteria over time to guide their operations and internalize the best practices that have worked for them. Their consistent use led to results that have consistently placed them among the best of the best in their industries, sectors, and communities.

Following are some updated data based on two- and three-time organizational winners of the Baldrige Award, from their first to most recent applications. These date include the 2021 recipients.

Using Baldrige Framework since 2005: Because It’s “the Hallmark for Performance Excellence”

Two-time Baldrige Award recipient the Charter School of San Diego (CA)—which provides free, personalized education to students in grades 6–12 who are at risk of not graduating from high school through a hybrid in-person/online study program—began using the Baldrige framework in 2005 because the “Baldrige Criteria are recognized internationally as the hallmark for performance excellence,” and it has consistently posted student learning results that significantly outperform peers.

For example, for the past five years, the Charter School has sustained student performance for grades 6–8 and 11 in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress double that of all competitors and county and state Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) schools in English Language Arts and three times higher in math. (Designated by the state, a DASS school must have at least 70% of its total enrollment composed of high-risk groups.) In addition, it maintained overall student and parent satisfaction levels of close to 100% from 2016–2021.

In 2015, the Charter School of San Diego became the first charter school to win a Baldrige Award, and it now becomes the first two-time awardee in the education sector.

Using Baldrige Framework since 2005: Because It Helped Achieve “Goal of Saving More Lives”

Two-time Baldrige Award recipient Mid-America Transplant (St. Louis, MO), a private, nonprofit, organ procurement organization (OPO) and eye and tissue bank that serves 84 counties in Missouri, Illinois, and Arkansas, adopted the Baldrige framework in 2005 “with the goal of saving more lives.” Mid-America Transplant is now one of the top-performing OPOs nationwide, with more than 125 organs transplanted annually per 1 million population since 2017. Between 2003 and 2020, the organization’s Baldrige journey has led to a 167% increase in organs transplanted and a 385% increase in tissue donors, saving and healing thousands of lives. 

In addition, through the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mid-America Transplant's results included a very low rate of missed organ referrals (sustained near zero from 2017 through 2020) and a best-possible rate of timely organ referrals (100% done within 90 minutes from the time of the donor’s death). Its overall workforce engagement has consistently exceeded two external industry comparisons.

In 2015, Mid-America became the first OPO to win the Baldrige Award, and it now becomes the first two-time Baldrige-awarded OPO.

Using Baldrige Framework since 2006: Because It Is a "World-Renowned Leadership and Management Guide"

MidwayUSA (Columbia, MO) is a family-owned, internet retailer offering products for shooting, hunting, fishing, and the outdoors. Since first adopting the Baldrige Criteria in 2006 as its “leadership and management guide,” MidwayUSA has continued to pursue its vision:

“to be the best-run business in America, and the most successful, respected business in our industry, for the benefit of our Customers."

The company has averaged 39% net income growth every year over the past 12 years, having increased sales per full-time Employee from about $500,000 in 2014 to more than $1 million in 2020. In addition, it ranks in the top 3% of the best U.S. performers in Customer satisfaction out of 3,500 internet retailers. In its industry, it is the leader for measures such as workforce climate; continuous learning, training, and development; friendly, courteous, ethical relationships with suppliers; timely and accurate payments; Customer retention; and return on assets.

In 2009 and 2015, MidwayUSA was recognized in the small business category. Its third award is in the service category, making it only the second three-time Baldrige Award recipient in the 30+ years of the award.
 

Join us at the Quest for Excellence® 2022!

The Quest for Excellence® Conference

Sunday, April 3–Wednesday, April 6, 2022  |  #BaldrigeQuest

The three-day showcase will feature the current Award recipients, former recipients, pre-conference workshops, senior leader plenary sessions with Q&A, more than 40+ concurrent sessions, conference keynote, and more!

AWARD CEREMONY

Sunday, April 3
Join us Sunday evening for the Award Ceremony and Reception honoring the Award recipients from the past three years.

Register Today!