Examiner Appreciation

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

Even though social media is a critical tool that organizations should use for listening, learning, and communicating (see the 2019–2020 Baldrige Excellence Framework, pages 7, 13, 14, and 42), sometimes I wonder if we would all be better off without it…

… that is, until something important or meaningful pops up on one of my feeds!

For example, the quote above popped up just the other day, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Right now, over 300 people across the country are spending their precious time—during the day, in the evenings, and even on the weekends—serving as Baldrige examiners in support of the Baldrige Award process. Every one of those examiners is a volunteer who must balance the demands of the Baldrige Award process with those of their daily lives, such as work, family, and friends.

These wonderful volunteers have already spent dozens of hours on their reviews and are now in the process of achieving consensus on the feedback to give their assigned applicant—a U.S. organization that has come to the Baldrige Program looking to improve, and possibly be recognized with nation’s highest honor for performance excellence, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

And so, in keeping with the timely quote, I wish to express my gratitude to every volunteer examiner striving to provide the best possible evaluation and feedback to our award applicants. Your efforts enable organizations of all kinds to get better, improve their performance and sustainability, enhance their work environments and customer engagement, and improve the quality of life across the communities in which they live, work, and do business.

Thank you for all you do!