EFQM Excellence Model
The EFQM Excellence Model is promoted in Europe by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM®) and in Scotland by their national partner organisation, Quality Scotland.
Essentially, the EFQM Excellence Model tells us that excellent Customer Results, People Results and Society Results are achieved through Leadership driving Policy and Strategy, Management of People, Partnership and Resources, and Processes, leading ultimately to excellence in Key Performance Results (see Figure 1).
The EFQM Excellence Model consists of nine criteria, divided into Enablers (the hows) and Results (the whats). The Enabler criteria are concerned with how the organisation conducts itself, how it manages its staff and resources, how it plans its strategy and how it reviews and monitors key processes.
The organisation’s Results are what it achieves. These encompass the level of satisfaction among the organisation’s employees and customers, its impact on the wider community and key performance indicators.
What does it involve?
The starting point for most organisations is to gather evidence relevant to the nine criteria of the EFQM Excellence Model. This can range from a quick, rough guide to an externally validated evidence based report. Self-assessment leads to a profile of the organisation’s strengths and areas for improvement. These are valuable in developing a prioritised improvement action plan involving the use of other quality tools as necessary.
It is possible to ‘score’ performance against the EFQM Excellence Model criteria, the main value of this being a summary measure of improvement over a period of time, or as part of an award application. Most organisations using the EFQM Excellence Model concentrate on areas for improvement, rather than routinely scoring their performance.
The EFQM Excellence Model has been designed to be a generic model and is as applicable to ‘non business’ orientated organisations as to private sector organisations.
How much does it cost?
The resources required for self-assessment vary enormously. Simplified materials for very basic assessments are available for free. More rigorous assessment requires a modest investment in materials, training and, possibly, consultancy support — a recent survey shows that the majority of organisations spend less than £5,000.
Further advice can be sought from the Scottish Executive or from Quality Scotland.
How long does it take?
Self-assessment against the EFQM Excellence Model can be completed very quickly — within days for a very basic assessment. However, as a diagnostic tool it highlights areas for action and the time needed to address those action points will vary between organisations.
Part of the logic behind the EFQM Excellence Model is regular assessment and review. The most successful users conduct annual assessments as part of their business planning process.
Benefits
Self-assessment against the EFQM Excellence Model:
- Identifies strengths and areas for improvement
- Identifies priority areas to address
- Provides year-on-year assessment of performance against a widely recognised model
- Provides a framework that makes sense of all quality and improvement activities
- Generates fresh motivation for improvement
- Gives an insight into world class practice
- Enables comparison with a wide range of other organisations.
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