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Praxis Solutions

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Praxis Solutions

Category Archives: Balanced Scorecard

A structured approach to performance management and measurement. Creates a clear visual summary of strategy, process improvement, funding requirements, and links all with mission and vision.

The Baldridge Journey – Lessons from…

12 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by Dan Edds in Balanced Scorecard, Baldrige, Developing Leadership Systems, Praxis Solutions

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Baldrige

Thrilled CustomersFifty-five pages, single spaced 10 point font, 2 column format and 165 graphics. This is a Baldridge application for a small rural hospital west of Olympia Washington. In adopting the Baldridge excellence framework they have gone on record saying, “we want to become the best”. Facilitating the discovery, identifying their systems and processes and then writing the document was a privilege. Exhausting for sure. Five and a half months of workshops, 4-5 complete rewrites, hours of edits, checks and double checks. Still bound to be a few errors. Frustrating but the lessons are massive.

Baldridge is brilliant. I have been in the Baldrige world for six or seven years. With each touch of the Baldrige system I am more aware of its brilliance. Nothing is more comprehensive, demanding, or relentless in pursuing excellence than the Baldridge framework.
Excellence is not a mystery. Baldridge takes the mystery out of the pursuit. With the final edit their next step in the journey is crystal clear. Every health care organization is swimming in data. They are paddling as fast as they can a river of numbers. A myriad of regulatory, oversight, government and private organizations require, gather, and assemble mountains of data for public consumption. Much of it is buried in data warehouses where the statistical relevance is debated by some who want to resist change and others that want to prove preconceived notions about health care. But the numbers are there. This organization’s next hurdle is lining up their data with their vision. When they do this, look out.
Baldridge promotes systems thinking. Having worked with this hospital for a year in developing a formal leadership system, it is clearer than ever that health care is a web of interconnecting systems that must be integrated if the cost of health care is ever going to be contained. This hospital is the primary health care provider in a county of high unemployment, high rates of drug & alcohol abuse, and high poverty. Three years ago the county was ranked #33 out of 39 counties for population health. Today they are at #28. Sounds like a minor advance but they have moved the dial on a clock that is hard to move. By recognizing that medical health cannot be separated from behavioral and social health and by partnering with social service organizations and even competitors this little hospital is making an impact. They have begun to integrate social, behavioral and medical health care delivery. They have recognized that treating the cause of illness is immeasurably cheaper than treating the symptoms of illness. The result is that their patients are healthier, at a lower cost and enjoy greater access.
Baldrige provided the framework for excellence. They provided the vision.

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Three Leaders, One Leadership System

27 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by Dan Edds in Balanced Scorecard, Baldrige, Leadership Systems, Mapping Strategy, Praxis Solutions

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Baldrige, Leadership Systems, Mapping Strategy

Close up of men's rowing team

Leadership Systems: All Leaders Pulling Together

Three leaders. All well recognized for their expertise. All brilliant and hold post graduate degrees. All operate non-profits. Two are CEO’s of similar organizations with a similar mission and comparable size. One is growing rapidly. The other is growing but slowly. One has that unique ability to gather followers. Volunteers and funding flow easily but he struggles with long term strategy. He is concerned that growth and well-meaning activity is masking real and long-term transformation. The other is a brilliant strategist but struggles communicating new concepts and making them simple. Hence, funding and the necessary volunteers don’t come so easily. My observation is that both struggle putting the necessary systems in place to be as successful as they would like. Especially a leadership system. To them, leadership is an individual person.

The third leader is the CEO of a different type of non-profit. He operates in a world of dynamic change, high competition, high regulation and everything he says and does is open to public review. He understands that leadership is not about one person exerting power and control. He is building a formal leadership system. It is a work of art. His senior leadership team is operating – like a team. They are mission driven and their leadership system is designed to execute on that mission. Yes, he hires leaders for their technical expertise and experience but he also hires them to the requirements of the leadership system.
For long term organizational excellence, transformation and innovation my bet is on leader number three. His personal leadership is not about attracting followers but about executing organizational mission. He understands that this will take all leaders pulling on their individual oars in concert with the others. My prediction is that soon, they will be recognized nationally for their excellence.

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Mapping Strategy and Operational Alignment

18 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by Dan Edds in Balanced Scorecard, Baldrige, Leadership Systems, Mapping Strategy, Praxis Solutions

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DanEdds, Mapping Strategy

Close up of a men's quadruple skulls rowing team, seconds after the start of their race

At Praxis Solutions we strongly believe in the value of a strategy map. The chief reason is that it is – visual. Most of us are visual learners. We feel, think, respond to and remember pictures and stories. “Pictures are worth thousand words”. This means one well-crafted picture can tell the story behind three pages of text. Time and again we see the power of a visual representation of strategy.
However, there is another important value in a strategy map – operational alignment. A strategy map visually tells the story of a leadership system and how the system is aligned with mission. In addition, a strategy map shows the connection between budgets and the execution of vision. Processes become aligned around meeting customer requirements instead of asking customers to bend to the requirements of the process. Leadership knows what they are supposed to produce rather than the default command and control.

Aligning Leadership

We recently finished building a strategy map for a rural healthcare organization. An additional phase included the development of a formal leadership system. This too is coming together well. But what we have found that is just stunning is this – the leadership model is perfectly aligned with process outcomes. For example, the strategy map identifies two process outcomes:
1. Safe & coordinated care; and
2. Efficient systems.
Without consulting or directing the outcome of the leadership model we are seeing that two primary results of their leadership system are – safe & coordinated care and efficient system. In other words, there is a recognized cause and effect relationship between what leaders do and the twin goals of safe & coordinated care and efficient systems. As one of the senior executives stated: “I have always been promoted because I was good at being a nurse, but when they put the title of “leader” on me, I was not at all sure what I was supposed do. Now I know”.
This is a powerful statement because most leadership training is focused on the individual leader acquiring organizational power and influence. In this model the role of the leader is to direct subordinates to do her bidding. This understanding of leadership is flipped on its head. The role of the leader is now to create the environment where staff treat patient safety and the coordination of their care as the highest priority. Mindlessly doing what the boss says no longer works. There are clear and unambiguous goals to reach. Furthermore, these objectives are highly measurable so if the targets are not being met, who is responsible – leadership. They cannot play the blame game.

To download a complimentary white paper on mapping strategy:

strategy-mapping

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Mapping Strategy and Capturing Hearts

15 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by Dan Edds in Balanced Scorecard, Baldrige, Lean training

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DanEdds

lovemyjobI have seen it happen often enough that I should not be surprised but I always am. Do a lean kaizen event or a strategy mapping workshop and front line staff become intensely engaged in the process and the outcome. Yesterday we were working with a regional hospital district and developing a leadership model that will guide leadership development, on-boarding, training, and performance expectations. In the process, the COO mentioned that she had just seen 4 front line staff, standing in the hallway where the strategy map we had created several weeks ago, is displayed. We enlisted the help of their graphic designer in its development and I must say, it is visually – stunning. The staff were studying and discussing it, along with the performance data that goes with it. Just how awesome is this?
We feel that when anyone goes to work in the morning, there is a deep seated desire to know that our work is important, that it counts, that it matters, and that we long to work for an organization that exhibits excellence. We also feel that front line staff want to know where they fit in the larger execution of mission and vision. This is where strategy maps, lean kaizen events and incorporating Baldrige Quality Criteria into organizational performance can provide enormous value. They empower! They communicate to the rank and file where they fit in the broader misison of their employer. What a shame so many never help their staff connect the dots. It’s a simple thing really, but what happens when we understand our place in fulfilling the sacred missions of our public, nonprofit, and healthcare organizations? The COO of this very fine healthcare organization may have said it best. “When our people come to work, they give us their hands and their brains. But if we treat them with respect they will give us their hearts as well”. The great thing is, when staff give their hearts as well, there is no additional cost.

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Blog Categories

  • Developing Leadership Systems
  • Failure of Leadership Development
  • Leadership System Rules
  • Leadership Systems
  • Mapping Strategy
  • Praxis Solutions
    • Balanced Scorecard
    • Baldrige
    • Lean training
  • Systemic Leadership

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