Organizational Excellence Journey

This blog post is in response to ASQ's Influential Voices June 2014 topic on Organizational Excellence Journey experience.

I want to share my journey in organizational excellence using Baldrige Performance Excellence Criteria and ISO 9001 Standards in for-profit, not-for-profit, academic, and professional organizations.

Since 1989 in my performance excellence journey, I have seen organizations undergoing systematic self assessment to identify areas of strengths and opportunities for improvements. With enlightened and engaged senior leadership teams, I have witnessed organizational transformations to better serve their external and internal customers (employees), leading to sustainable growth and profitability.

• 1989 - Received formal training in Baldrige process (American Society for Quality (ASQ))
• 1989-Present - President, Blind Foundation for India (BFI) - Founded and managed BFI to support over 15 million blind individuals in India using quality management practices. www.blindfoundation.org
• 1990-1994 - Lead Internal Consultant - Workforce Focus category, AT&T International Switching Customer Business Unit (ISCBU) and Switching Systems Business Unit (SSBU) - established Employee Recognition Process
• 1990-1994 - Coach - ASQ Certification Process Improvement project - Reduced cycle time for ASQ certification exam results notification interval from 13 weeks to 3 weeks (now only 1 week), a sustainable change management initiative at ASQ
• 1990-1996 - Lead Internal Consultant & Champion - Customer Focus category, AT&T ISCBU - wrote Customer Focus category description, improved category score from 25% to 60% over 4 years
• 1990-2000 - Lead Internal Consultant - Workforce Focus category, AT&T Bell Labs
• 1990-2000 - Lead Internal Consultant - Operations Focus category, AT&T Bell Labs
• 1993-1999 - Chief Judge, Illinois Team Excellence Award (ITEA) Program - recruited and trained Judges for ITEA Program, judged over 100 teams
• 1993-2005 - Adjunct Professor - taught Quality Management courses using Baldrige criteria at Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart School of Business
• 1995-1996 - Lead Consultant - Naperville Unified School District 203 - Baldrige in Education criteria pilot, coached on Illinois Performance Excellence Award application development - won Silver level recognition
• 1996-2000 - Voice of the Customer Manager - AT&T Bell Labs/ Lucent Technology 
• 1998-1999 - Team Leader - established ASQ Society-wide Member Leader Recognition process that is still in use
• 2002-2003 - Lead Consultant – Software company (Illinois) – documented enterprise-wide 100+ processes using SIPOC diagram and established measurements 
• 2004-Present - Member, Board of Examiners, Asia Pacific Global Performance Excellence Award Program - judged over 60 award applications in 11 years
• 2005-2007 - Lead Consultant - 3 Medicare Contractors (Arkansas, Alabama & Mississippi) - coached ISO 9001:2004 certified on first attempt without any major no-compliance
• 2006-Present - Adjunct Professor - taught Total Quality Management elective course using Baldrige criteria at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India
• 2006-2007 - Lead Consultant – Medicare Contractor (Arkansas) – established Employee Recognition and Suggestions System Processes that were in use for several years
• 2006-2010 - Chief Judge - Illinois Institute of Technology Alumni Awards Committee - established a robust alumni recognition process, currently in use since 2006
• 2008-2012 - Adjunct Professor - taught Operations Analysis courses using Baldrige criteria at Northern Illinois University, College of Business 
• 2008-Present - Adjunct Instructor – taught Quality Assurance Project Management course at School of Continuing Studies at Northwestern University 
• 2010-2011 - Lead Consultant - coached a Pharmaceutical company (Illinois) for Baldrige and Illinois Performance Excellence Award application development - won Silver level recognition from Illinois
• 2011-Present - Adjunct Professor - taught Operations Management, Total Quality Management, Small Business Ventures, and Project Quality Assurance courses at Ashford University's Forbes School of Business - Online
• 2012-Present - Adjunct professor - taught Introduction to Six Sigma, Advanced Project Management, and Risk Management courses at College of Business and Graduate School of Management, Lewis University.
• 2012 - Lead Consultant - delivered a Workshop on Business Excellence through Sustainable Change Management, Senior Leadership Team at the Mahamaya Technical University, Noida, India
• 2014 - Honorary Adjunct Professor - delivered an address on Educational Excellence through Baldrige in Education Framework to Faculty and Graduate Students at the School of Management, ITM University, Gurgoan, India
• 2014 - delivered an address on Educational Excellence through Baldrige in Education Framework to Senior Faculty and Administrators at the Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad, India
• 2014 - Visiting Professor - taught Total Quality Management workshop to students, faculty, and researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, India
• 1971-Present - Over 50 publications and 380 presentations globally on business excellence and quality management areas.
• 1993-Present - Adjunct Professor - taught graduate levels courses in operations and quality management using Baldrige criteria as well as conducted executive training around the globe. Connected with over 30 educational institutions in USA, India, Egypt, and Peru. Touched over 5,000 professionals around the world.

I look forward to your experience with organizational excellence journey.