SunStone LeaderShip is an organizational development and business consultancy firm deploying Performance-Excellence-Practices pursuant to the internationally acclaimed Baldrige Criteria to assist organizations in reaching the best "next level." Three U.S.  Presidents have said this about the importance of the Baldrige Criteria model deployed by SunStone LeaderShip. President Reagan - "The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award offers companies a standard with which to compare their own progress to that of the country's very best." President Clinton - "Every year I feel more strongly that this is the way America ought to work. This is the way all of our organizations ought to work."  President George W. Bush - "These organizations have been selected as exemplifying the qualities of excellence and ethics. They are being recognized for their continual improvement, their commitment to employees and community, and their enterprising spirit."

The SunStone Baldrige-Focused Model For Performance Excellence. SunStone services includes consulting and specially-tailored training models focused on the development and deployment of the areas referenced in the graphic model shown above. Organizations can utilize SunStone's services in any one of these individual areas on an "a la carte" basis, or they undertake the one-size-fits-one "Path to Baldrige" --- a longer-term commitment to Performance Excellence Fitness focused on all seven  areas.   Both choices share a common denominator --- each begins paying short-term improvments immediately.

RESULT IMPERATIVES BASED ON THE BALDRIGE MODEL - Harryy Hertz, US Department of Commerce Results should be tied to key business and customer requirements. Results should be tied to key product/service and support processes. Results should gauge progress on key strategic objectives and their associated action plans. Results need to track “levels and trends.” - Tracking the level of performance means knowing where one stands relative to goals and to examples of high performance (obtained through benchmarking). - Tracking trends ensures that the progress made and the rate of progress are acceptable. Results must be linked to and produce the measures senior leaders use for their organizational analysis and decision-making. Results must be actionable and action generating!

Today, the Baldrige program, the Award’s criteria for performance excellence, and the Baldrige award-winning organizations are imitated and admired worldwide.  Following are some of the program’s 10-year highlights: Called the “single most influential document in the modern history of American business,” almost 2 million copies of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence have been distributed.  This number does not include the copies available in books and from state and local award programs or downloaded from the Award’s World Wide Web site. For the past five years, a hypothetical stock index, made up of publicly-traded U.S. companies that have received the Baldrige Award, has outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 by more than 2.5 to 1. State and local quality programs – many modeled after the Baldrige program – have grown from fewer than 10 in 1991 to over 40 in 1999. Internationally, 45 quality programs are in operation.  Most are modeled after the Baldrige Award, including one established in Japan in 1996.

BoardRoom Series Reception:SunStone LeaderShip Chattanooga Spring 2007