Today, I was reading one of the several Blogs I check. While reading, I thought of the context of this piece. We always think at the end of the year about what we accomplished and what is planned for the New Year.
I reviewed a list of the objectives I had for our department heads and key staff. Most of the items were addressed, although some were not achieved in the manner I expected them to be completed. Still, we had a pretty impressive list.
2007 will be a year that will mark some significant change for us. As I shared with the staff Wednesday, I have been thinking about quality for some time. When I met with the City Commission for my job interview in December 2002, I stated that one of my personal objectives for the time I am City Manager is for the organization to be recognized as the best managed small city in America.
Now I am not talking about City Manager management but management of the City of Concordia. To accomplish that objective, the key metric is to be “recognized.”
Here is the objective for 2007- we are going to start work to win one of the Malcolm Baldrige Awards. For those who want to check it out, go to this web site: http://www.baldrige.nist.gov/.
As I type, I can hear the mocking going on down at the coffee shop, which is probably the right place for it. Everybody knows that “no work is done at the coffee shop.”
Every teacher we had, every coach we played for, every boss we ever worked for told us that we needed to stretch our daily performance to excel and to succeed. Every day we get up for school or go to work is a battle to keep from being beaten down. I remember my parents telling me to “reach for the stars. You may not get it but you will be a darn site further than the one who doesn’t try.”
The Baldrige is the “star objective” for me. We may not achieve that goal but we will be recognized as a leader in municipal governance because we are trying.
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3 comments:
I love the idea and think that it is very innovative. Congratulations on even attempting to go after this prestigious award. I'll be blogging on your attempt when I start blogging again this coming week.
jack schultz
We should all be reaching for the stars. As one who does not drink coffee, I cannnot think a coffee shop would be much of a positive place for thinking.
I am the City Manager and Director of Economic Development in Stroud, OK (pop. 2,700) and we, too, are pursuing a continuous improvement process, facilitated by a loaned executive who is a Baldrige examiner and heavily involved in the Oklahoma Quality Awards Foundation... We have done some work on making Baldrige understandable to the lay person and are starting very slowly with the City staff. I would be happy to share ideas and tools and thing the best start would be to do a conference call...let me know.
Regards,
Steve Gilbert
sgilbert@cityofstroud.com
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