Applying for a Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence Award is an effective way to look at your organization from a systems perspective, energize employees, and increase the focus on business results using the comprehensive feedback report that details your organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. Successful organizations use this low-cost consultation as a key strategic planning input.
The TNCPE Award program is open to companies, government agencies, and non-profit organizations throughout Tennessee (some out-of-state organizations are also eligible). Whether you’re large or small, established or start-up, the program is scalable to fit your organization’s unique profile.
Recipients of the Interest Award are in the beginning stages of applying performance improvement principles by defining the organization’s most important plans and resources.
Recipients of the Commitment Award have demonstrated progress by identifying and putting into place some key process improvements that are directly attributable to a fact-based improvement process.
Recipients of the Achievement Award have demonstrated significant progress in building systematic, well-deployed processes that are aligned throughout and demonstrate cycles of learning.
Recipients of the Excellence Award have demonstrated, through their processes, practices and results, the highest level of performance excellence.
A great way to get started is by ordering a copy of the TNCPE Baldrige Excellence Framework. This book is the foundation of the TNCPE program and provides details regarding application and eligibility requirements, as well as the Criteria for Performance Excellence on which to base your self-assessment. Order your copy of the framework online here or by emailing the TNCPE office at contact@tncpe.org.
The TNCPE Award program is based on a proven excellence framework published annually by TNCPE. Using questions posed in the Criteria, you’ll create a self-assessment that is analyzed by a team of TNCPE Examiners. This self-assessment can range from five to 55 pages, depending on the award level sought.
After analyzing your self-assessment, TNCPE Examiners will make a site visit to your workplace to gain a thorough understanding of your organization. Based on its findings, the examiner team will prepare a detailed feedback report that identifies your strengths and opportunities for improvement. The TNCPE Panel of Judges will review the examiners’ work and determine your organization’s recognition level.
How do I learn more about the criteria?
Check out our #ExcellenceAtADistance series for more information about the criteria and how to apply it to your organization.
How many pages should we allocate to each Category?
How do we learn more about writing an application?
No matter where you are on your excellence journey, TNCPE has a workshop to help you improve performance. We can provide tailored instruction at your workplace on various topics:
Should we skip Level 2?
Based on the more detailed Baldrige Excellence Framework and Criteria for Performance Excellence, the Baldrige Excellence Builder helps you assess your organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement against the most important features of organizational performance excellence. By completing and acting on this assessment, you will be better positioned to accomplish your mission, improve your results, and become more competitive.
The Criteria Commentary provides summaries of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence categories and items.
You can download the Criteria Commentary for free: