FEATURE ARTICLE                                               

Increased competition and taxpayer scrutiny, greater demands for services by customers, and greater accountability for results have created higher standards of performance for park and recreation organizations. Leaders answering this call for action will best position their organizations for the future. Yet, how does one provide an organizational framework for business excellence? How do organizations continuously improve their operations and set a higher bar for performance? I asked myself these questions about five years ago. I wanted to drive innovation and continuous improvement initiatives throughout the organization. The research in finding an answer to my question resulted in the Elk Grove Park District's pursuit of the Lincoln Award for Excellence or the "Lincoln process."

How do organizations continuously improve their operations and set a higher bar for performance?

The Lincoln process provides a framework for organizations to bring excellence into their operations and to better deal with today's dynamic environment. Launched in 1995, the Lincoln Awards for Excellence are modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award but adapted for the needs of Illinois. Applicants come from all sectors of the economy, including health care, government, education, nonprofit, and private sector manufacturing and service companies.

The Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence oversees the Lincoln Awards. The foundation is a private sector nonprofit organization, which has a mission "to be the key catalyst to help Illinois' organizations achieve excellence."

Similar to the Distinguished Agency process—administered by the Illinois Association of Park Districts and the Illinois Park and Recreation Association—the Lincoln process requires commitment, discipline, and hard work. Organizations that apply are serious about the overall quality of their organizations. They also want to continuously improve their operations. Park districts that have achieved Distinguished Agency status may want to use the Lincoln framework as a way to continue improvement efforts.

Lincoln Criteria

The framework for the Lincoln Award includes a set of core values and concepts. The values and concepts provide the foundation for integrating key organization requirements with a results orientation. Several of the values include:

• Customer-driven quality
• Continuous improvement and learning
• Valuing employees
• Fast response
• Design quality and prevention
• Long-range view of the future
• Results focus

These core values and concepts include seven categories. Organizations applying for the award submit an application that provides information about each of the categories.

Leadership
This category examines how the organization's senior leaders address values and performance expectations, as well as focus on customers and other stakeholders. Also examined are the organizations efforts in employee em-

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FEATURE ARTICLE                                               

powerment, innovation and learning, and organizational direction.

Strategic Planning
This category examines the organization's strategy development process, including how strategic objectives, action plans, and human resource plans are developed. How are these plans deployed, and how is performance tracked?

Customer and Market Focus
This category examines how the organization determines requirements, expectations, and preferences of customers and markets. Also examined is how the organization builds relationships with customers and determines their satisfaction.

Information and Analysis
This category examines the organization's performance measurement system and how the organization analyzes performance data and information.

Human Resource Focus
This category examines how the organization enables employees to develop and utilize their full potential, aligned with the organizations objectives. Also examined are the organization's efforts to build and maintain a work environment and an employee support climate conducive to performance excellence, full participation, and personal and organizational growth.

Process Management
This category examines key aspects of the organization's process management, including customer focused design, and product and service delivery.

Business Results
This category examines the organization's performance and improvement in key business areas.

Award Levels

Organizations can apply for the Lincoln Award at one of three different levels. Applicants are evaluated against a standard of excellence. There is no requirement that a recipient be named in each level, nor is there a limit on the number of recipients.

Level 1 is "Commitment to Excellence," which is a starting level for organizations that have demonstrated earnest effort to adopt and apply continuous improvement principles. Level 2 is "Progress Toward Excellence," which is intended for organizations that have demonstrated significant progress in instituting sound and notable continuous improvement. Level 3 is "Achievement of Excellence," which is for organizations that have demonstrated exemplary approach, deployment, and results in their overall quality systems.

Application Process

Once an organization commits to the process of applying for a Lincoln Award, it is useful to complete an organizational audit to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. Many organizations create a work team to develop action plans for improvement areas. This creates accountability throughout all departments and levels of the organization.

Subsequently, the organization identifies the application level. The higher the level, the more strenuous the application process. Submitting an application includes responding to the seven criteria: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, Information and Analysis, Human Resource Focus, Process Management, and Business Results. This usually requires months of work from a team of employees. The application then goes to a team of trained Lincoln Examiners who spend a significant amount of time reviewing the application and scoring it according to the criteria.

Organizations achieving an eligible score then receive a site visit. This includes a week-long visit by the examiner team in which they gather and clarify information from the application. They also randomly interview many staff to test the congruency of what appeared as information in the application and what actually happens in the organization.

The examiners develop a feedback report, assign a final score, and give the feedback report to a team of judges. The judges verify the scores and assign a level.

The Results

The Elk Grove Park District received the Commitment to Excellence Award in 1999. The organization received a 40-page feedback report that identified the most vital strengths and opportunities for improvement. This feedback resulted in actionable items that formed a major component of the districts strategic plan. A volunteer team of 12 employees, representing all departments of the district, has developed action plans for improvements.

The site visit we received greatly inspired staff. There was tremendous pride among the 40 or so randomly selected employees who were interviewed by the examiners. The entire organization was galvanized around a single cause of organizational excellence. The energy created by the process inspired staff to continue its work. The park district will apply for a higher level award during 2001.

Specific results of improvement have included:

• Alignment of key strategies, goals, and objectives with the vision, mission, and values.

• Refinement of our strategic planning process

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ACHIEVING BUSINESS EXCELLENCE                                               

• Development of a business plan process for individual business units

• A revised employee orientation process for full-time, part-time and seasonal employees that operationalizes the district's values

• A performance measurement system

• More reliance on similar provider data for decision-making

• An overall systems approach to customer service

• Development of an organizational approach to measuring customer service

• Human resource initiatives, including the development of training that is aligned with core competencies

• Having the Friends of the Park District involved in identifying levels of satisfaction toward the organization from community groups

• Measuring vendor/supplier satisfaction and identifying ways to improve relationships and services

• Documentation of vital processes

The Challenges

Embarking on a quality journey takes energy and commitment. This process requires commitment from senior leaders in an organization. Organizations may experience challenges and difficulties during the application process. These include finding the time to complete the application process, total management and employee buy-in, the perceived notion that the application process is extra work and not value-added, and having the discipline and patience to systematically put improvements in place. Employees may also see this as just another award to pursue.

An organization's effectiveness in this process is greatly diminished without visible support from top management. The process does indeed take many hours to complete. However, good organizations build these work processes into the infrastructure of the organization. They see this as value-added, and it becomes "the way" the organization operates. While some employees may perceive the process as "just another award," the vast majority of employees will see the benefits and improvements the process creates.

The Benefits

From the Elk Grove Park Districts perspective, the benefits of the Lincoln process have greatly affected all departments and all levels of the organization. These benefits include the following.

• Receiving public recognition. Many residents have familiarity with Malcolm Baldrige criteria. They know about the commitment involved.

• Finding out how we compare to other organizations.

• Competing against criteria, not other organizations.

• Developing a systematic approach to organizational improvements, rather than the typical random approaches based on intuition.

• Creating park board and employee pride.

• Generating a common cause that creates alignment among all employees.

• Driving organizational excellence. Organizations committed to this process usually outperform similar providers of service.

In addition to these benefits, two staff members have become certified Lincoln Examiners: Dennis Ulrey, the parks and planning manager and me. We have examined other organizations as trained examiners. This additional training has created a better understanding of the process, with resultant improvements to the district.

The results section of the Lincoln application requires similar provider data. If more park districts get involved in Lincoln, opportunities for benchmarking and comparison of results increase as well. As an industry, we can increase our visibility throughout our communities as agents of change, innovation, and continuous improvement.

From a personal perspective, the learning associated with quality principles, and the application of these principles within the daily operating environment of an organization, has truly been the greatest body of knowledge and the most useful set of tools I have developed and utilized in my career. The impact of this process is exciting and compelling.

One of the key strategies in the retention of excellent employees is their belief in working for a best-in-class organization. The Lincoln Awards for Business Excellence is one way of achieving that best-in-class status. For, those organizations committed to excellence, do it right and do it well. •

BARBARA HELLER
is the executive director of the Elk Grove Park District. She can be reached at 847.228.3501 or bheller@parks.elkgrove.org. For more information about the Lincoln Foundation, write or call The Lincoln Foundation for Business Excellence, 820 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 800, Chicago, Illinois 60607 or call 312.258.5301

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