A division of the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence
 
Home

About WFA
  What’s New at WFA
  The Forward Award Process
  Baldrige/WFA Criteria for Performance Excellence
  WFA Calendar
  Annual Excellence at Work Conference
  Friends of Forward
  Links
  Job Opportunities in Quality
  Frequently Asked Questions
  Contact Us

Upcoming Partner Events

Past Award Recipients

Board of Examiners
  Panel of Judges

Learning Opportunities & Services
  Application Materials
  Resources
  Baldrige Express
  Consultant Referral Network
  Recent Case Studies

 

The WFA Board of Examiners

The Wisconsin Forward Award evaluation process is carried out by our Board of Examiners.  Board members are volunteer experts from business, government, education and other disciplines across Wisconsin who are experienced in performance management and quality assessment processes. 

Examiners work in teams assigned to each application and conduct all phases of the evaluation. There are Team Leaders (Examiners with advanced understanding of the WFA/Baldrige Criteria, well-developed project management and team skills, who have the responsibility for leading the Examiner team and producing the feedback report) and Examiner team members (with beginning to advanced understanding of the Criteria and their application). Each team also has one or two Team Leader back-ups with well-developed Criteria and/or team process skills.

The Panel of Judges serves as a technical resource to the Examiner teams throughout the evaluation process and ensure calibration in scoring and application of the Criteria across Examiner teams. 

All individual interested in serving on the Board of Examiners in 2011 should read this general information and contact WCPE directly with specific questions. Specific iinformation is available for:

  • First-year Examiners (those who have never served on the Board of Examiners before) should click here for application materials. In addition to returning the application to the Wisconsin Center for Peformance Excellence, you must register for a one-day trainng session in December 2010 and a two-day training session in January 2011 by clicking here.

  • Examiners who have served at least one year on the Board of Examiners but did not serve in both 2009 and 2010 should notify the Wisconsin Center for Peformance Excellence regarding any contact information changes, and register for a two-day training session in January 2011 by clicking here.

  • Examiners who served in 2009 and 2010 should notify the Wisconsin Center for Peformance Excellence regarding any contact information changes, and register for one day of training (January 21 or 26) by clicking here.

The deadline for all applications is October 31, 2010.


EXAMINER TOOLBOX

Quick Guide of Currently Available Materials

If you need material or tools that you don't find on this list, contact us at (608) 663-5300 or info [AT] forwardaward [DOT] org, and we will make it available to you or let you know when it will be posted here. Additional documents and resources will be added to this list as they become available, as well as periodic updates.

Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence (2009–2010)
Case Studies
Consensus Review Flowchart
Disclosure of Conflict of Interest (2009)
Examiner Biography Form (2009)
Expected Results Matrix (2010)
Expense Guidelines and Volunteer Reimbursement Form (2009)
Feedback report template (2009)
Guidance for Effective Comment Writing
How to Use the WFA Depot
Independent review workbook (sample, 2010)
Key Themes Worksheet (2008)
The Poindexter-Burns Inventory
Red/Yellow/Green Consensus Tool
Results Terminology Calibration (Few-Some-Many-Most)
Scoring Bands and Recognition Levels (2009)
Scoring Matrix, a.k.a. the Bessemer Matrix (2011)
Step-by-Step Instructions for Independent Review (2010)

Tools for Independent Evaluations

Independent Review Workbook (sample)
This document is the template for your independent review observations. Note that you do not need to download this document, as your Team Leader will provide a customized document to you including a completed list of key factors.

Expected Results Matrix
Examiners can use this document to track significant results to look for in Category 7 and elsewhere. The expected results matrix is not a WFA deliverable, but your Team Leader may require you to use it.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Independent Review
This guide includes an overview and detailed instructions for completing the first stage of your application review.

The Poindexter-Burns Inventory
An optional tool to help track the correspondence between Criteria Items and core values, key factors, key themes, and expected results.


Consensus Related Documents

Key Themes Worksheet
This worksheet captures broader feedback from the Examiner team which becomes the Executive Summary in the final feedback report. Key themes address a central requirement of the Criteria, are common to more than one Category (cross-cutting), are especially significant in light of the applicant organization's key factors, and/or address a Core Value of the Criteria.

Guidance for Effective Comment Writing
This document includes comment guidelines, descriptions of A/D/L/I and Le/T/C/Li, and examples of improving written comments for process and results Items.

Consensus Process Flowchart
A flowchart showing all the steps Examiners will take between the end of independent review and the end of the consensus process.

The Bessemer Matrix
A spreadsheet that tracks an Examiner team's score from independent evaluation to final review by the Panel of Judges. Each Team Leader should complete upload this spreadsheet to the WFA Depot after consensus review and site visit review.

Red/Yellow/Green Consensus System
This handout is designed to be folded and secured as a three-sided sign. During discussion on above-the-line/below-the-line comments or scoring, each Examiner displays the side representing his or her level of agreement with the Category Leader's current proposed comments or score. Team members who disagree with the current team consensus have specific responsibilities to suggest alternative solutions.

Miscellaneous Documents and Tools

Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence
The 2009-2010 Criteria can be downloaded for Business/Nonprofit, Education, or Health Care.

Results Terminology Calibration
(Few-Some-Many-Most)

You can download visual references to the standard definitions of few (5% to 15%), some (16% to 30%), many (31% to 50%), most (51% to 80%), and nearly all (80% to less than 100%) for purposes of results Item scoring in PowerPoint (.ppt) or Word (.doc) format.

How to Use the WFA Depot
Documentation (written on January 24, 2008) detailing how you can use the WFA Depot to share and provide feedback on documents related to your team's feedback. This document is being continuously improved based on your feedback and questions, so please let us know if you don't find what you need.

Examiner Biography Form
This form tells your Team Leader about your experience related to the skills you’ll be employing as a WFA Examiner, and it will be shared with your other team members during the comment development and virtual consensus phase of review. A sample biography is also provided.

Disclosure of Conflict of Interest
All Examiners are required to return a disclosure of organizational relationships to the WFA office in order to ensure no conflict of interest (or the appearance thereof) on Examiner teams. You can download the disclosure form here.

Expense-Related Documents
Reimbursement guidelines and a reimbursement form for expenses incurred during the review process. Please be sure to read the guidelines and ask for clarification if necessary before incurring expenses to make sure WFA is able to cover them.

WFA Scoring Bands and Relationship to Recognition Levels
An overall description of each scoring band, the corresponding point ranges, and the correspondence to the WFA recognition levels of Commitment (band 1), Proficiency (bands 2 and 3), Mastery (bands 4 and 5), and Excellence (bands 6, 7, and 8). New for 2009, there are disaggregated scoring band ranges for both process and results Items as well as overall scoring ranges.

Feedback Report Template
This document serves as a template for Examiner teams' final feedback.


WFA's Board of Examiners comes from a variety of organizations, large and small, from every sector of Wisconsin's economy. We thank the following organizations for their support of the 2009 Board of Examiners:

Agnesian HealthCare, Inc.
American Society for Quality
Bay Area Medical Center
Bay Lane Middle School
Beacon Technologies, Inc.
Bucyrus International, Inc.
Cardinal Glass Industries
Central Wisconsin Center
Charter Steel
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
Community Credit Union
Community Memorial Hospital
CUNA Mutual Group
Des Moines University
Diane Bergschneider Incorporated
Eaton Corporation
Edstrom Industries
Elmbrook School District
Evergreen Retirement Community
Franciscan Skemp Healthcare
Grant Regional Health Center
Group Health Cooperative of South Central Wisconsin
Hallmark Building Supplies, Inc.
Holmen Middle School
HospiceCare Inc.
John Deere Credit
Kohl's Department Stores
Lake Denoon Middle School

MAQIN
Mercury Marine
Mercy Health System
Milwaukee County Emergency Medical Services
Minnesota Council for Quality
Muskego-Norway School District
National Funeral Directors Association
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
Pewaukee Public Schools
Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation
Pierce Manufacturing
Praxilient, Inc.
ProHealth Care, Inc.
Promega Corporation
Quality Education Associates (QEA)
Rockwell Automation
Runzheimer International
Sacred Heart Hospital
School District of Holmen
St. Clare Hospital & Health Services
St. Mary's Hospital
The Wisconsin Heart Hospital
Viking Elementary School
Waukesha Memorial Hospital
Wisconsin Department of Commerce
Wisconsin National Guard
Workforce Connections, Inc.

© 2005 Wisconsin Forward Award. Site by Tingalls Dzyn, LLC. Comments / errors: webmaster