Resources & Materials

WFA serves to advance the competitive advantage of Wisconsin organizations by providing opportunities for organizations to assess their operations against established, standards modeled after the internationally recognized Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Whether large or small, in business, education, health care or manufacturing, WFA encourages and supports future-thinking Wisconsin enterprises in their quest for customer-focused quality and excellence in performance management by providing training, assessment tools and consultative services.

2009 Application Materials

Before downloading application forms, we strongly recommend that you read our application instructions.

2009 Application Instructions (.pdf, includes 2009 application fee schedule)

2009 Intent to Apply form (.doc; can be filled out electronically)
2009 Application form (.doc; can be filled out electronically)

2008 Business/Nonprofit Criteria for Performance Excellence Booklet
2008 Education Criteria for Performance Excellence Booklet
2008 Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence Booklet
Note that WFA is using the 2008 Criteria for our 2009 review and recognition cycle.

Other documents that may be useful to you include:
• Tips for Applicant Organizations (.pdf)
• A Guide to the WFA Review Process (.pdf)

Criteria Books (.pdf)

The 2009–2010 Baldrige Criteria are also available for download will be used in WFA's 2010 award cycle.

2009 Business/Nonprofit Criteria for Performance Excellence
2009 Education Criteria for Performance Excellence Booklet
2009 Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence Booklet

You can also download a guide to WFA scoring bands and recognition levels, which includes characteristics of each scoring band in terms of both process and results. New for 2009, there are disaggregated scoring band ranges for both process and results Items as well as overall scoring ranges.

Sample Application Materials
Application summaries for many Baldrige-winning organizations can be found here, on the Baldrige National Quality Program website.

A fictitious non-profit Baldrige Award application (for the Flagstaff District of the U.S. Water Resource Agency) is also available here on the the BNQA website.

Wisconsin Fast Forward
A short-form application particularly designed for easier response to basic and overall requirements of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.

To read PDF file formats –

Baldrige CEO Issue Sheets

CEO Issue Sheets are in .pdf format and require Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.

Recent Issue Sheets
Baldrige in Education: Performance Excellence Delivers World-Class Results
Baldrige in Health Care: Performance Excellence Delivers World-Class Results
Performance Excellence Delivers World-Class Results
Ethics: A Strategic Imperative

Other Issue Sheets Available
Business/Education Partnerships are Working Well (Spring 2003)
Baldrige, Six Sigma, and ISO: Understanding Your Options (Summer 2002)
Recognizing Role Model Practices (Fall 2001)
Baldrige: For Hiring and Keeping the Best Employees (Summer 2001)
Serving Shareholders and Stakeholders (December 2000)
A Global Approach for a Global Economy (August 2000)

Be sure to also check out
Baldrige Asks, "How Do You Know?"

Are We Making Progress? and Are We Making Progress as Leaders?

Two complementary Baldrige questionnaires designed to measure deployment and to compare leaders' perception of deployment with that of the workforce. Both documents are available at no charge from the Baldrige National Quality Program.

• Are We Making Progress? This document is also available in Spanish.
• Are We Making Progress as Leaders?

Criteria Checklist for High-Performing Organizations (Human Resources Focus)

This checklist was developed by Mary Buchel of Buchel & Associates—Strategies Unlimited. Similar in spirit to NBQP's "Are We Making Progress?" survey, it is a tool for gauging an organization's strengths and opportunities for improvement specifically for Human Resources linkages in each Category. (Note that this survey is based on the 2006 Criteria for Performance Excellence and does not reflect changes to the Criteria since then.)

What They’re Reading

We’re always looking for good materials on performance excellence and related topics and know you are too. We recently asked our Excellence at Work Conference Presenters for their top picks.

• Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination, Jane Magruder Watkins & Bernard J. Mohr, Jossey Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001.
• Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness, Daniel R. Denison, Denison Consulting, John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 096586120.
• Dianosing and Changing Organizational Culture Based on the Competing Values Framework, Kim S. Cameron & Robert E. Quinn, Addison Wesley Organization Development Series, 1999.
• Encyclopedia of Positive Questions, Volume One, Diana Whitney, Lakeshore Communications, Inc., Euclid OH, 2002. 
• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Ram Charan, Charles Burck, & Larry Bossidy, Crown Business, New York, 2002.
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni, Jossey Bass, 2002.
• The Five Star Church, Stan Toler & Alan Nelson (out of print).
• The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable, Pat Lencioni, Jossey Bass, 1998.
• Intellectual Capital, Thomas Stewart, Currency/Doubleday.
• The Servant Leader: How to Build a Creative Team, Develop Great Morale, and Improve Bottom-Line Performance, James Autry, Three Rivers Press, 2004, ISBN 0-7615-3535-7.
• "The Seven Ages of the Leader," article by Warren Bennis, Harvard Business Review, January 2004.
• The Tao of Leadership, John Heider, Bantam, 1986, ISBN 0-89334-079-0.
• "What Really Works," Nitin Nohria, William Joyce, & Bruce Roberson, Harvard Business Review, July 2003.

Have your own highly recommended reading? Email us to let us know so we can share them in future lists.

Wisconsin Forward Award materials are available for personal use by organizations preparing a Wisconsin Forward Award application, or by Wisconsin Forward Award Directors, current members of the Board of Examiners, and other authorized Wisconsin Forward Award volunteers in connection with Wisconsin Forward Award, Inc. business only. Materials may not be copied or used by any person or organization to further economic or other interests or for any other purpose without the express written authorization of Wisconsin Forward Award, Inc.