About the Minnesota Council for Quality

Who We Are: Our Purpose

The Minnesota Council for Quality is a non-profit corporation that advances improvement and performance excellence within organizations, individuals, and communities.

We believe that Minnesota 's socio-economic future depends largely on the effective management of organizations throughout the state. Therefore, our goal is to help organizations of all sizes, in all sectors, and in all communities throughout Minnesota improve their operations and their performance. We also believe that communities within the state will be stronger if leaders work together to solve social and economic challenges that cross organizational boundaries; therefore, part of our focus is on providing leaders the network and means to improve the communities in which they live and work.

What We Do: Our Mission

The Council helps leaders identify strengths and improvement opportunities and builds networks that bring information, resources, knowledge, and best practices to organizations desiring to improve.

 

We do this by, offering services such as our Baldrige-based organizational assessments (and Minnesota Quality Award), the Performance Improvement Network, the Consultant Referral Network, and the improvement Clearinghouse, and by collaborating with other non-profits that focus on improvement.

 

Our charge is to help leaders identify improvement opportunities and focus resources (with services such as our Baldrige-based assessment process), and then bring them the resources to help them take improvement action (with services such as our Clearinghouse, Consultant Referral Network, benchmarking, and Performance Improvement Network).

One of the symbols that best represents our mission is the "infinity diagram" (shown below), which implies that improvement is a continuous journey. The left side of the diagram represents assessment, discovery, learning and prioritization; the right side represents the available resources to execute improvement. Though the programs and services that fit within either side may evolve over time, the ultimate goal remains constant

Where We Started: Our History

We were founded in 1987, as a result of Governor Perpich's 1985-86 Commission on Minnesota 's Economic Future. That Commission was given the assignment to study why Minnesota companies were losing their competitive edge, and to propose solutions to strengthen the Minnesota economy through the application of quality principles. A state entity was created as a result of Minnesota Senate Bill 1479 Chapter 316 and the Minnesota Council for Quality and Productivity was formed as a part of the Department of Trade and Economic Development. The word "productivity" was later dropped from our name, and the organization was eventually spun off into an independent, private non-profit.

We were one of the first state quality award programs modeled after the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award . Since our first Award cycle in 1991, there have been nearly 100 Award recipients at various recognition levels in Minnesota . These recipients represent a diverse collection of organizations in various sectors, of various sizes, and in various communities throughout the state. Minnesota is also proud to have the second highest number of Baldrige recipients in the country (seven) and the fourth highest number of Baldrige Examiners (24 in 2005).

Where We Are Going: Our Vision

The Council will be the innovative national leader in facilitating performance excellence.

Created in 2006, this vision implies a subtle shift in how we provide value to our members and stakeholders. W hile the Baldrige framework is one of the most robust and effective management/improvement frameworks available and our Minnesota Quality Award assessment process remains our core service, it is not the only effective improvement method available. Today, organizations are successfully using Six Sigma, ISO, Balanced Scorecard, Lean, and a variety of other techniques to improve and manage their organizations. Therefore, we are committed to helping organizations identify current and emerging methods that are most appropriate for their organization's needs, culture, and circumstances. And we will work to broker resources, knowledge, and information to help them implement those improvement techniques.

To execute this vision, we have a parallel strategy going forward. We will strive to build membership "clusters" throughout Minnesota, with each cluster having access to our programs and services, with leaders within each cluster networking and working together to solve community issues, and with clusters connecting to each other to advance economic development, job creation, and social improvements across the state. Secondly, we are committed to collaborating with other organizations that focus on improvement and performance excellence within and beyond Minnesota . In doing so, we strive to continue to discover the most innovative, valuable services and techniques for our members.

What We Believe: Our Values

•  Focused on stakeholders. We offer innovative programs that create value for organizations, individuals, and communities. We measure our success in terms of our members' improved performance. We focus on exceeding stakeholder needs. We are focused on service.

•  Committed to ethical behavior. We maintain the highest level of integrity in all stakeholder interactions. We passionately guard the credibility of the Minnesota Quality Award. We respect our stakeholders' proprietary information.

•  Focused on building community. We believe in the power of networking and sharing and thus work to connect stakeholders (members, customers, volunteers, and partners) for the purposes of transferring knowledge and best practices. We collaborate with other organizations that focus on excellence.

•  Committed to effective stewardship. We value, respect, and are effective stewards of our resources, including finances and the limited time of our volunteers, partners, and staff.

•  Focused on excellence. We are a learning organization. We use data to make decisions and improve our performance. We believe in the power of continuous improvement. We are focused on the future, are agile, and are committed to the Baldrige-based framework we promote

 

We hope that we can help your organization - your company, your school, your health care organization, your public sector agency, or your community - achieve its objectives and continue your improvement journey.