EFQM Model Implementation Project: Outline

I am delighted to see the Award in Germany is incorporating the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model into its Award Management Course. As chairman of Midlands Excellence as well as a former governor of the EFQM I am naturally a strong advocate of the model which is a non-prescriptive self-assessment framework that can be used to gain an objective overview of any organisation regardless of its size, sector or maturity.

The benefits of the Excellence Model are numerous but include continuous improvement and the achievement of first class results. The model enables users to see the link between strategy and operations but also provides input that helps leaders build a common direction and understanding amongst everyone involved in organisations using this valuable tool. In the case of the German Award their management course participants highlighted how the model can be used to produce effective development plans for their Award units and operating authorities.

Alan Jones, News from the EMAS Region, December 2010

Purpose

Sharing it’s own experiences and resources, Germany would like to partner with the EMAS Region Office and other National Award Authorities to put the International Award Association’s EFQM initiative “back on its feet”, thus contributing to the sustainability of the OAA strategy.

Background

Award Management

Adults make the Award happen in different roles and levels:

1. By directly supporting young people.

2. By supporting this direct support process in one of these “background areas” (Award Management):

   1. Setting up and managing the Award in an Award Unit (a location, where the Award is run);

   2. Enabling and supervising the delivery of the Award in different Award Units through an Operating Authority;

   3. Licensing and supervising Operating Authorities and maintaining the integrity and quality of the Award through the National Award Authority (NAA) on behalf of the International Award Association (IAA).

In the chart above, a shell model instead of the more common hierarchical flow charts is used. This is to show that even the most “distant” kind of support (IAA/NAA) must ultimately serve the individual development process (focus on young people). To indicate this, the German Award chose Kurt Hahn’s “There is more in you!” as its motto in 2005.

The model serves the fundamental perspective and hence reflects the actual correlations in a very simplified way. For example, a Gold participant might act as a young leader (or an Award leader also as an Award Unit leader) and the thin lines separating the different shells are the main areas of “enabling” (from the outside in) and “learning” (from the inside out). The DofE’s Quest for Quality Toolkit focuses very much on these “interfaces”.

While there is traditionally a common language and shared standards concerning the “Award Leading” area (1), the EFQM Model could provide this also for the different “Award Managing” levels (2).

EFQM Excellence Model

The EFQM Excellence Model is being implemented by over 30 000 organisations in the world. It is a non-prescriptive assessment framework that can be used to gain a holistic overview of any organisation regardless of size, sector or maturity. It enables organisations to

1. Understand their key strengths and potential gaps in relation to their stated Vision and Mission;

2. Provide a common vocabulary and way of thinking that facilitates the effective communication of ideas;

3. Integrate existing and planned initiatives, removing duplication and identifying gaps;

4. Provide a basic structure for the management system.

This is realised through a set of three integrated components:

1. The Fundamental Concepts of Excellence outline the essential foundation for achieving sustainable excellence.

2. The EFQM Excellence Model allows Leaders/Managers to understand the relationships between what their organisation does (five criteria) and the results it achieves (four criteria).

3. With the support of the RADAR logic it is possible to make a robust assessment of the degree of excellence each of the nine criteria.

Because the model is so simple (the booklet includes only 32 pages including glossary), the benefits exceed the costs considerably. Please find online descriptions at www.efqm.org and at http://sites.google.com/site/myfirststepwithefqmmodel2010.

“By-products” of incorporating the EFQM model into Award management would include (in alphabetical order):

1. Award management guidelines

2. Common Award management language through a topics-centred, sustainable international cooperation

3. Development towards a learning organization

4. “Level-independent” tools for planning, documentation, evaluation and self-assessment

5. Sustainability

6. People who are in a position to act as a consultant to NAA’s, Operating Authorities and Units**)

7. Workshop/seminar ideas, topics & materials.

What we can share

“Quality” and “Sustainability” are the key concepts of the German Award since its inception. Milestones were:

1. Three-level training system (1994)

2. National Training Panel (1996)

3. Adoption of the DofE’s concept of Wild Country Assessors (1996)

4. Expedition Guide (1st version 1998)

5. Award Unit Prize (2000)

6. Award Management Course (first course 2000, based on Quest for Quality 2005, EFQM Model 2010)

7. Online Award Administration System (“Electronic Record Book” included; basic version 2002, extended version 2009, draft of 3rd version 2011)

8. NAA Intranet (2003)

9. Alte Bahnmeisterei as a national training resource (2004)

10. Motto “Du kannst mehr als du glaubst!” from Kurt Hahn’s “There is more in you (than you think)” (2005)

11. Workbook for Quality Development and first worksheets on quality development (2005)

12. Management Plan as a licence condition (2005)

13. Register of all participants on the Gold Level (2005)

14. Concept of the Award Unit Portfolio (2006)

15. Online Award Handbook (2006)

16. Award Management Simulation (2006)

17. Summer School (since 2006)

18. Award Basics (German Handbook in English for International Schools; first edition 2006)

19. Hotline (2007)

20. Participants’ Logbook (2009)

21. 4th edition of the Award Handbook (Programme Part 2010, draft of EFQM-based Management Part 2011)

22. Gold Starters Workshop (first course 2010)

23. Course for Regional Award Consultants based on the EFQM Model (first course 2010)

24. Award implementation and development pilots combined with local visits (2011)

25. Award Ticket (2011)

Also, two members of the executive board are professionally involved with quality management.

Implementation

The release of the EFQM Quality Assurance Framework by the IAA in autumn 2009 was a most important step forward and was therefore warmly welcomed in Germany (where it was just a few months ago adopted independently).

Since Germany uses the Award licence system in a similar way like the DofE, a coherent implementation of the EFQM model must comprise all system elements: NAA, Operating Authorities and Award Units with their respective participants groups. The DofE’s Quest for Quality Toolkit (2005) offers a good starting point for such a holistic perspective.

But paper doesn’t blush and hence a real and sustainable implementation of the EFQM Model needs far more than brochures and publicity:

1. Develop an implementation strategy taking into account the licence system as a whole.

2. Find and train appropriate staff to be able to train and advice Award Authorities and Award Units.

3. Find and provide the necessary resources and tools*).

4. Initiate, train and supervise local pilots.

5. Communicate, assess and refine.

While extending the implementation strategy for Germany beyond the Award Management Course we recognized, that a far more effective and sustainable way would be an international pilot project involving the EMAS Regional Office and at least one other NAA apart from Germany. In this way,

1. The implementation would become (at least as a pilot) an international one;

2. Because of the previous experiences in Germany (and other countries?) nobody would have to start at zero;

3. The German pilot would profit from new implementation ideas brought in from abroad and it would become embedded in a more understanding international environment.

The rough pilot project schedule might look like this:

1. Believe that the EFQM Model might indeed help improving your NAA’s performance and decide that joining the implementation pilot would be a helpful approach.

2. Get a live impression of “EFQM at work” by attending an Award Management Course run by the German NAA. There are only two occasions left in 2011: August 4-5 (part of IASS 2011) and October 14-16. Both courses will be held in English.

3. Attend a one-day planning workshop in autumn 2011 in Osterburken.

4. Continue with the agenda listed above.

EFQM membership of the IAA would be extremely helpful. The pilot project will last between two and three years.

Criteria for Participation

There are only three simple participation criteria:

1. The belief that the EFQM model might help managing and developing the Award and willingness to learn more deeply about it;

2. Active participation in all project phases;

3. Project involvement of the National AND the Operating levels (at least one Operating Unit per country).

Links and Literature

Links

1. EFQM website: www.efqm.org

2. First Steps with the EFQM Excellence Model 2010: http://sites.google.com/site/myfirststepwithefqmmodel2010

3. Wikipedia on EFQM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFQM_Excellence_Model

4. German Award on EFQM: www.jugendprogramm.de/efqm

5. International Award Summer School 2012: www.jugendprogramm.de/summer-school-2012.

Literature

1. EFQM: Excellence Model: EFQM 2010, Brussels 2009 (ISBN 978-90-5236-501-5)

2. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award; Quest for Quality Toolkit, Windsor 2005

3. The International Award Association: The Quality Assurance Framework, London 2009

4. The International Award Association: 21 Journeys (London 2010)

5. Das Internationale Jugendprogramm: Handbuch (Teil 3: Programmarbeit), Draft, Osterburken 2011.

No’s 2-5 are available through the German Award’s EFQM website, www.jugendprogramm.de/efqm.

Appendix: Enablers and Results according to Quest for Quality***)

Enablers

1. Leading the Way. Setting the direction of the Award and encouraging and enabling staff, volunteers and participants to give of their best.

2. Developing Policy and Strategy. How the Award, Operating Authorities and Award Groups set out what they want to achieve and the way they want to achieve it.

3. Supporting Staff and Volunteers. Ensuring that staff and volunteers have the required knowledge and skills, and are suitably motivated, supported and recognised.

4. Making the most of Partnerships and Resources. Working with partners and resources in ways that achieve the desired results in an effective manner.

5. Delivering of the Award Programme to best effort. Designing and managing ways of working so that the Award Programme and support services are delivered efficiently, effectively and to the standards that meet, and where possible exceed, the needs and expectations of all involved in the Award.

Results

1. Achieving benefits for the Award Family. What the Award is achieving for all those involved in the development and delivery of the Programme, especially the Participants.

2. Achieving benefits for Staff and Volunteers. What the Award is achieving for its staff and volunteers.

3. Achieving benefits for the Community. How the Award is viewed by, and contributes to, the life of local communities and society in general.

4. Establishing Key Performance Results. How well the Award has achieved its aims.

*) EFQM membership of the IAA recommended

**) Professional additional training by EFQM recommended

***) 2005 version, Introduction Part, p. 7. Headings “Enablers” and “Results” added later.