EFQM in the four national languages

"Speaking the language of the employees" is the motto of many companies when applying quality standards and management models. Today, however, umbrella organizations, marketing cooperations and head offices located abroad shape the development of many companies. In addition, there are industry standards, seasonal work contracts and legal requirements. Nevertheless, the excellence approach is on the "march".

But how does the EFQM Excellence model connect to everyday quality at the Army Logistics Center Monteceneri, the University Hospital Zurich, the Engadine hotels Castell and Walther and the International Management School in Geneva? We spoke to the quality managers about their experiences with the introduction and application of the model - and they answered in their respective national languages.

Army Logistics Center Monteceneri: Excellence in the coordination of workflows
The Army Logistics Center Monteceneri achieved the EFQM Commitment to Excellence (C2E) level on 3 October 2016. Fabrizio Lasia, Commander of the Gotthard Damage Brigade, successfully coordinated the project.

Mr. Lasia, you provide the troops with the material for training and deployment. What contribution can an international model make to making this work better?
Fabrizio Lasia: Voler applicare Business Excellence alla condotta di una azienda come il Centro logistico dell'esercito, significa puntare all'obiettivo del miglioramento continuo. L'applicazione quindi del famoso PDCA:

• (Plan) Pianificare al meglio le attività (Lea-dership, gestione del personale, strategia aziendale, pianificazione delle risorse)
•  (Do) Erogare le prestazioni il meglio possi-bile
• (Check) Analizzare i risultati ottenuti in senso lato, quindi non solo delle prestazio-ni ma anche di altre componenti come la soddisfazione del personale, dei clienti e di altri partner della società che ci circonda.
• (Act) Saper trarre gli insegnamenti dai ri-sultati chiave, analizzati anche in modo cri-tico, pianificando le necessarie modifiche per migliorare i processi. L'importanza di piccoli ma continui correttivi e progressi, a beneficio di tutti.

Ripetendo questo processo costantemente, si attiva una spirale di condotta che influenza positivamente nel tempo la prestazione.

Negli ultimi mesi impegno focalizzato soprattutto su tre progetti principali:

• Il PMC ("KVP"), ossia il processo di miglio-ramento continuo
• La gestione dei clienti e dei partner
• La comunicazione interna

Posso affermare che il team ha recepito positi-vamente l'introduzione della cultura Business Excellence, proprio perché è il personale stes-so a farsi attivo, sulla base dell'esperienza di campo, in diverse dinamiche. Per una azienda nel nostro caso di circa 300 collaboratori di differenti culture linguistiche, questo significa avere l'opportunità di analizzare ogni azione fruendo di 300 occhi differenti e con angolazi-oni pure differenti. Tutto il personale e i qua dri si sono cimentati attivamente sul BE in nu-merosi e piacevoli workshop di gruppo, fon-dati sulla volontà del costante miglioramento.

The Excellence Approach as a Central Communication Platform at the University Hospital Zurich
Alexandra Suter, as Quality Officer you head the core group "Continuous Improvement" in the Directorate of Operations at the University Hospital Zurich. With your team, you achieved the EFQM Commitment to Excellence (C2E) on 31 May 2016. What is the composition of the group?
Alexandra Suter: The working group consists of employees from different management levels and specialist areas. In this way, we achieve a higher level of acceptance of the topic of continuous improvement in the various groups of the management. This is important in order to implement changes as smoothly as possible.

How do you identify the need for action to get better?
We conduct annual internal assessments based on EFQM. In this way, we can identify any need for action and initiate appropriate improvements. The Continuous Improvement working group also evaluates the proposals for optimisation developed in the specialist departments.

How do you measure the success of the working group?
We measure success by the savings we achieve through process improvements. In 2016, we reported savings of several hundred thousand francs.

Corporate culture also means collaboration. How do you ensure that the processes run smoothly?
We contribute to the continuous improvement of processes. At the University Hospital Zurich, many specialists work together on an interdisciplinary basis in order to be able to offer our customers the best possible services. Due to the size of the company and the high complexity of the processes, it is necessary to develop operating concepts and to make these available to the involved call groups. This is also one of the tasks of our working group.

How does the Excellence approach help you to achieve your goals?
The Excellence approach is a lean model for corporate management based on a great deal of experience. This entrepreneurial way of thinking in the heads of all employees supports the targeted drive of necessary changes enormously. The employees support change projects with enthusiasm and look forward to the measurable improvement that the RADAR logic shows.

Hotel Walther: Hospitality is not a quality standard
Employees from all over the world, with different educational backgrounds, skills and ages, who are committed to providing the best possible service in your hotels season after season. What do you think are the success factors for the Excel lence approach to find its way into everyday quality at the front?
Anne-Rose Walther: L'hotel vain mno in fa-miglia illa terza generaziun e nus dains lavur in noss duos hotels Walther & Steinbock a collavuratuors dad ündesch differentas nazi-uns cun ses differentas linguas maternas, da l'eted no a quatter differentas generaziuns traunter 17 e 63 ans. Singuls collavuratuors passaintan dafatta già la quarta generaziun da la famiglia Walther. As rapreschantants res-pectivamaing a las "ormas" ed als "buns spierts" da nossas chesas mettains mincha di danövmaing a cour nos credo: "Que a's stu avair gugent als umauns."

Tenor nos avis es cotres già üna vouta piglio ün grand obstacul a reguard excellenza vivida i'l minchadi, concernent la qualited da la "software" umauna. Dal rest, arcugnu-schentscha e stima voul minch'umaun art-schaiver, saja que illa situaziun da l'impiego u dal giast. Que promouva üna relaziun ed au-tomaticamaing ün minchadi vivieu da quali-ted. Be per dir, nus festagiains quist an "110 ans Hotel Walther". In occasion of this giu-bileum superbi regalains a nossas localiteds d'importanza istorica sül plaun terrain da nos pitschen "Grand Hotel" üna ringiuvnaziun.

Family-run in the 3rd generation, we employ in our hotels Walther & Steinbock Pontresina employees from 11 nations with 6 different mother tongues, age-wise from 4 generations between 17 and 63 years old. Some employees even "experience" the 4th generation Walther. To the representatives, alias "souls" and "good spirits" of our houses, we daily reiterate our 4M credo - You have to like people. With this, we believe, a big hurdle has already been cleared with regard to lived excellence in everyday life, as far as the quality of human "software" is concerned. In addition, recognition and appreciation is something everyone wants to experience, whether in the position of employee or guest. This creates a bond and automatically a daily lived quality everyday.

By the way, this year we are celebrating "110 years of Hotel Walther". To mark this proud anniversary, we are giving the historic rooms on the ground floor of our small Grand Hotel a makeover.

What are your expectations of the EFQM Excellence Model?
In a muond d'hotelleria, chi dvainta adüna pü svelt e pü digitel, avains i'l focus duos puncts principels:

• Lascher viver l'evenimaint individuel dal giast
• Adatter ils collavuratuors in noss affers te-nor lur qualificaziuns ed abiliteds persu-nelas

With a management of quality, which can be adapted to our needs and requirements and which guarantees a cumplistic implementation in all the possible areas of hotel management, we believe that we can improve and optimise these two areas.

In an ever-faster and more digital hotel world, we have two main points of focus:

• Highlighting the individual guest experience
• to adapt hard and soft skills of our employees to our companies

With a quality management, which can be adapted to our needs and goals and which guarantees a holistic implementation in all possible intricacies of a hotel business, we promise ourselves to be able to achieve and optimize these two goals.

L'Engagement vers l'Excellence EFQM (C2E) pour l'International Management School Geneva
Des étudiants à la recherche de la qualité suisse en combinaison avec des standards in-ternationaux.

You prepare students from all over the world for their professional lives. What role does the EFQM Excellence Model play in this process?
Richard Delaye: The Excellence Model plays a key role in our educational project. En effet, nous avons intégré les enseignements du "Total Quality Ma-nagement" avec l'EFQM comme support dans les programmes de Master. In reality, this model is a formidable diagnostic tool for our students because it integrates all the key elements of a company. Whether it is the charisma of the manager and his implication in the strategy and the rational operation or the satisfaction of the clients (internal as well as external), the monitoring of the process and the measurement of the results, all MBAs will find there a per-tinent grille for evaluating an organization and determining the axes of improvement. In addition to the awareness of the need for quality, students also acquire the structure of mind to find rapid and effective solutions to abnormal problems.

Comment les étudiants profitent-ils de l'approche et d'une culture d'Excellence ?
The business schools of Geneva, which are keen to promote an international recruitment policy, must demonstrate that they have an image based on quality and rigour, and thus correspond to the perception of Switzerland by foreigners. Since January 2016, it has been necessary to be a member of recognised bodies such as the Registre des Ecoles Privées en Suisse in order to develop this approach and integrate this Registre, which provides quality certification. We turned to EFQM because a reference model based on the Excellence Model had been specially adapted for HES. Our students are therefore now "officially" guaranteed to follow their courses in an establishment recognised for the quality of its teaching. It is clear that the application of the Excellence Model would have been a decisif in our strategy by allowing us to obtain our academic accreditations (Registre Suisse and EFMD).

Furthermore, it guarantees visibility and transparency of our practices vis-à-vis all parties involved, such as the students, but also the professors, the suppliers, the cantonal offices, the state or the companies partnering with the IMSG, through which our students carry out their operational training. EFQM therefore strengthens the employability of our students, both internally through the acquisition of reliable and proven methods and externally through the assurance that a quality establishment has been integrated.