Experienced: Validation EFQM Commitment to Excellence (C2E)

Et is milestones that make up the success of an organization. Because there are people living in it who are committed to a task that gives rise to these milestones. Sometimes planned and sometimes not. But always in retrospect with the impression that something extraordinary has happened. The following sections report on two independent impressions of a Committed-to-Excellence validation.

EFQM Commitment to Excellence (C2E): the Validator's Perspective

As a validator for Committed to Excellence, I repeatedly experience projects that fascinate me. In every project, I find people who "get down to work" with seriousness and sometimes passion. They embark on a journey, the goal of which is clear at the beginning, but the benefits only become transparent at the very end - namely when the EFQM certificate can be handed over.

Let's get specific. Let's be clear: It's about experiences that I have as a validator for Committed to Excellence. And it's about experiences in companies that are committed to the idea of excellence and do so so passionately that as a validator you can't avoid this passion. You get infected by it.

I am excited about what can be set in motion through the validation process. It is rather the mental aspect that interests me as a validator and that is absolutely crucial for an organization to generate sustainable success. It's not methods and techniques, as ingenious as they may be. It is completely different aspects that make up success.

It is the ambitious striving to improve again and again and further. It is the irrepressible thought of never being satisfied. That is excellence. That one uses a method or a concept is obvious. Someone must have thought it through at some point. That makes it easier.

The validation of the company Sanagate - a subsidiary of CSS Health Insurance - has once again shown me as a validator the potential that lies within companies. Not only in companies - also in the EFQM Excellence Model at the level of the

"Newcomers. What does a company expect from a validation? Why does one do this to oneself? - say those who have no idea of the genius of this procedure. What is the goal of a validation? - ask the organizations that are seriously considering Committed to Excellence without certificate fetishism. Like so many things I experience in organizations and with people, I was fascinated by the Sanagate project. Because I find it somehow exemplary of what can make an organization successful. Bruno Birri

EFQM Commitment to Excellence (C2E): the project manager's perspective

"Why are we doing this to ourselves?" Some people at Sanagate also asked themselves this question when we presented the EFQM Excellence Model at a staff information session. For me, answering this question was like a solid foundation to be able to walk on a stable EFQM path into the future. Because only with an answer to the "why" can you not only create understanding, but also convey a sense of purpose and thus inspire the people involved in a project. Thus, as a project manager, I see myself much more as a coach than as a stubborn guiding figure. I want to take the entire team with me on the EFQM journey in such a way that everyone understands "why" we are on this path and what it brings us as a company. In addition, I think it is essential that the personal benefits for the individual employee are also recognisable and communicated. By involving the employees, they are given a central role and the passion of the people involved can be awakened.

In our case, the improvement projects c2e deal almost exclusively with corporate culture. Although the concern and importance for the employees seems obvious, it is no less important to create knowledge and understanding. Of course, it is also elementary that the goals of the project are compatible with our vision and strategy. Since the employee goals are also derived from the company goals, the employee can ultimately find the project goals in his or her personal goals as well. In this way, not only the company itself, but also each employee should be able to develop with it.

Further development is a central and constant topic for Sanagate. Sanagate has grown enormously in its first years. This has forced us to take a close look at our processes, structures and their permanent improvement. For this reason, we decided to obtain ISO 9001 certification in 2010. We are now in our fourth year of working with this standard. The ISO standard and the fact that we thus dealt intensively with structures and processes have had a decisive influence on the quality of Sanagate. Nevertheless, the question of further development arose for us. We found the answer in the EFQM Excellence Model. On the one hand, the more far-reaching aspects in the areas of corporate culture were decisive. On the other hand, EFQM is less technical and more people-oriented and assigns a central role to the employees.

The first step was the self-assessment. Since our goal was to involve the entire workforce, the questions had to be designed appropriately for the recipients. After receiving the results, we decided to conduct in-depth interviews with some employees. We were interested in why the individual points were rated accordingly. The interviews were conducted separately with the employees on the one hand and with the management on the other, so that we could also gather the different perspectives of the various hierarchical levels. Through the interviews, we gained additional and important insights that we were able to incorporate directly into the project selection. For the employees, these interviews were important because they were able to raise certain points in a different setting that might not have come up in the same way.

After the survey and interviews were completed, we informed the entire workforce about the results at a town meeting (attendance meeting for all employees). In this way, the next steps were also made transparent once again. This transparency automatically increased the commitment of the people involved, and the support for EFQM on the part of the employees was strengthened.