The Minnesota Council for Quality, Minneapolis, recently announced the recipients of the 2007 Minnesota Quality Award.  Nine organizations received recognition this year:   Achievement Level Winona Health (Winona) Advancement Level Benedictine Health System, Long Term Care Services (Duluth) Immanuel St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Mayo Health System (Mankato) Midwest Medical Insurance Group (Edina) Commitment Level Cardinal of Minnesota (Rochester) Hayfield Community Schools (Hayfield) Marshall Public Schools (Marshall) Pine Island Public Schools (Pine Island) Zumbrota-Mazeppa Schools (Mazeppa) “Minnesota is a great place to live and work,” says Brian Lassiter, president of the Minnesota Council for Quality.  “With these nine organizations – and many others – on the journey to excellence, we can all take comfort in knowing that good just isn’t good enough.”  

All nine Award recipients were recognized at a public event Wednesday evening in St. Paul.  Attended by over 250 leaders, the event was sponsored by 3M (Gold Sponsor); BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota, Mayo Health System, Memorial Blood Centers of Minnesota (Silver Sponsors); Cargill Kitchen Solutions, DuFrense Manufacturing, Hoglund Coaching, Medica, MHQP, Reller Consulting, the St. Paul Hotel, St. Cloud Tech, Stratis Health, and the Studer Group (Bronze Sponsors).

The event also recognized the 2007 Minnesota Quality Award Board of Evaluators, a team of nearly 120 volunteers supporting this program, giving a combined estimated 11,000 volunteer hours of service.

Matt Kramer, Governor Pawlenty’s Chief of Staff, made remarks on behalf of Governor Pawlenty.  Mr. Kramer commented on how the definition of quality has changed over time.  “Quality used to be about an organization’s ability to prevent defects, but that guaranteed a certain percentage of failures.  Now, we’ve come to realize that quality is really about excellence – about focusing on your customer and continuously improving your workforce and processes.”

Mr. Kramer commented on Governor Pawlenty’s “Drive to Excellence” initiative and how it is transforming government by focusing on the efficiency and effectiveness of State processes.  He also congratulated the nine recipients, especially the four school districts who are striving to improve student outcomes and academic achievement in the State.

Representative Randy Demmer, R-29A (Hayfield) also remarked on the importance of excellence in education.  Rep. Demmer: “We all have a role in driving excellence…when all of the arrows are pointing in the same direction, we can aspire and achieve excellence.”  Representative Demmer is author of House Bill 4036, a bill to support K-12 school districts using the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to improve academic outcomes and non-academic results.  He is a business owner and former School Board member of the Hayfield Community Schools, one of the nine recipients of this year’s Minnesota Quality Award.   Ron Evjen, Superintendent of Hayfield Community Schools agrees: “This is not about an Award,” says Superintendent Evjen.  “It’s about kids.  This is our second time to receive the Minnesota Quality Award.  The first time, we were in Statutory Operating Debt, and I give credit to our School Board for investing the time and money in this process – money we really didn’t have to spend.  But we made the commitment to continuous improvement, and we are seeing tremendous progress over the last three years in terms of our student achievement, our budgetary results, and other indicators.”  

Founded in 1991, the primary objective of the Minnesota Quality Award is to help organizations improve their performance results.  The Award also serves to recognize performance excellence throughout the state.  The Minnesota Quality Award is given at four levels – Excellence (the top Award), Achievement, Advancement, and Commitment – and is the culmination of a rigorous assessment process that uses the “Criteria for Performance Excellence” of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.  Since 1991, 97 organizations have received Minnesota Quality Award recognition at various levels (a full list is at http://www.councilforquality.org/assess_org_award.cfm).   Organizations that participate in the process receive comprehensive feedback that outlines their strengths and improvement opportunities in dozens of organizational processes including: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, information, and knowledge management; workforce focus; process management; and results.  This feedback is typically used by senior leaders for organizational learning, planning, and improvement.

Jack Priggen, CEO of Cardinal of Minnesota, which provides homes and services to adults with developmental disabilities commented: “As a hockey fan, I was struck by the phrase on the backs of Hill-Murray band’s t-shirt worn during last month’s state hockey tournament.  It said: ‘Prove it.’  And really, the use of this [Baldrige] framework is all about our proving how good we are to an independent set of Evaluators, but also to ourselves.  With the dedication of our staff, we provide exceptional care to our clients, but we can always get better.  This process has helped me and our other leaders identify priorities for improvement so that we can better serve our clients and better achieve our goals.”   The 2008 Minnesota Quality Award cycle has already begun, and the Council expects 12-15 organizations to receive recognition in early 2009 for this year’s Award.  

After sharing a Garrison Keillor quote on the challenges of living in Minnesota, especially during the winter, Lassiter offered the following: “I think we ARE different here: we work harder than average, we play harder than average, we have better schools than average, we have better healthcare (and consequently, better health) than average, and we have better organizations than average.  Tonight, we celebrate nine organizations on the path to excellence – all are better than average and continuously getting better all the time.”

About the Minnesota Council for Quality
Founded in 1987, the Minnesota Council for Quality is a non-profit corporation that advances improvement and performance excellence within organizations, individuals, and communities.  The Council helps leaders identify strengths and improvement opportunities and we build 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 Six Sigma Forum, the Rochester Area Quality Council, the Consultant Referral Network, and the improvement Clearinghouse, and by collaborating with other non-profits that focus on improvement.  For more information, contact Brian Lassiter at 612-868-3519 or visit www.councilforquality.org.

About Benedictine Health System
The Benedictine Health System (BHS) s a Catholic, mission-directed, values-based health care system that spans the full spectrum of long-term care.  BHS owns and/or manages about 40 long-term care facilities of various types, including nursing homes, assisted living and independent senior housing options in seven states.  Janis Kivela Hooey at 218-786-2375 or visit www.bhshealth.org.

About Cardinal of Minnesota
Founded in 1995, Cardinal provides homes and services to adults with developmental disabilities.  With over 300 staff, they currently serve about 150 clients through 25 homes primarily in SE Minnesota.  For more information, contact Jack Priggen at 507-281-1077 or visit www.cardinalofminnesota.com.

About Hayfield Community Schools
Hayfield Community Schools District 203 serves the communities of Brownsdale, Hayfield, Oslo, Sargeant, and Waltham – about 200 square miles from Rochester west/soutwest to Austin MN.  The district enrolls about 900 in three K-12 schools and has a total staff of about 130.  For more information, contact Annette Freiheit at 507-477-3225 or visit www.hayfield.k12.mn.us.

About Immanuel St. Joseph’s, Mayo Health System
Immanuel St. Joseph’s Medical Center (ISJ), part of the Mayo Health System, is a non profit facility that provides healthcare services to a regional population of over 250,000 people in southern Minnesota in communities such as Mankato, Waseca, St. Peter.  With a hospital, physician clinic, occupational medical services, home health and hospice services and a 185 member medical staff, ISJ is a regional healthcare provider, dedicated to helping the people of our region stay as healthy and safe as possible.  For more information, contact Kevin Burns at 507-625-4031 or visit www.isj-mhs.org.

About Marshall Public Schools
Marshall Public Schools District 413 serves about 2000 students in Marshall and other communities in Southwest Minnesota.  Marshall operates four schools and has a vision “to work as one in the pursuit of excellence.”  For more information, contact La Oeltjenbruns at 507-929-2601 or visit www.marshall.k12.mn.us.

About Midwest Medical Insurance Group (MMIC)
MMIC provides medical malpractice insurance, electronic medical records, and other medical services to the Upper Midwest.  Founded in 1980, MMIC is based in Edina and has about 125 employees in four offices in Edina, Plymouth, West Des Moines IA, and Omaha NE.  For more information, contact Stephanie Kroeger at (952) 838-6780 or visit www.mmicgroup.com.

About Pine Island Public Schools
Pine Island Public Schools District 255 serves the Pine Island and surrounding community, about 15 miles northwest of Rochester.  Pine Island has about 100 faculty/staff and serves nearly 1200 students.  For more information, contact Chris Bates at 507-356-4849 or visit www.pineisland.k12.mn.us.

About Winona Health
Winona Health is a community owned and operated nonprofit healthcare system whose goal is to meet the lifelong healthcare needs of the Winona regional community.  The organization operates a 99-bed hospital and a 154-bed nursing home and provides 13 specialties through its more than 1000 employees, 350 volunteers, and 50 physicians in 13 specialties.  For more information, contact Brian Zmolek at 507-457-3329 or visit www.winonahealth.org.

About Zumbrota-Mazeppa Schools
Zumbrota-Mazeppa District 2805 is about 20-25 miles north of Rochester and serves about 1200 students.  Z-M’s mission is to create a community where all individuals have the opportunity to reach their full potential through a safe, challenging learning environment.  For more information, contact Richard Meyerhofer at 507-843-4080 or visit www.zmschools.us.