Excellence gives you competitive advantage

Ian Swain, Sales Director, BQF

At first glance, what do Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and the Probation Service have in common? Initially you might think not much.

One is made up of private companies running the train services on the UK's rail network, the other comprises a number of trusts in England and Wales responsible for the supervision of offenders in the community.

However there are three important similarities. The first is that they both provide vital public services, of which high standards of service delivery are expected. The second is that the organisations that make up both groups operate on a contract or franchise basis. This follows on directly from the first, as it is an effective way of ensuring that those organisations meet their vital service level commitments.

Perhaps with these in mind, their third similarity should come as no surprise: this is that is that the majority of both TOCs and Probation Trusts have now adopted the EFQM Excellence Model as a performance management framework, a large proportion of which have gone on to achieve accreditation in the EFQM Levels of Excellence programme.

Of the 28 TOCs, 18 have achieved either Committed to Excellence (C2E) or Recognised for Excellence (R4E), while of the 35 Probation Trusts, 24 have achieved R4E. Furthermore, the Probation Service as a whole was awarded the 2011 BQF Gold Medal for Excellence in recognition of their on-going commitment to sustained excellence.

Achieving C2E or R4E really can help differentiate organisations from those that haven't. So many organisations now have accreditations such as ISO 9001 or Investors in People that, while still impressive and valuable achievements, they no longer enable an organisation to stand out from another.

However going for C2E or R4E is not just about getting another badge and certificate: it should be part of a long-term strategic commitment to improved organisational performance. In addition to making you stand out from your rivals, the Levels of Excellence programme will help your organisation to review its performance, benchmark itself, and identify and then address areas for improvement with a view to delivering tangible results.

And it's not just TOCs and Probation Trusts that are seeing the benefits of using the Model and the Levels of Excellence programme. Applications to the BQF for R4E in 2011 were double that of the previous year, which goes to show that it's gaining real credibility in the UK as a means of demonstrating an organisation's high standard of performance excellence.

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