Awards often signal a culmination of efforts, but the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award marks a major milestone during—not at the end of—a continuous quest for organizational innovation and performance excellence.

On April 12, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews presented the 2014 Baldrige award to PricewaterhouseCoopers Public Sector Practice (McLean, Va.), Hill Country Memorial (Fredericksburg, Texas), St. David’s HealthCare (Austin, Texas) and Elevations Credit Union (Boulder, Colo.). The organizations represent the service, health care and nonprofit sectors.

Andrews noted that the awards require “an organizational commitment to excellence, driven by senior leadership with vision, accomplished by engaged employees and enabled by a customer-focused culture.”

Established by Congress in 1987, the Baldrige Award recognizes organizations that best apply the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence in seven defined areas: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; operations focus; and results.

Thousands of organizations worldwide use the Baldrige Criteria to guide their operations, improve performance and get sustainable results. Since the first group was honored in 1988, 105 awards have been presented to 99 organizations (including six repeat winners). A December 2011 study measuring the Baldrige Program's value to individual organizations on cost savings, customer satisfaction and financial gain conservatively estimated a benefit-to-cost ratio of 820 to 1.

The commitment to excellence doesn’t go away after the award is won. These organizations serve as role models to advise, guide and support others on their performance excellence journeys. This week in Baltimore, Md., the four 2014 Baldrige Award winners are participating in the annual Quest for Excellence Conference, where they are sharing best practices in performance management with 700 attendees from around the world.

Each Baldrige effort varies, but all lead to better organizations. Hill Country Memorial is a community hospital that has streamlined operating room procedures and established a new employee wellness program to create a culture where both patients and employees feel valued. As a result, employee turnover is among the lowest in the country and the hospital was ranked in the top 10 percent nationally for best patient experience.

St. David’s HealthCare is one of the largest health care systems in Texas and has used its Baldrige approach to increase what it gives back to its community. St. David’s has been able to contribute more than $200 million to local agencies; provide more than $1 billion in uncompensated care to the uninsured; and taken steps to significantly reduce its environmental footprint. Today, St. David’s has one of the top patient loyalty scores in the country and continues to find even more innovative ways to reach out to its community.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Public Sector Practice offers management consulting to the government. It has used the Baldrige Criteria to guide soliciting feedback from clients and reshape its internal processes. The company also became more selective about which opportunities it pursued, enabling it to focus on quality rather than quantity and provide maximum value to its clients.

Elevations Credit Union decided to adopt the Baldrige Criteria in early 2009, during difficult economic times. Not only did the Baldrige journey help Elevations weather the economic storm, but it helped the financial institution grow and prosper over time. Today, ECU is stronger than ever, with both staff and clients giving the company high marks for satisfaction.

The four organizations honored with the 2014 Baldrige Award serve as inspiring examples  of the outstanding results possible with a  commitment to innovation and performance excellence.  Organizations that follow their lead and adopt the Baldrige approach can help ensure a rewarding and successful future that benefits employees, customers and communities, while fostering economic growth for the nation as a whole.