Sustaining American Greatness: Communities of Excellence 2026

A few days ago, we marked Memorial Day and in about five weeks, we’ll celebrate our 241st birthday as a nation.  It’s a time for picnics with family; reflections on those who sacrificed for their country; maybe parades or cemetery visits or fireworks with friends.  It’s also a time to enjoy and appreciate our freedom – the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness that has made this country strong for nearly a quarter millennia.  Let’s hope it lasts.

 

I hate to get fatalistic, but consider this: most world powers last 200-500 years.  In fact, a study of 55 historic empires showed a median age of 330 years.  The Ancient Greek Empire lasted about 350 years; the Roman Empire about 500; the Ptolemaic Egyptian civilization about 300; and even the British Empire spanned just under 350.

 

The United States as a nation turns 250 in the year 2026, which is why a small group of visionaries created a nonprofit called Communities of Excellence 2026.  Our collective goal is not just to make it to 2026, but to create a framework that systematically addresses our nation’s issues at a grass roots level – within the communities in which we all live, work, and play – such that we sustain our nation’s strength for many generations, many centuries to come.  The philosophical foundation of Communities of Excellence 2026 is that the continuous improvement tools which have been proven to impact outcomes within organizations can be used to improve community outcomes across organizations.

So imagine a time when leaders within a community – official leaders (those elected or appointed to their formal positions), as well as the many informal community leaders – work together to set community vision; listen to community stakeholders to better understand community assets and needs; (re)allocate resources to address community issues or advance community initiatives; use community scorecards to monitor progress of those initiatives and the outcomes they intend to impact; and engage, mobilize, and align people resources – workers, volunteers, and citizenry – on the initiatives that will make a difference in a given community.  That’s how high performing organizations succeed; we believe that’s how high performing communities will succeed.

 

Communities of Excellence 2026 envisions using a validated improvement framework – the Baldrige Performance Excellence Framework – to improve health status, educational attainment, economic vitality, and other key community outcomes by focusing on improving overall community performance in addition to individual components within communities.  If it’s worked successfully for 30 years to improve and sustain organizational outcomes, why wouldn’t it work to improve community outcomes?
I have been a practitioner of the Baldrige Framework for more than 20 years, as an examiner at both the state and national levels, as a judge for several Baldrige-based award programs (such as American Health Care Association and the Veterans Administration’s Carey Award),  as president of the Performance Excellence Network (the regional Baldrige-based program serving Minnesota and the Dakotas), and a leader of the Alliance for Performance Excellence (the national consortium of state/regional Baldrige-based programs).  In these roles, I have seen the impact Baldrige has had on improving performance of American businesses, hospitals, schools, nonprofits, and governmental agencies.  It improves outcomes, aligns activities, and optimizes resources.  I am convinced that the Communities of Excellence 2026 vision will help community leaders – both formal and informal – better allocate resources, solve problems, and address some of the pervasive challenges we face as a nation.

Last month, Communities of Excellence 2026 launched a collaborative of five American communities – a 12-month learning opportunity for community leaders to share best practices, insights, and ideas to improve community outcomes in the areas of health, safety, educational attainment, and economic vitality of residents.  The five communities include Brookfield/Marceline (in northwest Missouri), Maryville (also in northwest Missouri), San Diego County (south region), Charleston WV, and West Kendall (south Florida).  They will meet monthly by videoconference to participate in a one-hour learning session, then two weeks later have a facilitated discussion session to share across communities.  After piloting this approach for about four months, we hope to add up to seven additional communities to the cohort.
“[This cohort] captures the learning and power of community improvement that comes from passionate, committed people simply telling each other their stories,” said Lowell Kruse, chair of Communities of Excellence 2026 and retired CEO of Baldrige-winning Heartland Health in St. Joseph, MO.  “The creativity and innovation described by each of the communities gives us the reassurance that solutions to our really complex community issues are “out there” in communities throughout the country. We need to make sure they have the vehicle that enables them to continue telling each other their stories, learning from one another and building a knowledge base of best practices for everyone to learn from on their Performance Excellence journey.”

 

Stephanie Norling, director of Communities of Excellence 2026, comments: “Both the differences and the similarities between these communities are striking.”  I believe that’s what gives the collaborative a spark.  When large, urban communities sit next to small, rural communities – and when communities that have been executing improvement for 20 years sit next to those that are just starting out – innovative ideas emerge.  When communities share their strategies, their processes, and their solutions to previously solved problems, other communities learn and can accelerate their progress toward goals.  And when communities use a validated framework like Baldrige as the basis of their improvement efforts, there is confidence that communities are focusing on the so-called “right things.”
I am honored to serve on the Communities of Excellence 2026 board, because I believe in the potential of this vision.  And I am honored to help execute Communities of Excellence 2026, because I believe this country needs bold, innovative solutions to address our complex problems.

In many ways, America is at a crossroads.  We are still the best nation on earth, but we are now facing increasing challenges and vexing problems that may threaten our ability to stay on top.  I look forward to working with Communities of Excellence 2026 to achieve and sustain the highest level of performance for our communities and build a lasting culture where passion for community excellence is the norm in our country.  I invite you to join the cause!

For more information on Communities of Excellence 2026 – including how to join the collaborative, visit http://www.communitiesofexcellence2026.org/.

 

What other insights do you have regarding community collaboration and community improvement?  Participate in a discussion on this topic: visit our LinkedIn group to post a comment.

 

Never stop improving!

 

Brian S. Lassiter

President, Performance Excellence Network

www.performanceexcellencenetwork.org

 

Catalyst for Success Since 1987!

 

[this article modified from an original post July 2015]

 

Photo credit financetwitter.com, bigthink.com