• 2010 Recognition Calendar

All Illinois-based organizations within industries including service, healthcare, education, and government entities are eligible to apply for The Lincoln Awards. Subsidiaries or units of larger corporations may also qualify.

Why should organizations apply for a Lincoln Award?

• Confidential feedback report outlining strengths and opportunities for improvement, based on an independent, external assessment conducted by qualified experts to supplement and validate your own findings.
• Potential site visit by a team of examiners assigned to your organization. Such visits are highly stimulating and constructive.
• By winning a Lincoln Foundation Award you will bring recognition to your organization and potentially attract new business. It also sets the framework for continuous improvement.

The Criteria for Performance Excellence provide organizations with an integrated, results-oriented framework for implementing and assessing processes for managing all operations. These Criteria are also the basis for making Awards and providing feedback to applicants. The Criteria consist of seven categories:

The company's leadership system, values, expectations, and public responsibilities.

The effectiveness of strategic and business planning and deployment of plans, with a strong focus on customer and operational performance requirements.

How the company determines customer and market requirements and expectations, enhances relationships with customers, and determines their satisfaction.

The effectiveness of information collection and analysis to support customer-driven performance excellence and marketplace success.

The success of efforts to realize the full potential of the work force to create a high performance organization.

The effectiveness of systems and processes for assuring the quality of products and services.

Performance results, trends, and comparison to competitors in key business areas -- customer satisfaction, financial and marketplace, human resources, suppliers and partners, and operations.

The Lincoln Foundation uses Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence for Business, Education and Healthcare. Please access the criteria via the Baldrige National Quality Program website at http://www.quality.nist.gov/ or contact The Lincoln Foundation , for personal assistance at info@lincolnaward.org.