The EFQM model

The EFQM model connects strategy with five organisational ‘enablers’—leadership, policy and strategy, people, partnerships and resources, and processes—and four areas of results. Its underlying proposition is that aligned management practices produce better outcomes for customers, employees, society and the organisation.

When to use it

The framework began as a total-quality self-assessment and improvement method. It can now be used more broadly to examine organisational architecture, translate strategy into operating practice and identify performance gaps across public, private and non-profit organisations.

It is deliberately non-prescriptive. Instead of prescribing one structure, it asks how connected practices contribute to results. The original excellence principles include:

• leadership and constancy of purpose;
• management by processes and facts;
• employee development and involvement;
• continuous learning, innovation and improvement;
• partnership development; and
• public responsibility.

Origins

European business leaders created the European Foundation for Quality Management to strengthen organisational competitiveness through a shared excellence framework. The first EFQM model drew on total-quality management and major quality-award approaches, then evolved through successive editions as ideas about stakeholders, sustainability, transformation and performance developed.

What it is

The fundamental concepts of excellence

An excellent organisation creates value for customers, acts sustainably, responds to change, learns and innovates, behaves ethically, works with agility and develops capable, empowered people. These principles guide interpretation rather than functioning as a compliance checklist.

The criteria

The version described here contains five enabler criteria and four result criteria. Enablers describe what the organisation does; results show what it achieves. Each side carries a total weight of 500.

The enablers group

Leadership, 100

how leaders shape purpose, values and performance.

Strategy, 80

how evidence and stakeholder needs become direction and plans.

People, 90

how capability, involvement and motivation are developed.

Partnerships and resources, 90

how assets, suppliers, information and alliances support delivery.

Processes, products and services, 140

how value is designed, delivered and improved.

The results group

Customer results, 200

perceptions and performance related to customer value and loyalty.

People results, 90

employee perceptions and workforce outcomes.

Society results, 60

environmental and social effects.

Key performance results, 150

strategic, operational and financial outcomes.

RADAR

Results:

define the balanced outcomes the strategy must achieve.

Approaches:

design sound, integrated methods capable of producing them.

Deploy:

implement those approaches consistently where relevant.

Assess and refine:

use measurement, learning and innovation to improve.

RADAR requires evidence: strategy-aligned reports, customer and employee feedback, process measures and sustainability information. Scores support diagnosis, but the learning conversation matters more than the total.