The Baldrige Framework National Technical Committee has submitted the 2026 Baldrige Framework to the Department of Commerce and it has been officially approved. We are finalizing the design and expect the public release will take place in the coming weeks.
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Organizations today are expected to deliver results with increasing speed, accountability, and transparency. Yet many operate without a clear, shared understanding of how their systems work together or how to consistently improve them. The Baldrige Maturity Pathways address this gap by providing a structured, practical approach to understanding current performance and advancing toward excellence.
At its core, the Baldrige approach recognizes that organizations evolve. Not every organization is ready for advanced benchmarking or fully integrated systems, and forcing complexity too early often leads to confusion or disengagement. Instead, the Maturity Pathways meet organizations where they are—whether they are establishing foundational processes, developing consistency and discipline, or maturing into a fully aligned and high-performing system.
Each pathway provides clarity on three essential questions:
How does the organization currently operate?
How consistent and reliable are its processes?
How effectively are results being used to drive decisions and improvement?
The Establishing Pathway focuses on building awareness, helping leaders and teams understand how work is done today, what matters most, and what should be measured. The Developing Pathway strengthens discipline, introducing consistency, reliability, and data-informed decision-making. The Maturing Pathway advances integration, aligning strategy, people, processes, and results into a cohesive system that continuously learns and improves.
Organizations use these pathways to:
Diagnose gaps in leadership, strategy, workforce, and operations
Prioritize improvement efforts based on real data and insight
Align teams around shared goals and expectations
Build systems that sustain performance beyond individual leaders
The result is better processes and better outcomes. Organizations that adopt the Baldrige approach improve reliability, strengthen engagement, reduce inefficiencies, and position themselves to compete and succeed in increasingly complex environments.
To learn more about the Baldrige Framework, email info@baldrigefoundation.org.
For more than 32 years, the Baldrige Excellence Framework® has empowered organizations to accomplish their missions, improve results, and become more competitive. The Baldrige Excellence Framework® includes the Criteria for Performance Excellence®, core values and concepts, and guidelines for evaluating your processes and results.
The Baldrige Excellence Framework® is all about helping you innovate and improve. Available for Business/Nonprofit (including Manufacturing, Service, Small Business, Nonprofit, and Government), Education, and Health Care sectors. Learn about the Impacts of Baldrige.
Manufacturing, Service, Small Business, Nonprofit/Government organizations
Education organizations
Health Care organizations
A Baldrige-based self-assessment can help your organization improve and succeed. The Baldrige Excellence Framework® can help you improve communication, productivity, and effectiveness and achieve your strategic goals. Use Baldrige Improvement Tools to help you get started.
The Baldrige Excellence Builder® is another way to get started. It is based on the Baldrige Excellence Framework® and its Criteria for Performance Excellence®. Use the Excellence Builder to assess your organization against the most important features of organizational performance excellence and learn about the Baldrige Excellence Framework.
Learn about other Baldrige Products and Services to help your organization succeed.
What People Are Saying
Gordon Black, Former Chairman and CEO, Harris/Black International Ltd.
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The publication containing the Baldrige Criteria is probably the single most influential document in the modern history of American business.
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don’t
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I see the Baldrige process as a powerful set of mechanisms for disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought and taking disciplined action to create great organizations that produce exceptional results.
Purchase Baldrige Excellence Framework Business/Nonprofit, Education, Health Care
2023-2024 Self-Analysis Worksheet Word
Changes from the 2021–2022 Baldrige Excellence Framework PDF
Baldrige Excellence Builder
Baldrige Key Terms
Baldrige Improvement Tools
Foundations for a Successful Business
How Baldrige Works
Baldrige Impacts
Baldrige Products and Services
Baldrige Award
Baldrige Award Recipient Listing
Baldrige FAQs
Help us provide inspiration to the thousands of organizations in manufacturing, health care, education, communities, and government that are using the Baldrige Framework to create jobs and strengthen the economy, increase the quality and access to health care, and improve K-12 and higher education as we navigate these challenging times.
Improving the practice of leadership and management in pursuit of performance excellence.
The Foundation for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID: 59-2891462).
