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For making the matrix Standard an integral part of delivering a total customer experience, a matrix Excellence Award is presented to Essex County Council, Adult and Community Learning.
Essex County Council - Adult Community Learning Essex
Click here to see what other organisations have to say about the matrix Standard
Millstone or Milestone?
‘Progress might have been alright once, but it has gone on too long’ - Ogden Nash
Change may be a blessing or a curse, depending on your standpoint. Some organisations welcome and embrace change as it allows them the chance to get rid of any ‘baggage’, try something new and generally have a good ‘spring clean’.
Other organisations might see change as a millstone round their neck, an evil, a chore that they have to go through, for whatever reasons.
In these organisations, managers and staff may take a satisficing approach with regard to meeting quality standards i.e. they attempt to meet the various criteria, of any standard, for adequacy rather than trying to identify an optimal solution.
If this is what happens within organisations, this can become a period of stagnation, with the organisations performing the bare minimum over and over, and not being able to demonstrate the delivery of a high quality service as there will have been no improvements made to the quality of the service that they provide.
In real terms what this can mean to the organisations is that they will fall behind those organisations that are pro-active and actively embrace change.
Organisations that have received a matrix Excellence Award are organisations that have embraced the spirit, ethos and principles of the Standard, and are able to show additional benefits that have accrued from their use of the Standard. Along with this they continue to strive to provide an improving service to clients. N.B. Excellence is not a skill, it is an attitude.
Follow this link for details on the matrix Standard Excellence Awards
P.T. Barnum, American Circus Owner and Showman, once said that, ‘Without promotion something terrible happens – nothing’. So organisations need to think in terms of promoting change, not just for change sake, but to explore ways in which they can provide a better, continually improving service year on year, to meet differing challenges as they occur.
Just as you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, you can’t make bread without flour. Without the millstone to grind the corn there would be no flour, and consequently no bread. So the millstone (change) becomes a milestone because the use of it enables you to move forward in the process.