TNCPE, MTAS partner to help other cities repeat Germantown's Baldrige success

By KATE COIL

TT&C Assistant Editor

In 2019, the city of Germantown became the first municipality in Tennessee and one of only five municipalities in the country to receive the coveted Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program designation.  

Now, the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence (TNCPE) and University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service (UT-MTAS) are teaming up to help other local government entities follow in Germantown’s footsteps. The program will help municipalities complete their own Baldrige Award applications through peer-to-peer support, project management planning, and advice from officials with TNCPE, MTAS, and Germantown.  

Established in 1987, the program is the highest formal recognition of performance excellence for both public and private entities in the country and is administered through both the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and U.S. Department of Commerce. The program is named for late U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige . 

Heather Schoch, president and CEO of TNCPE, said her organization has worked with numerous organizations throughout the state who want to work their way through the Baldrige program – whether or not they submit their application.  

“Some use us more as training, coaching, and consulting, but we are taking the opportunity in 2025 to get as many cities involved as possible so they can come through as a cohort,” Schoch said. “We are offering our Level One to any city that wants to do it at our member rate, and the city of Germantown is going to provide their award-winning application as a starting point for other cities. We will also offer webinars between the three organizations: TNCPE, MTAS, and Germantown. Our goal is not a trophy; our goal is that each organization improves the results they actually care about.” 

MTAS Executive Director Margaret Norris said the program can help provide cities with measurable results to their strategic planning efforts.  

“MTAS, as an agency, has been involved with TNCPE since 2010,” Norris said. “We support continuous improvement for ourselves and for our customers. If you don’t know where you are going, then you’ll never get there. Having a plan, doing what you’ve planned, figuring out what worked well and what didn’t, and then acting again with enhanced data are key components of successful organizations.  Services that cities provide are measurable, and striving to improve what you deliver to your constituents leads to better governance, faster service delivery, and cost savings to your residents and business community. Please consider joining us in the journey to excellence.” 

While TNCPE has helped a lot of private industry achieve success with the program, Schoch said the Baldrige framework can benefit government entities just as much as it benefits private industry.  

“The Level One process is really organized around who are your customers and citizens, what do they want, and what are the strategic objectives for the next couple of years,” she said. “We mainly focus on what is important and where your city wants to go. This is usually accomplished in about six months. After that, they will know enough to decide if they want to move forward on a Baldrige Application on levels two, three, and four. Many times, they also identify a gap they need to fill before they move forward with that process, which is still a win for us. We know putting all the minds around the table and getting them to agree on what to do can be difficult. This is something that does that for you.” 

The program helped Germantown make several improvements that made it a municipality that other cities and organizations can benchmark against.  

“Because of their Baldrige Award, Germantown is one of the only cities in the country that has a AAA bond rating from both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s,” she said. “At the time they won, they had a net promoter score of 71, which is almost unheard of and something you can benchmark against organizations like Apple and Southwest. They have one of the highest cardiac event survival rates in the U.S. because of a project they did on moving ambulances around. They have a police response time of about two minutes and have 100% of their 911 calls answered in 10 seconds or less.” 

Cities seeking more information about the process and the Baldrige Awards can contact TNCPE and schedule a free informational session to learn more.