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AQP’s National Team Excellence Awards
Diary
Sunday afternoon, February 23
The 25 finalists in the 2003 AQP National Team
Excellence Awards competition have gathered to obtain
last minute instructions about the process. Geetha
Balagopal, project manager of the awards, warmly
greets the team members and their supporting coaches.
Warren Krompf, chair of AQP’s team excellence
process executive committee, and some judges are
present to encourage the teams. Photos of each team
are taken to preserve the experience. The culmination
of months of work within their organizations,
regional competitions, and preparation for the
nationals has arrived.
Sunday evening, February 23
The time for preparation has come to an end for the
first presenting teams.
The teams have checked the meeting room where the
presentations will be given. Team members have
practiced and practiced—sometimes to the point
where they can repeat their portions in their
sleep—and many of them do.
In fact, it’s a restless night for many team
members. Some have never traveled on company business
in the past, and this first trip recognizes their
achievements and demonstrates their
organizations’ support. Others aren’t
accustomed to making presentations—particularly
in front of large groups. Still others want to
“bring home the glory,” acting as
representatives of not only their team, but also the
other teams that have improved their organizations in
the past and will improve them in the
future.
Monday morning, February 24
AQP’s 25th Annual Conference has begun with
opening remarks from AQP president, Michael Glowacki;
recognition of the AQP crew composed of conference
participants who have attended for the most years;
and an inspirational message from the keynote
speaker, Herman Cain. All team finalists receive
their award for qualifying for the final round in the
live competition.
After a brief break, the first team takes the
stage, and the National Team Excellence Awards
competition begins.
Each team has 25 minutes to share its story,
making sure to address the five areas included in the
evaluation criteria:
- Project selection and purpose.
- Current situation analysis.
- Action plan development.
- Project buy-in, implementation, progress, and
results.
- Presentation.
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The Incoming Customer Correspondence
Process Improvement Team From Fidelity Wide
Processing (l. to r.): Front Row:
Mike Cook, Linda Nourse, Audrey Jett, Paula
Hays, and Sue Divata
Back Row: Chris Edgington, Chris Hudak,
Tom Duggan, Gregg Prebles, and Eric Carrol
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Monday evening, February 24
By the
end of the day, 17 teams have completed their
presentations. Some are experiencing a mild degree of
post-traumatic shock syndrome, mentally repeating
their presentations in their heads and discussions,
thinking of what they should have said that they
didn’t say, as well as what they said that they
shouldn’t have said. The familiar adage,
“Hindsight is 20/20,” runs through their
minds, and they know that they’ll be back next
year with even better skills.
Tuesday morning, February 25
The day dawns bright and clear, and the final teams
begin their presentations. The teams, judges, lead
judges, monitors, and audiences all share the
enthusiasm and excitement of shared learning as teams
tell their success stories!
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The Ramp Team From The Boeing Company (l.
to r.): Ron Irby, Joe Irwin, Bill Beattie,
Mike Howell, Rick Bones, Bita Anjomshoaa, Mike
Fahrney, Joe Burgess, and Rudy Coffman
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Tuesday afternoon, February 25
The judges retreat to discuss the feedback they will
provide to each team.
The team members take a deep breath and offer
words of encouragement. Sighs of relief are heard,
and the release of pent-up anxiety is manifested in
the hustle and bustle of team members as they head to
other conference sessions, walk through New
Orleans’ French Quarter, and attend luncheons
to commemorate their experiences.
Tuesday evening, February 25
The teams gather for recognition by AQP at a
reception that focuses not on the competition’s
winners, but on the processes of participation and
successful collaboration, quality improvement, and
attaining higher organizational
performance.
Each team has its own table, where the members
enjoy hors d’oeuvres and beverages, but the
spirit in the room goes beyond internal-team
boundaries. Members are seen crossing from table to
table, congratulating their competitors and
expressing excitement about the next day’s
announcement of the winners.
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The Shim Cell Team From The Boeing
Company (l. to r.): Daniel Munoz, Kevin
Davidson, Norm Sebby, David Farrar, Jerry
Simkins, Varinder Mohan, Don Pitcher, Tom
DeCillis, Richard Riebsomer, Wilson Lee, Greg
Jensen, and Ray Felski
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Wednesday mid-morning, February 26
The time finally has come. Doug Stark, chair of the
AQP conference committee and the master of ceremonies
for the closing session, rises to the stage, and the
announcements begin.
Jim Friscia, director of Six Sigma at Merrill Lynch
in New Jersey, speaks about what has happened since
his team won the 2002 Gold Award. AQP always invites
the previous year’s winner to share
perspectives during this ceremony.
“This year’s Bronze Award in
AQP’s National Team Award competition goes to
‘The Shim Cell Team’ from The Boeing
Company (C-17 Production Operations, Integrated
Defense Systems), Long Beach, CA.”
The applause from the conference attendees is
thunderous. Team members take the stage to receive
their formal award, but there’s no doubt in
anyone’s mind that the sound of support from
their peers is the greatest award of all.
“And the Silver Award goes to ‘The
Ramp Team’ also from The Boeing Company (C-17
Production Operations, Integrated Defense Systems) in
Long Beach, CA.
“It’s now with great pleasure that we
announce the Gold Award winner from this year’s
National Team Excellence Award competition,
‘The Incoming Customer Correspondence Process
Improvement Team’ from Fidelity Wide
Processing, Hebron, KY.”
The conference participants rise to their feet to
give Fidelity’s team and all the teams a
standing ovation. But there’s far more
happening in the room than recognition of the
winners. There’s:
- A feeling of pride among the teams—for
their achievements, for representing their
organizations, for running the presentation
gauntlet successfully, and for receiving the
admiration of their peers for their
efforts.
- A sense of comradery among the team members
associated with the experiences they’ve
shared on site during the process in the past
several days.
- A renewed energy among the teams that
participated because their interest in working
together to solve problems has risen to an even
greater height.
- An undercurrent of excitement that’s
spread from the teams to the conference attendees.
“We have excellent teams, too. We need to get
them involved in this process.”
- A belief among the national team excellence
process executive committee members and judges that
even more teams will participate next year and that
even more organizations will benefit from using the
National Team Excellence Award criteria to improve
their internal improvement efforts.
Because as Tom Peters once said, “There is
nothing else like this (type of) competition in the
country. This is special.”
EDITOR'S NOTE: Future issues of News for a
Change will include additional articles that
provide coaching for new and experienced teams.
Additionally, feedback from team members, executives
from their organizations, judges, and observers of
the 2003 competition will be offered.
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