The Excellence Framework
Europe 2026 is here!
Understand and develop
your organisation
as a whole.
The European excellence framework for leadership, assessment and organisational development
The Excellence Framework Europe (EFE) helps you understand your organisation as a whole, assess the maturity of its organisational capabilities, and shape the next development steps in a targeted way. It connects organisational capabilities and results with the outcomes and impact your organisation achieves.
EFE is user-friendly, freely accessible and free to use – for organisations of any sector, size and stage of development.
Holistic · model-independent · practical · impact-oriented · development-oriented
Why the Excellence Framework Europe? → Learn more here
One framework.
Three interconnected elements.
Principles, the Hexagon and the maturity model together form the framework for organisational excellence.
EFE Principles
Values and responsibility as the foundation
Openness, freedom and responsibility, equality, humanity and sustainability provide guidance for responsible action and future-ready organisational development.
EFE Hexagon
Understanding the organisation as a whole
Six interconnected areas and twenty sub-areas describe the organisational capabilities that matter for excellence:
A Provide orientation
B Develop strategy
C Shape collaboration
D Create value
E Demonstrate impact
F Master change
EFE Maturity Model
Recognising maturity and shaping further development
Five successive maturity levels describe how organisational capabilities evolve. They show the maturity already achieved, which aspects of the next level are already evident, and which development steps are appropriate.
Click on the six areas of the EFE Hexagon and explore the twenty sub-areas.
EFE Hexagon
A
Orientierung geben
A1
Sinn stiften und Zukünfte definieren
A2
Kultur leben und Identität schaffen
A3
Beteiligte verstehen und Vielfalt einbeziehen
B
Strategie entwickeln
B1
Umfeld und eigene Kompetenzen verstehen
B2
Strategie festlegen
B3
Strategie umsetzen und reviewen
C
Zusammenarbeit gestalten
C1
Interessengruppen einbinden
C2
Produkte und Dienstleistungen gestalten
C3
Struktur und Organisation gestalten
C4
Technologie und Ressourcen bereitstellen
D
Wertschöpfung erbringen
D1
Kund:innen gewinnen und begeistern
D2
Mitarbeitende ermächtigen
D3
Mit Partnern und Lieferanten Wert schaffen
D4
Wertschöpfung, Technologie und Ressourcen managen
E
Wirkung aufzeigen
E1
Wirkung auf soziale Interessen aufzeigen
E2
Wirkung auf ökologische Interessen aufzeigen
E3
Wirkung auf ökonomische Interessen aufzeigen
F
Veränderung meistern
F1
Menschen für Veränderung gewinnen
F2
Organisation für Veränderung befähigen
F3
Organisation im Kontext verändern
What EFE enables your organisation to do
Orient · understand · assess · develop
Understand where you stand
Understand how your organisation’s capabilities interact and where your organisation currently stands in its development.
Identify strengths and development potential
See what is already working well and where further development offers the greatest benefit.
Assess maturity in a clear and transparent way
Use clearly described capability aspects to assess how far your organisation’s capabilities have developed.
Link results with outcomes and impact
Consider results in relation to the capabilities that contribute to them and gain a clearer understanding of the outcomes and impact your organisation creates.
Shape the next development steps
Use the maturity profile to set priorities and strengthen your organisation’s performance capability, capacity for change and future readiness in a targeted way.
Works with your existing approaches
EFE can be used regardless of the management approach you use. Existing models, management systems and organisation-specific approaches can continue to be used and connected with EFE.
EFE is equally suitable for organisations seeking a holistic framework for the first time – for orientation, organisational development, self-assessment or as the basis for an independent excellence assessment.
Your access to the Excellence Framework Europe.
Get to know “The Framework” and use EFE to better understand your organisation and develop it further in a targeted way.
Freely accessible and free to use.
Shaped together.
Developed together.
The Excellence Framework Europe was initiated by ESPRIX Excellence Suisse (ESPRIX), the Initiative Ludwig-Erhard-Preis e. V. (ILEP) and the Austrian Foundation for Quality Management (AFQM), and created together with the European excellence community. From 2026, Quality Austria will assume responsibility for the Excellence Framework Europe in Austria.
Excellence practitioners, organisations, assessors and experts contributed their experience and perspectives. This collaboration continues: insights from practical application feed into the continuous further development of the framework.
Your experience matters too. Share your insights and ideas and help shape EFE.
Statement from the
founding partners.
Europe’s future needs organisations that perform strongly, take responsibility for their impact and master change. With the Excellence Framework Europe, we want to help organisations systematically develop their organisational capabilities and continually strengthen their capacity to shape the future for everyone involved.
We bring together our practical experience in organisational excellence and create a shared framework for leadership, development and assessment. It is important to us that organisations can build on their proven approaches and shape their own development path.
For us, it goes without saying that EFE, as a modern, practical and model-independent excellence framework, is freely accessible and free to use for all organisations. We want to support as many organisations as possible in shaping a successful and sustainable future.
Felix Horner for the ESPRIX Excellence Suisse Foundation (ESPRIX)
André Moll for the Initiative Ludwig-Erhard-Preis e. V. (ILEP)
Franz Peter Walder for the Austrian Foundation for Quality Management (AFQM)
Excellence for Europe.
We help organisations strengthen their capabilities, take responsibility and achieve sustainable impact.
In doing so, we contribute to a competitive, liveable and future-ready Europe.