In an increasingly challenging socio-political and economic environment, Europe relies on excellent organizations. Companies whose leaders and employees aspire to be above average are key to securing Europe’s future. These organizations are characterized by consistent, steady development – a prerequisite for being able to compete in the global market.
In order to enable this progress, it is crucial to realistically determine one’s own degree of maturity, to understand one’s own position in comparison to other organizations, and to strive for targeted further development. The Excellence Framework Europe (EFE) supports organizations on this path by offering them practical and easily accessible excellence concepts. Through the clear determination of maturity levels, strengths, and potentials, the framework makes a significant contribution to strengthening European companies.
EFE was developed by award-winning organizations that place great emphasis on it being written in simple language and optimally aligned with the respective maturity level of the organizations. The goal is not to impose a specific model, but rather to flexibly combine the best concepts, methods, and tools. This enables customized further development, regardless of the level at which the organization is currently.
The Excellence Framework Europe relies on European basic principles and attitudes and provides tools that enable a comprehensible determination of the degree of maturity. In this way, companies can easily benefit from the flexibility of the framework and drive their further development in a targeted manner – regardless of whether they are at the beginning or already advanced.
The focus of the framework is on continuous improvement. Organizations use the framework to regularly assess their level of maturity – for example, through annual assessments as part of competitions – and, based on this, take further measures for optimization. The actual improvement process then takes place within the organization.
The initiators and the Excellence Community have developed the Excellence Framework Europe as an open-source approach in order to make it accessible to as many organizations as possible. The aim is to promote exchange across borders and to strengthen locations throughout Europe through the application of the framework.
The Excellence Framework Europe is characterized by its model openness – a central element of the award procedures. The focus is not on the management model used, but on the evaluation of the degree of maturity within a clearly defined framework. Organizations that have already had positive experiences with models such as the EFQM model can continue to use it. At the same time, users of other models (e.g. Baldrige, Deming, St. Gallen Management Model, Economy for the Common Good, CAF) are cordially invited to have their organizational excellence assessed on the basis of the framework.
Model openness is made possible by the common DNA of many management approaches. On closer inspection, these approaches have many fundamental similarities, which are brought together in the Excellence Framework Europe. The focus on European values and frameworks makes the application of the framework considerably easier.
There are no restrictions regarding the models, concepts or approaches preferred and used in the organizations at the Excellence Awards in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The maturity level of the organization is assessed as part of the assessment. Objective comparability is ensured by a comprehensive and sophisticated evaluation matrix.
The evaluation approach is model-open, which means that it is applicable to any organization, regardless of the management approach it pursues. The results of the assessments in the award procedure include the degree of maturity as well as strengths and potentials and invite further development.
From the outset, WIR gemeinnützige GmbH has seen itself as a learning organization that is not satisfied with mediocrity, but strives to be continuously excellent and sustainable. EFE – as a model-open, flexible, and modern framework – is extremely helpful in this regard. With great passion, we will continue to work on increasing our maturity level, measuring ourselves against others, and developing ourselves in a targeted manner.
The Excellence Framework Europe is ideally suited for identifying early warning indicators for companies undergoing restructuring or in a crisis. Some EFE capabilities are more important and take precedence over others during a crisis. This is pointed out in the Excellence Assessment.
We were able to gain valuable insights during the assessment according to EFE. The structured external view has helped us to further expand our strengths and work specifically on improvements.
For me, the Excellence Framework Europe is the benchmark when it comes to making future viability tangible and assessable in companies – across all dimensions.
The Excellence Framework Europe makes future viability measurable – clearly structured, practical and across all dimensions: economic, ecological and social.
The Excellence Framework Europe takes the quintessence of the most relevant management models and breaks them down into understandable and actionable measures.
Even in preparing for our assessment based on the well-structured EFE framework and maturity model, we gained many valuable insights and suggestions for the further development of our company.
For me, the Excellence Framework Europe is a strong impetus for organizational maturity or Organizational Excellence – inspiring, value- and future-oriented, structured and maturity-promoting! From the DACH region for the whole world!
For me, the Excellence Framework Europe is a holistic model that supports organizations in achieving sustainable excellence by systematically evaluating and improving leadership, strategy, employees, partnerships, processes, and results.
The Excellence Framework Europe opens up an inspiring, holistic development path for organizations that want to unfold into true excellence. It combines all relevant aspects of entrepreneurial activity into a coherent overall picture – a clear control loop that provides orientation, clarity and direction.
I find EFE’s focus on working on the foundations of an organization particularly valuable: on the CULTURE, on the foundation of MEANING, and on European VALUES. In addition, the focus on an organization’s ability to adapt to changing conditions is an essential aspect.
The Excellence Framework Europe combines proven excellence principles with European values, providing organizations with an established framework for their systematic development.
If the social responsibility of your organization is important to you, both internally and externally, and you don’t just see the term “agile” as a buzzword, then you will not be able to avoid the Excellence Framework Europe in the long run.
Switching to the Excellence Framework Europe has given us valuable new impulses. The principles are an important identifying feature for us.
The Excellence Framework Europe is a valuable compass for us: It helps us to make strengths visible, to use potentials in a targeted manner and to develop our organization sustainably – in the interests of our customers, partners, employees and society.
The Excellence Framework Europe is an excellent entrepreneurial approach to making an organization more competitive
The Excellence Framework Europe helps companies to specifically develop their strengths further and offers a flexible structure for different industries and sizes. It combines the perspectives of leadership, employees and customers into a holistic approach. It is particularly appreciated that the framework enables individual solutions instead of rigid specifications.
There is no such thing as short-term success. Only constant action leads to small plants becoming huge trees of success. This is the most important insight from more than 25 years of quality work. The biotope for this is called Excellence Framework Europe.
The idea of excellence can be a guiding star in the development of any company. The Excellence Framework Europe helps to understand change not as a threat, but as an opportunity for development—and to bring people and organizations into motion together in a targeted manner.
Orientierung geben
Sinn stiften und Zukünfte definieren
Kultur leben und Identität schaffen
Vielfalt einbeziehen und Beteiligte verstehen
Strategie entwickeln
Umfeld und eigene Kompetenzen verstehen
Strategie festlegen
Strategie umsetzen und reviewen
Zusammenarbeit gestalten
Interessengruppen einbinden
Produkte und Dienstleistungen gestalten
Struktur und Organisation gestalten
Technologie und Ressourcen bereitstellen
Wertschöpfung erbringen
Kund:innen gewinnen und begeistern
Mitarbeitende ermächtigen
Mit Partnern und Lieferanten Wert schaffen
Wertschöpfung, Technologie und Ressourcen managen
Wirkung aufzeigen
Wirkung auf soziale Interessen aufzeigen
Wirkung auf ökologische Interessen aufzeigen
Wirkung auf ökonomische Interessen aufzeigen
Veränderung meistern
Menschen für Veränderung gewinnen
Organisation für Veränderung befähigen
Organisation im Kontext verändern