21st November 2014
Two Bronze Awards in New Zealand’s toughest and most prestigious performance excellence awards
The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation will present two New Zealand Business Excellence “Bronze” Awards at their
annual gala luncheon on Friday 21 November.
The awards, which are administered by the Foundation, are the only awards in New Zealand which are fully aligned to the
internationally respected and calibrated US Baldrige criteria. Foundation CEO, Fiona Gavriel, says “We sincerely
congratulate this year’s Award winners on successfully completing a rigorous and demanding evaluation process to achieve
this accolade. The Business Excellence Awards are not easy to achieve and it is a credit to the tenacity and focus on
excellence that they have both achieved bronze status. Each organisation is assessed on its own merits during the
evaluation process and it is pleasing to see two recipients from the health sector being recognised for their commitment
in what are difficult and challenging operating environments.”
In receiving this award, Counties Manukau Health is only the second District Health Board in New Zealand to be
recognised with an award since the New Zealand Business Excellence Awards commenced in 1993. They are an organisation
that is demonstrably pioneering performance improvement and who fully appreciate the challenge of deploying this
framework across a large, complex organisation.
MASH Trust, another health care provider has been on the journey for several years, relentlessly pursuing excellence in
their services. They have partnered effectively with others in the sector to share information and benchmark their
performance.
These awards place Counties Manukau Health and MASH Trust amongst the best in the New Zealand health and disability
sector in terms of measuring performance and integration of their systems.
NZBEF Chairman and General Manager Corporate Support of Gold Award winning organisation Spectrum Care Trust Brett Marsh
says
“the New Zealand health and disability sector providers are taking an increasingly strong leadership role in the
business excellence community, role-modelling how seriously they take their responsibilities to the communities they
support. Both organisations are committed to organisational improvement and New Zealand is served the better for their
presence in the community, their leadership, and the example they become for others. The Business Excellence Awards are
not difficult if they are undertaken with an aspiration to be something better, and being resolute about those
aspirations. All organisations have opportunities for improvement, but it is the development of a culture of courage and
innovation to address these that marks some organisations out. For their aspirations, their resolution and their
courage, both Counties Manukau Health and MASH Trust are to be commended. Their leadership is now recognised in the
business excellence community and beyond.”
Geraint Martin Counties Manukau Health CEO says
“One of CM Health most important values is the pursuit of ‘excellence’ and we are driven in all our activities to be at
the forefront of our field. The better we can be as an organisation, the more able we’ll be to deliver patient care and
achieve our vision to be the best health care system in Australasia by 2015.”
Mash Trust Chief Executive Carol Searle stated
“Business Excellence has resonated with us for two main reasons.
1) Business Excellence allows you to measure your business using international criteria and benchmark against world
class organisations. While we are a provider of social services, we also need to recognise that we run a multi-million
dollar business;
And 2) It recognises that the people undertaking tasks are best suited to identify how they can improve processes using
a systematic approach.
I am extremely proud of the MASH Team who strive to be the very best in all that we do. Achieving a Bronze level the
first time we have submitted our organisation to an evaluation process is a huge achievement.
While this is a fantastic result, we acknowledge that it is only one step along the continuing quality journey.”
The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation was established in 1992 by public and private enterprise to improve the
overall performance of New Zealand organisations. The Founding trustees included a number of leading businessmen
including the Rt. Honourable Jim Bolger (Patron), Sir Douglas Myers (Founding trustee) and Sir Ralph Norris. These well
recognised business leaders acknowledged and created this Foundation in the belief that New Zealand business could and
must have internationally-recognised benchmarks by which to guide continuous improvement. That driver has not changed
today.
The 2014 New Zealand Business Excellence Awards Gala Luncheon takes place at Sir Paul Reeves Building, AUT University
Business School in Auckland, 11.45 – 3pm on Friday 21 November 2014.
ENDS