The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program will be honored once again in 2018 for providing top-ranked leadership development programs. The Baldrige Program’s training offerings—annual Baldrige examiner training and the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program—were recently selected for 2018 Leadership Excellence and Development (LEAD) Awards for being among the best in the world.“While we are honored and thrilled to once again be recognized as among the top leadership development programs in the United States and across the globe, such recognition would not be possible without the support and engaged commitment of the Baldrige Award recipients and our amazing cadre of volunteers. We believe that the innovation and collaboration of our unique public-private partnership is at the root of such achievements,” said Baldrige Director Robert Fangmeyer.

Within the LEAD Awards’ education category—with subcategories for “custom content programming with emphasis on human resources” and “custom content programming with emphasis on leadership/organizational development”—the Baldrige Program ranks first and fourth, respectively, for 2018.

Presented by HR.com, the LEAD Awards recognize outstanding achievements in leadership development and programs in the areas of education, corporate, and individuals on a local to global scale. They have been given out for 35 years and cover more than 30 education-based categories, including master’s and PhD programs, custom content continuing education programs, and mentoring and manager programs. The LEAD judges used websites and customer rankings to make their determinations.

This year’s award winners are highlighted in the February edition of Leadership Excellence Essentials. The Baldrige Program is the only state or federal government program to be recognized within its LEAD Award categories.

A press release by HR.com states, “Prestigious leadership awards salute the world’s top leadership practitioners and programs and highlight their roles in developing their most important asset – their people.”

Since 2011, the Baldrige Program has been recognized numerous times for the quality of its leadership development programs. For example, in 2016 and 2017, Baldrige examiner training was ranked first in its award category, above numerous universities, and the Baldrige Program itself earned recognition for its combined leadership development offerings (including its executive fellows program) by ranking in the top two or top three in all the award categories in which it was eligible. In 2015, before the categories changed to be wholly education-based, the Baldrige Program was ranked first in the government and military category.

The Baldrige Program is a public-private partnership that raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence and cybersecurity in driving the U.S. and global economy; provides organizational assessment tools and criteria; educates leaders in businesses, schools, health care organizations, and government and nonprofit organizations about the practices of national role models; and recognizes those role models with the Baldrige Award.