Equal - Digital Repository

The DP has developed and piloted a complete toolkit to assist organisations within the social economy to become better at what they do. The toolkit comprises a framework, a diagnostic workbook and a wealth of resources to assist organisations to address the issues they have identified for improvement. The C3 Perform Toolkit has been based on the Business Excellence model.

Designed by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), it is one of the most popular performance improvement tools available and widely used by the private, public and voluntary sectors. It is also a holistic, non-prescriptive and flexible model.

Holistic Approach

The model takes a holistic look at all aspects of an organisation. It encourages organisations to focus on the results they want to achieve and what needs to be done to achieve them. There are two parts of the model, what the organisation does (enablers) and what the organisation achieves (results).

The enablers section is divided into five criteria: Leadership, Policy and Strategy, People, Partnerships and Resources, and Processes. The way in which these components link together produces results.

The results section is divided into 4 criteria; People Results, Customer Results, Society Results and Key Performance Results.

The C3 Perform Toolkit is designed to stimulate discussion within an organisation about how to improve performance. It is best done with a group representing a cross section of an organisation's staff and volunteers.

Adopting a performance improvement process has specific advantages

• It improves organisations’ competitiveness when competing for either public or private sector contracts.
• It gathers together up to date and relevant information about how an organisation is performing which improves confidence and credibility in the eyes of stakeholders.
• It improves the organisation’s credibility with funding bodies, more of whom are looking for evidence of systems for performance improvement