Seven HomeLife, Inc. Employees Named to
Michigan Quality Council Board of Examiners

Kalamazoo, MI: Seven employees of HomeLife, Inc. of Kalamazoo, Michigan with an office in Battle Creek, Michigan, have been appointed to the 2007 Michigan Quality Council (MQC) Board of Examiners.

Employees appointed include founders Barry Bruns and Scott Christ; Michele VandeZande, Business Officer Manager; Kevin Steve, Program Manager; and Eli DeLeon, Emily Taylor, and Aaron Hamming, Home Managers.  Bruns, a 2006 examiner, is a returning examiner in 2007.

We all learned much over the course of becoming examiners that will not only contribute to other Michigan organizations, but improved practices within our own organization consistent with our commitment to performance excellence, Bruns said.  I’m very pleased and excited that these key leaders in our organization accepted the challenge to become MQC Examiners. It says a lot about their commitment to self improvement and improvement of HomeLife.

HomeLife provides specialized residential care to adults 18 and older who need assistance due to brain injury, neurological impairment or mental illness.

As MQC examiners, these seven staff will participate in various levels of organizational performance review and will help to identify recipients of the Michigan Quality Leadership Award, the highest award for quality in the state. Examiners are selected for an appointment of one year.  Assessment by the MQC addresses key performance criteria ranging from leadership communication and strategic planning to workforce practices and process improvements. Through their involvement, examiners gain an in-depth understanding of the criteria and how to apply them to their own organizations.

The MQC’s Leadership award program is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Leadership program and evaluates an organization for excellence in seven performance categories: leadership; strategic planning; focus on customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; staff focus; business/organizational processes; and organizational results. Participating organizations receive a feedback report that identifies strengths and opportunities for improvement; those who progress to the highest scoring level become award recipients. For more information, visit [1] www.quality.nist.gov.

The Michigan Quality Council was created in 1993 by business and government leaders to promote performance excellence practices among Michigan business, education, healthcare, and non-profit organizations. Now affiliated with Cleary University in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the MQC uses the Malcom Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence to identify and promote best practices. Each year the MQC recognizes outstanding organizations and through its partners, provides organizational and professional development consulting. For more information, visit [2] www.michiganquality.org.