About the National Quality Institute (NQI)

Canada’s Authority on Organizational Excellence

Founded in 1992 by Industry Canada, the National Quality Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, organization that is committed to advancing organizational excellence across Canada. A Board of Governors comprised of leaders from the private sector, public sector, health care, and the not-for-profit sector, governs NQI.

Since its inception, the National Quality Institute has helped thousands of Canadian organizations across many sectors. As Canada’s national authority on Quality and Healthy Workplace® practices, the National Quality Institute has created a uniquely Canadian model, providing measurable standards for all Canadian organizations.

NQI assists Canadian organizations to improve performance by providing:

• a principle-driven, criteria-based way to implement organizational excellence,
• Progressive Excellence Programs (NQI PEP®),
• national recognition through the Canada Awards for Excellence,
• training and assessment services,
• membership services, and
• advisory services.

Today, Canadian organizations and businesses increasingly recognize that a healthy workplace helps to attract and retain staff.

NQI and Global Competitiveness

The National Quality Institute (NQI) was established in 1992 through start-up funding provided by the Government of Canada. NQI was formed as a not-for-profit partnership between the Government and leading private sector organizations. There was strong evidence at that time that Canada was losing competitive ground internationally. A national commitment to quality was needed in order to refocus and energize the private sector to move to a quality-based, globally-competitive, economy.

NQI quickly set about its work and established the Canadian Framework for Business Excellence in conjunction with Industry Canada and quality experts across Canada. The Framework provides Criteria for best practices that can help Canadian organizations to achieve world-class performance.

At the same time, NQI assumed responsibility for the Canada Awards for Excellence (CAE). The awards were originally established in 1982 by Industry Canada as the Canadian Business Excellence Awards. Today, both the Framework and the Canada Awards for Excellence programs have become sought-after hallmarks for those seeking recognition as leaders in organizational excellence. The scope of both the CAE and the Framework was also extended to the public and the not-for-profit sectors.

More recently, NQI has undertaken pioneering work through its Progressive Excellence Program (NQI PEP®), and through the promotion of its Healthy Workplace® program. Both of these innovations are drawing rave reviews from professionals involved in both the domestic and international “business excellence” field.

The good news is that in 1992 the Federal Government had the foresight to invest in the creation of NQI as part of its commitment to promote excellence in Canadian businesses. The work of NQI has resulted in a growing Canadian demand for access to benchmarking and excellence programming. The recipients of the NQI Canada Awards for Excellence are a blue-ribbon group of public and private sector organizations that can claim leadership in their respective sectors. The success of the original investment by Industry Canada in the NQI partnership has produced, and continues to produce, outstanding and sustainable performance results for Canadian businesses – a significant achievement indeed.

The troubling news is that while NQI’s efforts were helping organizations to gain ground, the world was not standing still. Other nations, among them our chief competitors in the U.S., Europe and Australia, have invested heavily in their own “Excellence” initiatives. Governments in these countries are promoting excellence in all sectors of their societies through highly-financed and heavily-promoted benchmarking, certification and recognition programs.

The impact of their efforts on their nations’ international competitive positions is clear. They are ahead of us. When Canada is compared to other developed countries, there is an obvious trend suggesting that we are on the verge of a decline in our international competitive position. Several well-regarded performance indicators show that Canada is not moving forward as fast as other developed countries