The requirements of the Criteria for Performance Excellence are embodied in seven Categories, as follows:

1. Leadership
2. Strategy
3. Customers
4. Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management
5. Workforce 
6. Operations 
7. Results

Organizational Profile Your Organizational Profile (top of figure) sets the context for the way your organization operates. Your organization's environment, key working relationships and strategic situation-including competitive environment, strategic challenges and advantages, and performance improvement system--serve as an overarching guide for your organizational performance management system.

Performance System The performance system is composed of the six PQA Categories in the center of the figure that define your processes and the results you achieve.

Leadership (Category 1), Strategy (Category 2), and Customers (Category 3) represent the leadership triad. These Categories are placed together to emphasize the importance of a leadership focus on strategy and customers. Senior leaders set your organizational direction and seek future opportunities for your organization.

Workforce (Category 5), Operations (Category 6), and Results (Category 7) represent the results triad. Your organizations workforce and key operational processes accomplish the work of the organization that yields your overall performance results.

All action point toward Results -- a composite of product and process outcomes, customer-focused outcomes, workforce-focused outcomes, leadership and governance outcomes, and financial and market outcomes.

The horizontal arrow in the center of the framework links the leadership triad to the results triad, a linkage critical to organizational success. Furthermore, the arrow indicates the central relationship between Leadership (Category 1) and Results (Category 7). The two-headed arrows indicate the importance of feedback in an effective performance management system.