Introducing

THE BALANCED SCORECARD

A practical workshop enabling participants to improve performance dramatically by creating and using a modern measurement system to set and track strategic change.

Learn to:

• Create a compelling vision
• Set up a mission for your organization
• Move away from historical measures towards tracking the achievement of key strategic goals
• Identify indicators that measure the benefits to the customers, staff and shareholders
• Set and achieve stretch goals
• Benchmark your performance against the best
• Create a focus on key strategic advantages
• Develop action plans that will impact on the achievement of strategic objectives

INTRODUCTION

Managers have traditionally measured their success in terms of historical financial measures. Living by measures such as ROI, monthly profit, profit margins and others has been the obsession of short-term driven thinking.

Market leaders think differently. In a word, where change is radical, unpredictable, swift and necessary, we need to think about leading change rather than being dragged along by it. To do so we need to think and plan strategically. And we need to measure whether we are changing and delivering benefits to our stakeholders. And, we need to know whether our changes are going to give us a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

The Balanced Scorecard is a measure of our strategic success. It can simultaneously track our success in four key areas: service to customers, the effectiveness of internal processes, the ability to innovate and continuous improvement activities. As such its implementation is becoming a weapon of significant strategic value.

This workshop will give executives the enthusiasm for the Balanced Scorecard and the tools to go back to their divisions and set the process up.

OBJECTIVES

By the end of this workshop participants will be able to:

• Understand the value of the Balanced Scorecard;
• See how it could help them improve the effectiveness of their organization;
• Understand how this measurement system differs from traditional approaches to measurement;
• Understand the pitfalls that may be associated with changing their measurement system;
• Learn how to apply the system in their organization by participating in a simulation;
• Create a vision and mission for their organization;
• Identify indicators that measure the benefits to the customers, staff and shareholder;
• Set stretch goals with their people and transfer ownership for achieving those strategic objectives;
• Be able to benchmark their organization's performance against the best;
• Be able to link reward and recognition to the new performance indicators;
• Create a focus on key performance areas;
• Involve their people in setting a new course that will produce dramatically improved results;
• Find new ways to delight internal and external customers;
• Measure the results of your changes;
• Improve your performance appraisal system to incorporate objective measures of performance.

WORKSHOP PROCESS

At this fast-paced, skill-laden workshop, you will get the skills, confidence and tools to bring about a revolution in the way things get done in your organization.

People will learn by listening, seeing and above all, using hands-on practice. The workshop can be customized to give participants the understanding, confidence, practice and "tools" to implement the process in their part of the organization.

We will challenge participant to put the Balanced Scorecard into practice right away. They will have the ability to call on us informally at any time for help regarding the use of any tools they learned in the workshop.

PROGRAM OUTLINE

Background

• The focus of successful organizations;
• The 5 key needs of your customer;
• The problem with existing measurement systems;
• Why existing management practices seldom meet the needs of customers.

This part of the program will be conducted through presentation and discussion.

Introduction to the Balanced Scorecard

• How the balanced Scorecard represents a breakthrough in looking at measurement;
• The difference between the Balanced Scorecard and conventional systems;
• Key features of the system;
• Examples from your organization.

We will describe the technique. We will show case studies of how the process has worked in the client organization. This will increase the credibility of the workshop

Implementation: strategies and steps - Part 1

• The six primary steps to create a Balanced Scorecard;
• The role and choice of a facilitator;
• Creating the vision and mission
• Deciding who to involve in setting up the first scorecard.

We will identify strategies to create the vision and mission. Participants will learn these by practicing them in simulations and then assessing their effectiveness.

Implementation: strategies and steps - Part 2

• Working with your executive team to identify critical success factors;
• Achieving consensus decisions using Nominal Group Technique;
• Identifying the needs of the customers, staff, shareholders;
• Measuring the effectiveness of internal processes that will propel the business;
• Establishing appropriate measures that are easy to collect, reliable, accurate and measure things that can be controlled;
• Evaluating the opportunities: Benchmarking;
• Setting SMART goals for each indicator.

In a series of simulations, participants will meet in teams and experience each step in the process. They will report back their choices and the effectiveness of the process.

Implementation: strategies and steps - Part 3

• Planning for improvement;
• Delegating responsibility for change and improvement;
• Using the Balanced Scorecard as a communication tool;
• Using the Balanced Scorecard to trigger problem-solving initiatives;
• Display and updating the scorecard;
• Calculation of a composite index to determine overall effectiveness;
• How to conduct a monthly review and planning meetings;
• Rewards and recognition;
• Review of the role of the leader in the new process;
• Cascading the process down through the organization.

We will create a list of challenges and issues to do with the Balanced Scorecard. The participants will be broken up into teams and asked to deal with some of the issues. They will report their findings and conclusions to the rest of the group.

A new way of appraising and managing performance

• The problem with conventional appraisal systems;
• Focus on performance and career management;
• Adding the Balanced Scorecard into the performance review process;
• Making people responsible for their own performance and careers;
• Coaching for improved performance.

Through discussion and an exchange of ideas we will explore how to bring the Balanced Scorecard to the level of each person in the organization so that it truly becomes part of the organization's culture.

Implementing change

• What to expect when the Balanced Scorecard is cascaded down the organization;
• Selling the idea: identifying advantages for users;
• Four strategies that can be put into practice right away.

Through discussion and learning from a Joel Barker video, participants will apply the theory to their own situation and strategize how to ensure a smooth implementation and ready acceptance of the concept.

PARTICIPANTS COMMENTS IN PREVIOUS SIMILAR WORKSHOPS

"Good, very informative."

"I was delighted about the down to earth, practical approach. It gave me a new way to look at the methods and procedures already in place in my organization."

"The printed material will be very useful to bring back and use in the organization."

"I enjoyed the instructor's style of presentation. It was very relaxed."

"The practicality of the course impressed me."

"The tools we learned were useful. I knew some but discovered better ways of using them."