Strategic Management Insights

Getting BSC Review Meetings Going

There are certainly many important steps in the successful development and deployment of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC).  But I’ve learned over time that the most critical step for a BSC leader is to begin holding BSC review meetings right away. 

The challenge, especially for perfectionists, is to accept the fact that the Scorecard will not be completely filled in for several months.  In fact, it might be only 25% complete the first month.  Even if it’s not “ready” (complete) and some of the Measures may need to be revised, those initial BSC review meetings should take place as scheduled because they are of tremendous value. 

Here’s what scheduling and holding the review meetings right away achieves:

Keeps people focused on completing the Measures.  Some Measures require a little preparation before they can be filled in.  For instance, there typically is a Measure that relies on a survey to gather data.  Often this is a new survey that needs to be created, distributed, and tabulated.  That takes a little time.  If a meeting is looming, the team assigned to the survey will stay on the project; most people prefer to have the Measure they’re responsible filled in rather than have to explain in a meeting why it’s still not complete.

Accelerates testing and improvement of Measures.  After you report on a Measure a few times you can determine how well it correlates to the Strategic Objective it’s linked to.  I encourage my clients to start by favoring Measure collectability over correlation.  A perfectly correlated Measure that you can’t actually collect is of no use.  But an easy-to-collect measure with an average correlation is helpful right off the bat and gets the ball rolling.  Over time it can be improved.

Reinforces that the BSC is to be part of everyday life.  Nearly every new project or management process is received with initial skepticism.  People ask if this is going to be another one of those management pipedreams that gets a lot of attention for a few weeks and then fades away.  Holding the BSC review meetings right away sends a clear signal to everyone that this is a process that management is going to stick with.

Provides people an opportunity to better understand the Strategy Map.  Early on in the BSC process, people still have a lot of questions about the Strategy Map and how it fits into a Strategic Management System that includes strategic initiatives, operating plans and budgets, personal priorities and development, etc.  The first meetings give everyone an opportunity to review the fundamentals and get comfortable with the process before digging deeply into the Measures.

Brings the Balanced Scorecard process to life.  This is probably the most important of all.  There is an emotional roller coaster that accompanies a BSC project.  Probably the biggest high is after the Strategy Map is developed and deployed and everyone feels a rush of clarity and excitement.  Right after that comes probably the biggest low: the realization that the Measures are hard to define and a little hard to collect.  Of course, the Measures are the feedback loop that makes the whole system work.  But they’re hard to get going at first.  By holding the meetings right away, you power through the low times that can threaten the viability of the entire project.  I tell my clients to not worry about the quality of the meetings since this may deter them, but to simply go through the motion of having the initial meetings.  It only takes a few months to regain the momentum and ensure a successful outcome.

- Brian Kinahan

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