Senior leadership support is absolutely essential when it comes to implementing performance management frameworks like Balanced Scorecards.
But what does "support" really mean? Listed below are eight specific things executives or senior leaders should do to support their organizations as they implement a Balanced Scorecard framework.
These eight key roles were originally identified by Dr. Joseph M. Juran, considered by many to be the father of quality management. In my opinion, Dr. Juran -- especially as compared to Dr. W. Edwards Deming -- placed more emphasis on a holistic approach to effectively managing an organization. I also think he had a better understanding of management's perspective on running the organization.
I believe Juran hit the nail on the head when it comes to defining these roles, which apply perfectly to organizations that are implementing Balanced Scorecards to drive organizational improvement and ongoing performance. I've included my own commentary to help relate the roles more specifically to scorecards:
- Serve on the governance vehicle that is established to guide the entire performance excellence journey.
- While implementing a Balanced Scorecard framework to more effectively and efficiently operate an organization, some new approaches will certainly be deployed. Therefore, governance is an important part of the new framework, as there will be different rules, processes, and guidelines introduced that will need further definition and approval. Senior leaders must play an active role in these discussions to ensure that changes of this magnitude are actually implemented and sustained.
2. Establish the high level organizational strategic goals.
- Establishing the high level goals of the organization is the obvious starting point for a Balanced Scorecard framework, because those high level goals (including objectives, metrics, targets, and strategic initiatives) make up the enterprise scorecard. The goals (and the top level scorecard) should be established using a strategic planning process that the senior leaders should always lead.
3. Provide the necessary training to expedite the changed behaviors.
- As mentioned above, new approaches will be introduced to the organization, which will require changes to the culture and ways of doing business. Training and coaching are key steps in successfully introducing and locking in change. Too many scorecard frameworks fail because they fail to be explained and adopted below the executive team.
4. Stimulate focused and systematic performance improvement.
- Improved results occur because of both focused and systematic performance improvement. Any results that occur from luck or chance are not sustainable. Improvement efforts must be carefully targeted and designed -- usually during strategic planning -- and then systematic processes like Lean or Six Sigma can be used to permanently change and improve the current business processes to drive improved results. Senior leaders must create and support a culture that includes systematic approaches to improvement.
5. Regularly review progress.
- “What gets reviewed, gets improved” is a commonly heard truism. The reviews should be analytical in nature, usually monthly in frequency, and focused on both the progress of aligned initiatives and on the performance of key metrics. This role is one of the most important ones for a Senior Leader to initiate and role model. Too often, senior-level reviews are only superficial or are conducted too infrequently to drive the focus and attention needed to ensure improvement.
6. Give recognition.
- As Frederick Hertzberg, who authored many books on motivation, wrote one of the best long term motivators of employees is recognition of their work and achievements. So, if your goal is to lock in change, one of the best ways to do that is to formally and publicly recognize the positive results of the new (or newly revived) Balanced Scorecard framework.
7. Revise the reward system.
- Aligning rewards, whether monetary or not, to the new desired behaviors that you are seeking in the changed system is a sound practice to achieve and sustain the behaviors long term.
8. Provide the needed resources.
- Although Philip Crosby, another Quality Guru, wrote that “Quality is Free,” the reality is that it does require some upfront and ongoing investment to change and improve an organization. The payback from that investment can be 5 to 10 times the investment, but the investment in people, skills, time, etc. still must be made.
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