A Balanced Scorecard Provides a Model for Businesses to Align High-Level Objectives With Their Mission and Vision
by upBOARD
Most businesses tend to manage their strategic mission and vision with a top down approach, all the while tracking metrics and key performance indicators from the bottom up, which can be messy. Unfortunately, this leaves lots of room for operational inefficiency and confusion, especially when the top-down strategic vision and mission is misaligned with bottom up success metrics and KPIs. Thankfully, there is one system which is sure to help your business find better alignment between high level goals and tactical KPIs, the Balanced Scorecard.
In a world in which flat management systems and non-hierarchical business structures are becoming the norm, businesses can no longer afford to manage high-level goals and tactical objectives separately. This means adopting specific tools used to create Balanced Scorecards. These Scorecards typically include a one-page template that weaves together the organization’s mission, vision, values, strategic goals/priorities, initiatives, key performance indicators, and timeframes for implementation into one place.
While it may seem complicated, creating a Balanced Scorecard will pay big dividends because it ensures that the entire organization is on the same page when it comes to high-level goals and operational objectives. The Scorecard provides a model that summarizes an organization’s strategic goals, specific initiatives designed to reach those goals, and key metrics that drive success over time. The placement of these key points onto one template helps to show how they are all connected to the mission, vision, and core values of the organization.
Put simply, the Balanced Scorecard is a strategic planning tool that clearly and concisely communicates what the organization has set out to achieve and how it proposes to do it.
Balanced Scorecards include four areas of strategic focus:
- Financial sustainability
- Customer experience
- Internal processes and structures
- Workforce culture, learning, and development
By building the Balance Scorecard around these four overarching components, you will quickly get a sense of the overall health of your organization. The process of developing the Balanced Scorecard also provides a methodology for breaking down your long-term mission into categories and activities that become actionable and measurable.
Still want to learn more? Check out upBOARD’s approach to the Balanced Scorecard Process in the cloud.
