Balanced Scorecard Evolution: A Dynamic Approach to Strategy Execution

CHAPTER 4 Conduct Effective and Engaging Workshops

LET'S TRY SOME FREE ASSOCIATION; I'll give you a word and you think of the first things that come to mind in relation to it. Ready? The word is workshop. Okay, what did you come up with? Did any of these words pop into your consciousness: effective, efficient, productive, lively, engaging, spirited, informative, or rewarding? How about: inefficient, boring, time wasting, dispiriting, or failure?

Depending on your personal work experiences and the cultures you've been part of, your workshop hours may have been extremely positive, with the first set of words presented above springing to mind; conversely, you may assign some of the negative words above based on the sorry excuse for workshops you've been subjected to during your working life. For the vast majority of organizations investing in a Balanced Scorecard solution, the construction of the system's core components will take place in a workshop setting, and thus these working sessions are vitally important in determining the quality of the ultimate deliverable. Therefore, to ensure a successful outcome we must do everything we can to ensure the workshops we design engender open, spirited discussions that produce a vibrant and robust Balanced Scorecard.

Over the past 15 years I've facilitated literally thousands of workshops for clients around the globe. I'd be stretching the truth to say that every single one of them went off without a hitch—early in my consulting career, ...