Scorecard Best Practices

Chapter 2. Scorecard Systems Overview

Scene: Henri's Bistro in a major city.

Two well‐dressed businessmen, obviously friends, shake hands at a small, sparsely arranged table. A conversation ensues … Patrick: “It's nice that we could get together for lunch, Ted. It's been a while. What have you been up to?” Ted: “Well, Patrick, since I ‘retired’ from the executive office, I've helped many companies to improve the way they manage and the way they communicate, both internally and externally.” Patrick: “That sounds intriguing–and it sounds like something that might benefit my company. We've been struggling with communicating our strategy to our employees. Tell me more.” Ted: “I've been applying a management methodology that allows all of an organization's executives to get a quick snapshot of the current health of the organization and where they stand with respect to achieving their corporate goals. And, I'm finding that it improves the way that other managers communicate changes in strategy, align the business units with the changes, and it ultimately helps to align employee behavior with the corporate strategy. Organizations are using this methodology to align their people to their organizational goals, to monitor progress towards theses goals, and to ultimately get everyone working in a unified way to stay ahead of their competition.” Patrick: “What's it called?” Ted: “It goes by many names, but the most common name is Scorecards.” Patrick: “I've heard of that. Isn't it a method ...