What do management techniques as diverse as Six Sigma, Total Quality, EVA, ABCosting, CRM or Balanced Scorecard have in common?
All of them offer proven alternatives for improving business management, although the objectives and applications may be different. However, there is at least one factor that is common to all of them: the support of senior management. Indeed, none of these improvement techniques can prosper if there is not a determined conviction of its benefits on the part of the Managers and a firm intention to carry it out, not as just another fad but as a true instrument of change.
If top management provides weak and informal support to the Balanced Scorecard, employees will quickly interpret that demonstration as that the project is probably not worth their time and effort.
The best way to give senior management a sponsoring role in the project is to create a Management Committee, with members of senior management who are committed to bringing the project to fruition in a timely manner.
Once the Steering Committee is created, it leads to the creation of the second key team for the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard: what we call the Implementation Team.
So when talking about the launch of the project, it is more precise to talk about teams, since generally, the implementation architecture comprises two interrelated teams.
1. The Steering Committee
2. The Implementation Team
Creation of a Steering Committee
The Steering Committee must be made up of the sponsor of the scorecard (if not the CEO, it must be a person of importance within the organization, such as the CFO) together with other senior representatives.
Typically this team will meet at least once a month and play a control role over the deployment of the scorecard. You will be in charge of high-level decisions on the development of the scorecard program and will take the necessary steps to quell resistance and solve problems that arise within the organization. The team must ensure that they have the necessary resources to ensure that the implementation plan is executed.
Furthermore, a key member of the Steering Committee should be the manager of the Implementation Team (which is the team, which, ultimately, is put in place to establish the scorecard). For example, in a successful case of implementation of the Balanced Scorecard such as that of Saatchi & Saatchi, which is already a classic, Paul Melter, the manager of the Implementation Team, was a member of the Management Committee.
Case example: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (a member of the Scorecard Collaborative Hall of Fame, as well as Saatchi & Saatchi) formed a six-member core project leadership team, with Deputy Commissioner Geoff Gruson at the helm and other senior representatives from the uniformed and civilian branches, to lead the implementation process. The team acted as a leadership center for planning and implementing the rollout of the scorecard process and provided resources to various management teams. The leadership team was also tasked with hiring outside consultants who would work with the team to provide training, act as facilitators, create templates, and deliver scorecard planning sessions to the entire organization.
Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Case Example At Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide, a Balanced Scorecard Steering Committee leading the scorecard program appointed three representatives from the consulting firm Reinassance (whose chairman at the time was Dr. David Norton) and three from Saatchi & Saatchi. The committee had to report to the Implementation Team on a weekly basis.
As a measure of senior management participation in the incipient scorecard process, the Management Committee designed a process by which senior managers were in charge of creating a global Strategy map and the accompanying Balanced Scorecard.
For example, senior managers first identified a topic owner for each perspective. For Finance, the owner was Bill Cochrane, the CFO, (who was the first to present the scorecard idea to the organization). For the Clients area, the appointment went to a Senior Executive / Regional Director for the Asia area. For Product and Process, the nominee was another Senior Executive / Regional Director from the Australia area, and for the People and Culture area, it was another Senior Executive / Regional Director from the China area.
Tata Motors case example
The India-based Tata Motors Commercial Vehicle Business Unit (which has implemented over 300 scorecards and is another member of the BDCol Hall of Fame) operationalized a high-level Steering Committee comprising functional heads and some other key officials such as regional sales and marketing managers who report directly to the CEO (essentially the CEO), Ravi Kant.
Creation of the Implementation Team
Like most companies that create a Steering Committee, Tata Motors also put in place an Implementation Team. In the case of Tata, this team was made up of five people from the Business Excellence Service Department and the Executive Director's office, whose role was to facilitate the creation of the scorecard and the process of commissioning. on going. Final validation and ownership would rest with Ravi Kant and the Steering Committee.
In the beginning, the knowledge of the Implementation Team was essentially drawn from the experience in management and performance measurement of the Business Excellence Service Department (whose director was on the Steering Committee), which had extensive experience in performance management structures such as the model of The Malcolm Baldrige.
At Bilprovningen, a Swedish vehicle inspection company, the scorecard project included as its main component an Implementation Team of approximately 12 employees who were chosen from the various functions of the company (such as Information Technology, Production and Finance) and reflected the entire company in terms of thought and experience. The team offered insights on how they believed the scorecard philosophy should be applied within Bilprovningen and what they believed the organization was capable of achieving in terms of the strategic management process.
Composition of the project team
Take a look at the multifunctional integration of the Bilprovningen team. We could confirm that the scorecard team should actually be multifunctional in nature, perhaps encompassing, for example, representatives from different departments such as Information Technology, Human Resources, Finance and Business, for example. Bringing all functional experience together into a single group serves to ensure that all organizational interests are taken into account. In saying that, team members need to be aware that they are not there to protect, enhance or further their functional territories, but to all work together
for the benefit of the company.
Necessary skills of the Implementation Team
Matthew Tice, Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific at BSCol comments: "Each person involved provides their own functional skills." There is a responsibility for the Finance Department to ensure budget alignment and the Human Resources Department to ensure that there is training and education, and lastly, that compensation is in line with everything else. There is a responsibility in the Department of Technology to ensure that information systems are streamlined and that technology is capable of supporting the large information requirements posed by the scorecard. But Tice added the following decisive observation: “But more broadly, team members need to understand management,communication and measurement of changes and they have to be credible for the organization ”.
“Actually, the project team should be made up of the people who are most essential to the organization, that is, the 'A' team,” continues Tice. Senior administrators should ask themselves the question, 'Would I let this member of the Implementation Team serve on the monthly Executive Committee?' If the answer is no, then don't expect that team member to have a real understanding of the direction or direction of the company. Consequently, your chances of making a valuable contribution to the design of the scorecard will be minimal. "
Tice indicates that committing the services of the "A" team represents a challenge for certain organizations due to the high demand on their time for other initiatives. "
It's worth a try? There are already many organizations that have implemented the Balanced Scorecard with seriousness and commitment and have acquired a dramatic change in its management and benefits.
Perhaps it is what every business is needing in this age of competitive and changing markets.
