Scorecard© by Arthur M. Schneiderman The QIP yields an almost endless set of results and process measures. But we know that we have limited resources for the improvement and management of these measures. Improvement takes team member's time, organizational support (training, facilitating, etc.), management effort and to varying degrees, financial resources. We need to set priorities by focusing the entire organization on the vital few focal points that will have the greatest impact on the achievement of our goals; the greatest bang-for-the-buck. This is different from simply the alignment of improvement efforts. Here we not only assure a causal relationship between the candidate metric and the our goals but also choose from that large set of aligned measures only those that will have the greatest expected leverage. We capture this subset of measures on scorecards. The scorecard acts as a guide for all levels and functions within the organization. It tells them how they can contribute to the achievement of their organization's goals as well as how their efforts are progressing. It represents both strategic (high level) and tactical roadmaps. But like any map, it marks not only the destination but also the best path for getting there. Unlike goals, which are very high level summary measures of organizational performance: growth rate, profitability level, and relative market share, for example, scorecard metrics translate these goals into specific measures of stakeholder requirements (external levers) and the process variables that most influence them (internal levers). Many organizations generate high level goals. But there is often a complete disconnect between these goals and the actions required by individuals. Employees see the goals but can't make the clear connection between their improvement efforts and those goals. This requires a series of scorecards that deploy high level goals throughout the organization. |
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©1999-2006, Arthur M. Schneiderman All Rights Reserved Last modified: August 13, 2006 |