Metrics got you all knotted up? Call ASVP to unwind.

Balanced Scorecard came out of pioneering work by Kaplan & Norton at Harvard Business School in the early 1990's. It is without doubt one of the most powerful tools in the manager's toolbox, for articulating, communicating, implementing and executing strategy throughout an organisation.

Kaplan & Norton identified four reasons why organisations fail to deliver the results that management had promised:

1. The strategy was not properly understood by those responsible for achieving it.
2. Management systems focused on operational control and little time was allowed for strategy.
3. The budget process was practically divorced from the strategic planning process.
4. Personal goals, incentives and competencies were not linked to strategy.

Having a solid, clearly communicable strategy is a good first step. Unfortunately, in some organisations, that's also the last good step. An incorrectly cascaded strategic plan becomes an operational nightmare, with incorrect KPIs in non-strategic performance areas encouraging divisive and insular practices within each own silo or division. Worse still, the wrong metrics can create an impression that all is well in one division, while other parts of the organisation slip below the waterline. Part of the problem comes from how the metrics were originally developed - and whether they were ever really KPIs.

All KPIs are metrics or measures. But not all metrics are KPIs. The term KPI refers to the "Strategic Few™" metrics that define mission-critical objective outcomes with contextual, time and graded rating information. A bit of a mouthful - what it means is that metrics which are true KPIs define how well an organisation is doing against where it expected to be, at a particular time, on a specific objective or goal. Set up correctly, KPIs break down silo walls and ensure each division contributes positively to the organisational goals. Metrics should never become "gameable" to promote a divisional manager's self-interest.

If your metrics and KPIs need unravelling, Contact ASVP Group for an initial discussion.

Our whole focus is on delivering speed, agility, focus and clarity, to far-sighted organisations like yours.