Use a Scorecard to Measure Implementation Progress
The scorecards you build in the implementation planning process are the link from your plan to progress against your plan. You then track the progress against each goal in your scorecard and use it during your strategy reviews.
Using your scorecard is a step-by-step process that you can implement in your organization. The following list provides steps for using your card. (Note: If you don’t have multiple departments, ignore the department references.)
Provide each department or individual with its respective scorecard.
Instruct each department or individual to collect data based on the specific measurement for each goal.
Ask each department or individual to summarize the data collected for each measurement on its scorecard.
Direct any questions to the strategic plan manager.
Request each department or individual to submit individual scorecards to the strategic plan manager for the month.
Ask the strategic plan manager to update the overall organizational scorecard with the numbers from the department or individual scorecards.
Request that each strategic plan manager report the status of the overall organizational and department scorecards at the monthly strategy meeting, or request each department head to report the status on his own.
For the past two years, a large manufacturing company has used a process whereby each department head turns in a one-page monthly summary linked to the comprehensive corporate strategy. These summaries include the department scorecard and reports of performance on strategy. The reports also explain how well the company’s progressing with the defined action plans, what obstacles exist, and what can be improved.
At a monthly meeting, the company starts by defining a series of actionable items based on the monthly reports. From there, action plans are developed and reported back on the one-page summary reports.
The CEO feels the benefits are usually quite substantial. After all, when action items are consistently elevated, department heads know they’re responsible for implementing the items as efficiently as possible (that’s called work peer pressure). The department heads appreciate this process because it raises the bar for everyone and keeps their staff focused on the right things.