Our blog articles about strategy, people, performance, decision making, balanced scorecards and culture change
Here is a way into my blog articles, over 300 of them: It is structured into major topics areas linking to the most articles in each topic area. These cover:
- The Strategy Zone
- Communicating & socialising Strategy: An Executive’s guide
- The Decision Improvement Zone:
- The Culture & Behavioural Change Zone
- The Performance Management Zone: A guide to understanding the management of performance
- Modern Balanced Scorecard Zone
- The 4G Strategic Management Zone
- How we look at our organisations and how we manage: The Paradigm Shift Zone
- Thought provoking articles about how we manage our organisations
Simply scroll down through the various topic areas and articles…
1) Strategy choice, approach and implementation articles: Most recent first
Decision Making and Decision Taking: they are different
Some time ago I was talking to a client about some decisions that they were dealing with and the problems they were having. The situation involved their strategy, who was involved in the discussions and who had decided what, already. I suggested that the heart of...
Using templates for Strategy Development, Performance Management & Balanced Scorecards (NOT)
I often come across people asking for templates for their balanced scorecards. A recent example, worried me because went to the core of how strategy is developed and managed in an organisation. The question was being asked by someone with the role of "Strategy...
Does culture precede strategy – I don’t think so
Someone suggested to me that culture precedes strategy. Should culture preceed strategy? I understand why think that, but I am not at all convinced. First however we need to dispel the myth that "Culture eats strategy for breakfast". Culture only eats strategy when...
Managing amidst uncertainty: How to positively affect shareholder return
What sort of decisions about the crisis improved, or worsened, shareholder value? It is useful to look back at the types of responses and decisions various organisations had to the credit crisis, and their speed, to see if there are patterns that influence...
Do 9 out of 10 strategies really fail? I don’t think so!
In this article we look at a really common statistic that was popularised with Norton & Kaplan's approach: the "statistic" that 9 out of 10 of business strategies fail due to poor execution. Now, I have never believed it. It is attributed to Fortune Magazine in...
Balanced scorecards do manage risk – it depends on the class of risk.
The way that balanced scorecards manage risks is completely misunderstood. It is nonsense to suggest that they do not mention, address or manage risks. Balanced scorecards do manage risk, when used as part of a strategic balanced scorecard approach. Then, Strategic...
2) Communicating & Socialising Strategy articles: Most recent first
Lord Young tells some truths at the wrong time
When is a 25% cut an increase? In the case of the public sector cuts, when you want to communicate your strategy, create an imperative for change and protect your reputation. Let me explain. I feel a little sorry for Lord Young. He has been lambasted in the press...
Confusing your customers during aquisition
This is a classic story of how NOT to communicate with your customers during acquisition. In fact, confusing your customers and mis-communicating your strategy and actions during acquisition.... The background I wanted an eye test and some new glasses, so I called...
Communicating finance in the public sector
Just at the moment, one of the most difficult places to be must be in finance in the public sector. They are constantly re-doing budgets and subject to negotiations over custs to funding from central government. That is if the organisation still exists: if you are a...
The Biggest communication mistake: Thinking you have already communicated
This is possibly the most common mistake in communication, How often have you though you have told someone something, but either they forgot or you only meant to tell them but never got around to doing it. You never actually said it. How often have you told someone...
Does swearing add to the communication of strategy? No!
My reaction would be no! No, No, No. And again, NO! (Just so you are sure) And that is the reaction of most of the people who posted responses to this Harvard Business review article "The Subtleties of Strategic Swearing". Frankly there is nothing subtle about...
Admitting to mistakes and taking responsibility
Listen out for how people explain problems and faliures. Do they say: "It was the weather. We had a wet summer and numbers were down" "There were roadworks outside the shop for 6 weeks and that discouraged people from visiting" "The economic crisis caused us to lose...
3) Decision making and decision taking articles: Most recent first
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4) Performance management, various types and perspectives. Most recent articles first
Why benefit management fails in the NHS
The NHS IT delivery programme has a dreadful track record. It is not surprising when you look at their methodology and the techniques the NHS and the ISIP programme recommend for benefit mapping, benefit management and benefit realisation. They are fundamentally...
How you frame performance management discussions
Do be aware how you frame a performance management discussion. I often encounter clients whose experience of performance management discussions is that they are a game of scoring the maximum amount and justifying a high score or protecting against the potential...
The importance of accountability
The importance of accountability: between people's actions, giving care attention, and the context in which we work. I am a great fan of the "Undercover Economist" series of articles by Tim Harford, that appears in the Saturday Financial Times. This week Tim asked,...
The failure of single point targets: A tragic NHS story
A tragic story of targets and "Incentives" When explaining how poor targets and measures destroy common sense, I often cite the case of Accident and Emergency (A&E) times in UK NHS hospitals. The government (through the Department of Health & Social Services...
Performance Leadership differs from Performance Management
It is useful to recognise that performance leadership, precedes performance management. It is a responsibility of leaders and managers. But how explicitly do we express performance leadership? It is a cliché that “People do not like change”. It is wrong. It is not...
How Incentives and punishments affect measures
A recent forum discussion I was involved in centred around how you should engage people with measures and the effect of incentives, on the culture of performance. In my experience there are several aspects that alter the culture of performance, of which incentives (at...
5) How to achieve Cultural and Behavioural change. Most recent articles first
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5) Modern Balanced Scorecards. Most recent articles first
Problems cascading balanced scorecards and how to avoid them
There are some very common problems cascading balanced scorecards, that are regularly encountered, and easily avoided. If you have ever tried to cascade measures in a balanced scorecard you will likely hit problems that are common to many starting down the...
Effective KPI development
How do you get meaningful and effective KPIs? Where does it go wrong? I ran a workshop to help a Public Sector client with their effective KPI development. Their feedback was interesting: "Seeing the whole picture enabled us to be more confident when dealing with...
Lean, Strategy and Scorecards: case study making sense of combined approaches
Recently a client, a very large Government body, was having a few problems with their planning process. How to engage with their managers, getting the tools of strategy and performance to make coherent sense as a whole, making the story of their strategy clear,...
A behavioural approach to public sector influence and change
Sneaking under the radar in central government are a small team of ten people. Called the Behavioural Influence Team (BIT), they have a remit of using behavioural techniques to improve how government bring about change and improvement. They have just brought out...
Whose Balanced Scorecard is it?
Working with a management team the other day, they showed me their recently created "Balanced Scorecard". As is fairly common it was simply an excel spreadsheet showing a collection of measures, without any actions, projects, objectives or ownership. They had of...
Public Sector Strategy map and balanced scorecard: doing it properly
Let me ask you three questions about your Public Sector balanced scorecard: 1) What categories of measures are you using on your scorecard? Do they describe how change will occur? 2) Do you represent the multiple strategies that you are implementing, for instance...
6) Fourth Generation Strategic Balanced Scorecards and modern methods of management. Most recent articles first
Balanced Scorecards and NLP: How do they work together?
I do not normally talk about the NLP side of what I do, but a recent, unusual, posting on an NLP forum in LinkedIn asking about Strategy, Balanced Scorecards and NLP has prompted me to come out on the closet on this topic. NLP Stands for Neuro-Linguistic Programming...
Strategy Mapping is now available in the US and on Amazon.com
There was a short delay before Strategy Mapping for learning Organizations was available in the US, but checking in with Amazon.com it is now available. You can link through to Amazon.com easily via this link. Strategy maps are fundamental to effective balanced...
Strategy Mapping is now available as an eBook
My publishers tell me that Strategy Mapping for Learning organizations is now available as an ebook. If you are looking for an electronic version of my Book about strategy maps, balanced scorecards for agile organisations and how to design, implement and use...
Strategy Mapping for Learning Organizations is now available
It's official folks. You can now order and get copies of my guide to developing, implementing and using Strategy Maps to create effective, agile, strategic balanced scorecards. I give away a lot in this book. I recently met a colleague over dinner and...
Strategy Mapping, has a foreword by David Norton
I cannot tell you how chuffed I am. I will admit I even did a little dance the other day. Why you might ask? Well, my new book, "Strategy Mapping for Learning organizations" is due out in December 2011, and I am delighted, honoured and humbled that David Norton...
Public Sector Strategy map and balanced scorecard: doing it properly
Let me ask you three questions about your Public Sector balanced scorecard: 1) What categories of measures are you using on your scorecard? Do they describe how change will occur? 2) Do you represent the multiple strategies that you are implementing, for instance...
7) Paradigm shifts that affect our organisations and how we manage.
Most recent articles first
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7) Thought provokers, designed to make you consider thinking differently about how we manage and our organisations:
Most recent articles first
Purpose and meaning at work, in business and in organisations
I was working with a client who, like many organisations, was getting tangled up in definitions of purpose and mission. What it revelaed was the importance of 'Meaning' at work, and meaningful work, today. This article untangles purpose and mission, but puts a...
Do 9 out of 10 strategies really fail? I don’t think so!
In this article we look at a really common statistic that was popularised with Norton & Kaplan's approach: the "statistic" that 9 out of 10 of business strategies fail due to poor execution. Now, I have never believed it. It is attributed to Fortune Magazine in...
Does “Culture eat Strategy”? Really? What is the alternative?
You have probably heard the expression, either as "Culture eats strategy for breakfast" or "Culture eats strategy for lunch". In essence what they are saying is that the culture of the organisation is stronger than the strategy and the planned change. The strategy...
The “ten thousand and six words problem.”
Ever sat in an organisation wondering about the nicely framed values and mission statements on the walls. Welcome to "The ten thousand and six words problem". Just about every organisation has them, on their walls, in their corporate brochures and on their website....
We manage by absorbing friction – and building up heat!
What role do, and should, our management systems play in protecting from, and connecting our organisations to, the volatility and uncertainty of the outside world? At a recent management presentation I suggested that the way we manage is designed to absorb friction. ...
Managing organisations in the same ways birds manage to fly together
Treat this as an off the wall, whimsical post - with a serious intent.... One thing that we all see far too much of - Management. One problem with many organisations is that we spend too much time managing, we create too many rules and practices and processes for...
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