Companies have become overly reliant on Business Intelligence to focus decision making on results. While the reporting, query, and analytical tools are important to the success of a business, an accumulation can bog down the decision making process. Many companies are turning away from such BI-centric methodology and refocusing resources on Performance Management.

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Cutting costs becomes a crucial goal of executives as they react to the business climate of a downturn. With this change in focus, many comapanies lose sight of long-term strategic execution. Drs. Kaplan and Norton call for a strict allocation of funds to focus on strategy execution and prevent this common pitfall of the strategy focused organization. Strategic expenditures (or StratEx) allow companies to continue building for the future while simultaneously cutting the excess costs of the past.

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I've had a lot of organizations ask me how to "tell the story of their strategy" using their strategy map in the ESM as their guide. I'd like to provide our ESM community with an example approach that could be adapted for your organization. Once upon a time...

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Palladium's Managing Director and CMO sent out a note this morning exploring Cari Tuna's article in today's Wall Street Journal.

An article in today's Wall Street Journal, "Executives Shift to Survival Mode," reports that The Conference Board has reconfirmed that executing strategy remains the number one issue facing executives worldwide. Palladium's value proposition addresses this issue directly, now prominently featured in the banner at the top of our home page:

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In a recent article in McKinsey Quarterly (Sept 2008) they wrote about managing IT during a downturn. They stressed the importance of not making across the board cuts, but that it was now more important than ever to look at IT's role in the business and be more strategic (read selective) in what investments and reductions are made. Our strategy maps, scorecards, and initiative management processes and practices can help companies navigate these treacherous waters in a resource constrained world. We should listen for these cues during our client and prospect conversations and think about how we can help them make better decisions that will address short term issues, yet still position our clients for longer term success when things turn positive. Remember those who make the better decisions now will do better (survive longer) and be positioned for the next upturn in the economny.

Palladium Announces XPA™--Execution Premium Assessment--based on the Kaplan-Norton Strategic Management System

New Tool and Book Based on Close Collaboration between Palladium, Kaplan, and Norton

Palladium Group Inc., the global market leader helping organizations execute their strategies, has announced the Execution Premium Assessment (XPA), the newest offering designed to help companies understand the strategic performance gap between where they are and where they want to be. XPA, the latest tool in an integrated suite from Palladium, is based on more than fifteen years of research by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, the world's preeminent authorities on strategic performance management, and the best practices of more than 100 high performing organizations.

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For those of you who receive Gartner research, you should give "Using Corporate Performance Management to Deliver the CEO's Strategic Vision" a quick read (30 April 2008, ID Number G00157458). The key take away point I found in the article is that operational management is a lot better managed than strategy management in organizations today. Most readers cannot argue with that point. In support of that hypothesis, I've found in my work that there is a greater level of comfort around the operations; it is thought of as more tangible, easier to understand, discuss, and report.

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Some members of the ESM team just completed a local installation of the strategy management platform at an organization in the South Pacific. Following the week of installation, testing and training we walked away satisfied with having performed a successful implementation.

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To follow up on Kent's recent post, I'd like to remove my "Strategic Hat" for a few moments, and dive into the more uncharted territory (for me) of operational management. Historically, most organizations managed their strategic and business requirements as distinct silos. However, today's management processes need to maintain a firm footing in both areas.

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Meeting management is often interpreted in many organizations as your classic operational review. And for those organizations with strategic plans, it will sometimes entail strategic dialogue.

Organizations with an actionable strategic framework, like a Balanced Scorecard or strategy map, meeting management takes on a whole new meaning. Meeting management begins long before the actual strategy review meeting. Individuals need to reflect on the strategy several days (possibly a week plus depending on complexity of reporting environment) before a meeting, consolidate strategic data, comment on performance, and provide suggested next steps or recommendations. The point I'm driving at here is that the "leg work" or "heavy lifting" needs to occur prior to the actual meeting, NOT in the meeting.

Healthy meeting management within a strategy review meeting means that the data has been digested, and the agenda of the meeting is focused around off-target performance areas, reviewing the recommendations and deciding as a leadership team how to advance the strategy. The team will make decisions, capture those action items and then move on to the next strategic element that requires attention. Effective meeting management, as described here, is challenging to implement because most organizations are not used to this meeting style. I encourage organizations to look at their all star employees and select from that bunch who is the most effective facilitator. A good facilitator will understand the nuances of the business, the strategy in detail, and will garner the respect of leadership.

Finally, effective meeting management extends beyond the meeting to where action items and decisions made in the meeting are followed up on and closed out. There should be clear accountability around the activities and who is overseeing the process. I'd suggest to the community to explore the following three You Tube links for examples on effective meeting management.

The first link is an example of what most organizations look like when transitioning into effective meeting management around a strategy management framework. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJAXQIAz9bk

The second link is an example of what should occur between the meetings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N5XW3usxEU

The third link is an example of what organizations look like once they transition into this way of meeting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZziZfxfDI

I'll be heading up to the 2007 CMA conference in Toronto, Canada next week to share with the members insight on how the Balanced Scorecard framework and Executive Strategy Manager application are helping organizations define, manage, and execute their strategy.

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