Did you know that the ESM can automatically evaluate the performance of your measures?

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In today's demand-driven and increasingly competitive market; the need for effective strategic management is imperative. This need has spurred the conceptualization of several management theories. Naturally, as delivery on promise differed, some have fared better than others.

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I recently came across a case study, published just last month, titled "Information System Effects on Organizations Balanced Scorecard Work". This study was focused exclusively on the ESM application – something our team believes to be the first of its kind!

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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

Drs. Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton just published the Harvard Business Review Article "Mastering the Management System". The article begins by stating the challenge faced by most organizations: separating the operational management meeting from the strategy management meeting. Beyond the creation of strategy maps and Balanced Scorecards, the BSC co-founders profess a link from strategy to operations, which might be in the form of key process management, key process decomposition, activity based costing, analytical dashboards and more.

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We'd like to invite you to participate in an interactive meeting management simulation which shows how the Balanced Scorecard can be used to help focus an executive team on strategy execution.

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I recently was asked to build a proof of concept in the ESM that showed the trends for measures and then a forecast for 12 months in the future. I was not given much information to start with, but as I researched it, I realized that companies trying to do this have a few challenges on their hands.

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The web services now available in version 4.5 create brand new possibilities for the Executive Strategy Manager. With the ability to push and pull data directly from the ESM database into applications such as Excel, PowerPoint, and nearly any web-based application, you can pull real time data into your Excel reports or PowerPoint presentations by simply clicking a button.

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With the launch of web services in 2007, the ESM truly has become an integrated strategy management platform for organizations around the world. An early adopter with the web services, a government defense organization is streamlining the reporting process with their strategic initiatives.

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I've been surprised by the relatively limited use of the Balanced Scorecard among boards of directors. To me, the BSC and the board are a perfect fit. Why? Because the Balanced Scorecard gives the board a great "dashboard" to check in on corporate and CEO performance.

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