Photo: Mark Goldstein/The Standard

Giving Our Engine a Tune-up

Introducing The Standard Scorecard, a customized
performance tool to help drive, monitor our success

By Philippa Courtney

If you want to know what using
The Standard Scorecard can do for you,
imagine this:

You're driving an old beater of a car. The worn-out wipers screech and whine across the rain-streaked windshield. The steering is sloppy. The engine's making a funny noise, but the gauges are broken, so you're not sure what's wrong with the car.

Now imagine feeling the rush as you drive a brand-new, high-performance sports car down the German autobahn. The windshield is crystal clear, and the gauges are digital and precision-tuned, giving you accurate information about how your machine is functioning. Feel the exhilaration as the state-of-the-art controls help you navigate the open road and easily reach your destination.

The Standard Scorecard is a reporting tool that alerts you to operating problems, much like the gauges in a car do, said Gregg Harrod, assistant vice president of Strategic Initiatives, who spearheaded the project's development.

A Web application, Scorecard displays a set of red, yellow and green indicators as three-dimensional graphics. "By watching the indicators, you can track how well you're meeting your targets and gain better insight into what's working and what isn't," Gregg said. "Watching the yellow and red areas helps us focus on what needs attention." Scorecard's results can also be displayed as wall charts.

High demand for a high-octane tool

The need to comply with new, complex regulations and a desire to continue to improve company effectiveness has fueled the demand for performance-management tools like Scorecard, which convert vision and strategy into measurable targets. However, Gregg emphasized, Scorecard is not a report card. Its purpose is to provide more relevant information, thereby enhancing problem-solving and decision-making.

One benefit is that Scorecard creates uniformity in the measuring process, which reduces the time necessary to come up to speed, said John Bernard, senior vice president of Operational Excellence. For example, a manager moving to a different division or department will have a clearer picture of the new terrain, and with Scorecard's information, there will be less need to reinvent the wheel, since the measures in place will be tested over time.

Scorecard is much more than a simple administrative tool. It can help influence accountability integral to the success of the work we do every day. "Scorecard gives people the power of information by communicating what is important and how well it is being done," John said. "Having the information is the first step in giving people control over their work."

For example, Scorecard can help a team processing new group policies see that it is taking them 43 days instead of the targeted 30 days to complete. From there, the team can assemble data to find bottlenecks that are causing delays. That's the beginning of problem solving.

Scorecard enhances business thinking by reporting both outcome and process measures. Outcome measures, which typically report financial matters like earnings per share and revenues, are like looking in a rear-view mirror. Process measures, however, reflect what is happening in the middle of the cycle.

Here are some examples of how Scorecard's process measures work:

Stimulating innovation, creating common vision

Achieving industry leadership will require us to use every ounce of talent and tap into everyone s mind. Scorecard can help us gain a competitive edge by stimulating dialogue and proactive problem solving. When you see the patterns and trends in the program's visual displays, you can't help but ask questions and seek answers.

John believes Scorecard's value is in creating context so people can see how the numbers relate to what they want to accomplish. Scorecard not only measures important outcomes but also the factors that influence those outcomes.

"Scorecard allows us to see how we are actually performing in real time so we are able to identify problems and come up with solutions faster," he said. "This helps us solve mundane problems more efficiently, freeing up time to spend on the more satisfying part of our work—interacting with customers and focusing on bigger issues."

Gregg agreed. "Scorecard will help focus everyone on the issues that are key to our success and organize information relative to those issues so we can see how we are doing on a daily basis.

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“Scorecard allows us to see how we are actually
performing in real time so we are able to identify
problems and come up with solutions faster.”

 John Bernard, senior vice president of Operational Excellence

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The goal is to have a working version at divisional and senior management levels by spring or early summer and spread the program throughout the regional and operational units over the next three years. In the not-too-distant future, you will be able to sit down at your PC and see measures that relate to your day-to-day work and understand how your efforts are contributing to your team.

Creating a custom scorecard

Knowing what to measure and how to interpret the findings isn't something that comes out of a box. Gregg collaborated with RavenFire, a consulting firm that uses visual tools to help organizations better see what they're trying to make happen, to create a custom solution.

Building our own version of the tool minimized out-of pocket-costs and allowed for tremendous flexibility in the design. In February, six months after extensive discussions to review and clarify strategies and develop a common vision, the first iteration of Scorecard was unveiled for the management committee. Gregg said that even at that preliminary stage, it was easy to see Scorecard's power to drive conversation.

"People were asking if they had the right measures and data to understand what was really going on in the business," he said. "These kinds of questions are what contribute to an organization's health."

By bringing us together, putting us all on the same page and handing us the controls, Scorecard can help us increase the octane and get the lead out.

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