The Scorecard Solution

Overview

Is the enterprise Agile? Resilient? Vulnerable? Or Lagging? The Scorecard Solution provides the answer. The book introduces a data-centric tool—the Organizational Prowess Scorecard?—that precisely measures the capabilities needed for sustainable growth. Analyzing the dimensions of talent, strategy, and execution produces a baseline score, and shines a light on the performance gaps that hold a business back. With the facts in hand, readers then learn how to:

Position the organization to meet ambitious goals • Bring strategies to life through an execution framework • Design a dashboard to track progress and flag problems • Foster a winning culture • And more

Organizations that maintain the status quo will be left in the dust. The Scorecard Solution helps companies chart a course for rapid change—and outperform the competition every time.

About the Author

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Review Quotes

"This book has a very simple but practical approach to address a complex topic of strategic alignment of your plans, execution, and people.? --PM World Journal

"…must-have tool for executives who want to get an unvarnished, unemotional view of what is really happening in their company.? -PM World Journal

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Cover Copy

"The Scorecard Solution does a superb job of capturing what it takes to grow a business. Too often, companies grasp at the latest fad in order to gain market share. This book demonstrates, through great case studies, how the alignment of strategy, execution, and talent leads to a sustainable competitive advantage. No fads, just proven methodology. The Organizational Prowess Scorecard is one of the most pragmatic measurement tools I have ever seen when it comes to diagnosing weak areas in a business. A great read with easily adopted principles." -- Steve Ely, CEO, eCredable

"King has tapped into the experiences of his long career as an operations leader and executive to provide the book we have been waiting for: The Scorecard Solution. He wrote this gem from the perspective he has gained as not only the guy who developed the strategy, but also the one tasked with executing the strategy--in a hyper-growth environment. The result is a book you will want to read, read again and share with every leader in your organization." -- Randy Hain, Managing Partner, Bell Oaks Executive Search, and author of Something More: The Professional's Pursuit of a Meaningful Life

"King's experience in business transformation and hyper-growth environments brings a level of credibility to his writing that is refreshing. The pragmatic and straightforward approach, supported by case studies, helps the reader understand what derails growth and what it takes for leadership teams to build the requisite capabilities to outperform their peer group." -- Larry Mohl, CEO, Jamstir, Inc., and Founding Principal of Performance Inspired, Inc., coauthor of Wall Street Journal bestseller Networking is Dead

"Effective leaders constantly search for a competitive edge and an innovative path to improve their team's odds of winning. This book lays out a practical and simple framework for improving the soundness and pace of your decisions and sharpening your organization's strategy. Just about every page has something worth underlining." -- Jeff Hughes, President/CEO, BizLab

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Jacket Copy

Based on extensive research and implementation at large and small companies, The Scorecard Solution provides you with a practical tool for maintaining a crystal-clear view of your business that will enable better decision making, no matter what challenges you face. Introducing the Organizational Prowess Scorecard?, this book clears a path for discovering the unvarnished, unemotional facts about what is really happening in the corners of your company that you can't see every day.

Reflecting four levels of organizational compe-tence and built on a scale from 10 to 100, the scorecard provides a benchmark and enables you to determine objectively whether your organization is:

* Agile (80--100 points)--with an enviable speed to market, a culture of innovation, and a habit of exceeding financial targets . . .

* Resilient (60--79 points)--typically achieving the revenue target, but with imperfect capabilities that make stretch goals impossible to attain, and overachievement elusive . . .

* Vulnerable (30--59 points)--regularly missing financial targets, suffering from talent erosion, and exhibiting minimal innovation . . .

* Lagging (10--29 points)--with a passionless culture, lack of innovation . . . and the organization's very survival in doubt.

You'll learn how to use the Scorecard to examine every facet of your organization in depth, and shine a light on the performance gaps that are holding your business back. The book provides you with the guidance you need to create your action plan for strengthening essential capabilities based around three major components: Strategy Planning (what are you going to work on?); Execution Framework (how do you get it done?); and Talent (who will do the work?). Armed with the confidence to act, you'll identify precisely where your organization's weaknesses lie and what is required to counteract them.

In today's highly competitive environment, average performance is not good enough. The Scorecard Solution gives you the tools you need to start overachieving . . . year after year. Sustainable growth becomes a reality and competitive advantage is assured.

DAN E. KING is Founding Principal of CloseReach Consulting, through which he has developed and used his proprietary Organizational Prowess model to help senior management teams create strategic clarity and execute with speed and precision. Prior to CloseReach, his 30 years of business experience included senior-level corporate roles in consumer service enterprises and leading a consulting firm focused on midmarket business transformation. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Excerpt

"It drives me crazy when I can't get answers. I see erosion in our revenue

and no one seems to be able to explain what is happening to cause it.

All I get are opinions and guesswork. How can I address the problem

when I don't even know where or what it is??

Do you share this frustration? A CEO made this comment to me

during my research for this book. She wasn't the only person who said

something similar. What I learned through multiple interviews with executives

is that business leaders live in fear of two problems: (1) not being

told the truth about the health of the enterprise and (2) having to make

major, strategic decisions with too little information.

Unfortunately, the causes of these problems are usually baked into

the system.

Even the most approachable leaders have subordinates who are reluctant

to disclose looming performance deviations or organizational

weakness. We'd like to believe that the messenger never gets shot, but

there are plenty of messengers in companies across the land who would

rather not test that premise.

As a result, a leader receives sanitized information. This is a dangerous

scenario for a decision maker. Without comprehensive and current data

about the organization's capabilities, the leader is forced to make investment

decisions and allocate resources based on partial facts.

In addition to not having the facts, leaders may be unaware of their

own mindset, which can add to the dilemma. During my work with

CEOs and senior leadership teams, I've found that they have a bias toward

the belief that "all is good.? They want to believe that their organization

is rock solid and delivering the best possible results, given market conditions.

Many leaders also are prone to maintaining the status quo. Because

they are somewhat in the dark regarding the health of the enterprise,

there is no urgency to address weaknesses they don't see, particularly if

the weaknesses have not yet shown up in the numbers. Why fix what

isn't broken? That becomes the mantra. If current performance of the

business is acceptable, why rock the boat? After all, change is tough on

an organization, right? Why be bold for the future and risk your present

success?

The reality is that present success is not self-sustaining. Without preventive

maintenance, something is always breaking.

The Scorecard Solution will solve these problems by giving you a practical

tool for maintaining a crystal-clear and constant view of your business

that will enable better decision making. That tool, the

Organizational Prowess Scorecard, delivers the unvarnished, unemotional

facts about what is really happening in areas of the company you can't

see every day. It has three major components:

1. Strategy Planning—what are we going to work on?

2. Execution Framework—how do we get it done?

3. Talent—who will do the work?

In my experience these components all need to be in top form for a

company to thrive. If you have, for instance, a bad plan, you'll squander op-

portunities. If you have a good plan, but aren't able to execute it within an

acceptable time frame, you'll lose ground competitively. And if you have

too many "B? players in mission-critical roles, key goals will be missed.

Each component is broken down into measurable subcomponents

that are assessed and given a numerical score, which, when tallied, will

show you how you're doing in a subcomponent, a major component and,

most important, overall.

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Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

INTRODUCTION

1 ORGANIZATIONAL PROWESS DEFINED

2 WHEN TOUGH TIMES HAPPEN

3 THE ORGANIZATIONAL PROWESS SCORECARD

4 STRATEGY PLANNING: GETTING IT RIGHT

5 BUILDING AN EXECUTION FRAMEWORK

6 TALENT: THE RIGHT LEADERS AND EXPERTS

7 DON'T WAIT FOR THE CRISIS

8 ORGANIZATIONAL PROWESS IN ACTION: A CASE STUDY

9 THE HARMONY BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL PROWESS AND CULTURE

10 NOW IS THE TIME: CREATE YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL PROWESS PLAYBOOK

11 STAY THE COURSE

INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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