The balanced scorecard has been a management concept for the implementation of a corporate strategy in a consistent system of strategic goals and the specification of these strategic goals through operational goals and measures along four perspectives for over 20 years.

In April last year I presented a BSC relaunch. By integrating 4DX, assessment guides and statistical analyzes, as well as a procedure along so-called Scrum sprints with a view to the initiative management, the strategy execution could be accelerated and better steered towards the vision.

In spite of this, new findings have been constantly added in the last few months and the question arises again: How can further, tried and tested methods and procedures be integrated in a targeted manner along with a strategy execution with the BSC?

Following recognized limits and some points of criticism when applying the BSC, I will focus on five fields of action that are important to me for an effective and efficient strategy implementation:

Gaining new implementation power

As regrettable as the loss of conceptual strength is; It becomes dramatic when a company loses its ability to implement in competition.

Implementation power is the ability to translate theoretical plans and ideas into actual, practical results. It enables the realization of projects and the achievement of goals. It is competence that distinguishes makers from gossips.

Implementation power is mainly made up of motivation, volition, flexibility and self-confidence. As a result, it’s about achieving goals, making decisions and the company – not just yourself! – move forward.

Support with fundamental questions about strategy

Strategy arises from fundamental decisions on the business model. There are two questions that determine success.

  1. In which areas do we have to be different?
  2. In which areas do we need to be better?

Doing activities better has to do with implementation power, i.e. to meet typical performance characteristics required by customers better than the competition.
Doing activities differently has to do with conceptual strength, i.e. the ability to make the right fundamental decisions about the functional logic of the company.

Target cascading and target documentation

Hoshin Kanri provides a transparent, measurable and coordinated strategy plan, which translates strategic breakthrough goals into annual goals at the lower levels and ensures that the company goals are achieved in an agile manner through appropriate improvement measures.

I would like to highlight three instruments:

  • The X-Matrix is an instrument to support the structured breaking down of the strategic goals to different, subordinate levels and the allocation of responsibilities.
  • The X-matrix visualizes the catchball process vertically (top-down and bottom-up) as well as horizontally (between areas and departments that have an influence on the achievement of a goal). In this process, the parties negotiate the goals in lively discussions by building consensus on targets, indicators, roles and responsibilities, and the distribution and development of resources. When implementing a strategy with 4DX, this discussion takes place between the manager and the team during the team launch (step 4).
  • In many companies there is no effective review process. The so-called bowling chart can help. This chart takes its name from its resemblance to a sheet of paper used to record the results of bowling. The form is used to track progress in meeting key performance indicators.

Training and coaching

At Hoshin Kanri, the main thing is to intensively develop leadership skills and know-how for significant process improvements at all levels so that the challenging goals can be achieved. After target cascading, managers have not “done their work” and delegated the implementation of the strategy, but act as a coach or mentor for their employees and encourage the ability to experiment and learn from them.

Shopfloor management means on-site management and includes processes, rules, behavior, methods and systems to ensure the most efficient production possible. The shopfloor management focuses on what is happening directly at the base, i.e. at the point of value creation.

The entire Hoshin Kanri process is based on the PDCA cycle, which is geared towards achieving the breakthrough goals. This cycle describes an iterative four-phase problem-solving process that has its origins in quality assurance. PDCA stands for Plan-Do-Check-Act. This cycle takes place several times a year so that the teams get one step closer to the goal each time.
This cycle is also used for strategy implementation along 4DX: Plan – steps 1-3, Do – steps 4 + 5, Check – step 6, Act – new run, step 1.

Vertical and horizontal adjustment

This is where an organization that has practiced strategy implementation differs from one that is still learning: goals and the necessary change activities are defined across all levels of the company (vertically) and coordinated within the respective levels (horizontally). The latter is necessary in order to jointly and coherently achieve certain goals.

The target coordination takes place by means of the above catchball process not only vertically, but especially horizontally. The defined goals then flow into individual PDCAs, which consist of dynamically planned action plans and are implemented, reflected on and, if necessary, adapted in a short-cycle or agile manner throughout the year.

If this horizontal review between division or department heads does not happen, what can be observed countless times in practice every day occurs: There are contradicting goals, where the achievement of one division hinders or prevents another.

Conclusion

An integrated strategy process links established elements of strategy work with the business model as an independent strategy element of “being different” and sets clear goals for “being better”. Between the strategic analysis and the strategic action program, there is a concept (vision, mission, concept, values), business model and target system.

Both methods – BSC and Hoshin Kanri – can work together in a company, as the performance-oriented approach of BSC and the process-oriented approach of Hoshin Kanri generate synergies.

Although topics such as culture, leadership and communication are discussed in different depths with both methods, in my opinion both the BSC and Hoshin Kanri did not take sufficient account of the importance of these issues.