Peel back almost any case study of a failed organization, and you'll see, more than anything else, an example of a failure of alignment. Alignment, at its simplest, is the entire organization working towards a common goal. It seems so simple, but in practice is really difficult to achieve. Why is this? Is it just some perverse quirk of human nature? Or can alignment happen?

For those of you that came to the Summit in March of 2011, you would have to remember Maria Cristalli from Hillside. Her presentation received the highest rank of any presentation given (even higher than our keynotes from last year). To make it more remarkable, she was the last presentation on the last day of the conference. We are excited to have her back for the 2012 event.

I'm happy to announce that the Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico will be presenting at the upcoming Mission-Driven Summit on March 6-8, 2012. This is the premier conference for mission driven organizations (governments, nonprofits, associations, and education organizations). Keynote speakers include David Norton, co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard concept, and Daniel Pink, author of Drive and other books about changing the world of work.

In a Harvard Business Review blog yesterday, Raymond V. Gilmartin argued that CEOs need a new set of beliefs. What's surprising -- especially for those of us that work in the mission-driven sector -- is that this even bears saying. But what struck me the most in the post was that Professor Gilmartin (the past CEO of Merck) argues that "Purpose, meaning, and recognition are more powerful motivators than economic self-interest, and large external rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation."

Why haven't we found the silver bullet that will magically, like Jaime Escalante in "Stand and Deliver," come and save our struggling schools? The answer, quite simply, is because there isn't one. While sound bites make good press, they make really bad education policy. What works in McLean, VA may not work in Anacostia, MD. And what works in Pittsford, NY, may not work in Rochester, NY. Real education reform needs to start with management reform. And here's how I propose we do it.

I promised an update of some of Dr. Norton's materials from his presentation in Mexico back in July. One of the first topics he spoke about is the concept of "managing strategy." It doesn't sound very revolutionary, but most organizations go through a process of developing a strategy every 3 to 5 years and then putting that strategy on a shelf. They may look at the strategy annually and then go through the strategy refresh process again in 3-5 years. Best practice organizations, according to David Norton, spend time managing their strategy.

Now that the lockout is officially over, the amount of conversations revolving around football has picked up significantly. Football is something that I enjoy very much and like talking about whenever I get the chance. As a consultant, I also enjoy conversations centered on strategic management and the excitement that comes with each client. Over the weekend, I was talking to a friend about my job and, as most conversations between two, twenty-four year old males do, the topic eventually turned to football. In some odd way, this got me thinking about the similarities between football and strategic management. I know, a weird comparison, but stick with me and I think you will see where these thoughts came from.

Over the past weekend, I was able to spend some time with one of my younger brothers. As younger siblings will do, he began asking me random questions. Eventually, the conversation turned to my work as an associate consultant with Ascendant. He became intrigued by the Balanced Scorecard and continued to ask general questions about the framework. As the conversation moved into more detail, a majority of the questions centered on the specific words and phrases that I was using. In response to these questions, I have decided to define some of the basic vocabulary that I use on a daily basis.

Strategy Map : Communicates on one piece of paper the critical strategic objectives of an organization. It tells the story of your organization.

Buy-in : Yes, this term can refer to the minimum amount of chips required to enter a poker game, but in terms of strategic management, it is when members of an organization (management, staff, etc.) agree with, and embrace, the strategic changes within the organization.

Mission : An organization's unique reason for existence that reflects the values and priorities of the strategy.

Purpose Statement : Outlines the overarching goal that the strategy was designed to achieve, the means by which it will get there, and the scope of the operations.

Objectives : A key element of the strategy that outlines the behavior you want to see in your organization. They are critical success points in achieving the strategy for which measurable results can be obtained. Typically, they are written as an action statement in the verb + adjective + noun format.

Measures : Define the key areas of focus and help answer the question "how are we doing on achieving our strategy?" Each strategy has driver and outcome measures.

Driver Measure : These are input-oriented measures that should have an impact on the outcome measures.

Outcome Measure : These are results-oriented measures that can be difficult to have a direct impact on.

Targets : Goals that define the level of performance or rate of improvement needed.

Initiatives : Key projects or action programs that are required to achieve the strategic objectives. They state what must get done and when.

Perspectives : An organizing framework highlighting common management disciplines. There are four common perspectives, and each asks a different question:

• Customer : "To achieve our mission, how must we look to our customers?"
• Financial : "If we succeed, how will we look to our donors or taxpayers?"
• Internal : "To satisfy our customers and financial donors, which business processes must we excel at?"
• Learning and Growth : "To achieve our mission, how must our organization learn and improve?"

Themes : Illustrate the cause and effect relationships between the strategic objectives.

KPIs : (Key performance indicators) Measurements that are used to quantify objectives and reflect the critical success factors of an organization.

S.M.A.R.T. : This framework can be used to help in developing effective measures.

• Specific : Clearly and precisely state what will be measured
• Measurable : Every measure should be numeric and able to be graphed
• Actionable : The results are easy to interpret and you should understand the actions that will affect the measure
• Repeatable : You need to be able to consistently gather the information over time
• Timely : It needs to be measure at a reasonable frequency

The above list is not intended to be comprehensive, but it would have been helpful for my brother during our conversation, and anyone else looking to understand some of the basic terminology behind the Balanced Scorecard. Please feel free to comment and continue expanding the scope of this list.

I have worked closely with Dr. David Norton, co-creator of the Balanced Scorecard for more than twelve years. He has been championing the evolution of the Balanced Scorecard from a measurement concept to a management concept for the last twenty years. He speaks publicly more than once a month on the topic of the Balanced Scorecard. If you listened to him each presentation, you might think that he would get tired presenting the same material. But if you listen closely, you will see that the material evolves as the research evolves. I had the chance to listen to Dr. Norton this week in Mexico City, and listening closely, I was inspired during each presentation that the Balanced Scorecard concept is alive and well.

In my last post, "The Measures That Matter," I discussed the costliness of having too many measures and the importance of utilizing only the measures that highlight performance against your objectives. I talked about defining measurements that are linked back to objectives, but I never touched on actually creating those objectives. So, I would now like to take a small step backwards and discuss the development of objectives for your organization.