One of the first questions that public sector and non-profit leaders need to ask when embarking on a new strategy management initiative is: "Who are the Owners of the strategy?"

Who is accountable for establishing and maintaining the objectives, measures, and initiatives that will determine whether your organization's strategy succeeds? These are the Owners. And their role is one of the most important in your organization. Whether your new strategy succeeds will depend in large part on the kind of Owners you have working to implement it.

Who is an Owner?

Being an Owner of organizational strategy is not necessarily a job title or part of a job description. Owners are leaders within the organization who act as champions for certain parts of an organization's strategy (or certain measures of the organization's Balanced Scorecard), and who oversee communication and training so that the organization's strategy becomes ingrained in the overall culture of the organization. There can be plenty of layers of supporting staff and data analysts, but the Owners are the ones who are manage and are accountable for achieving certain objectives.

The four types of Owners

Every organizational strategy has four types of owners, with responsibilities for varying areas of responsibilities:

• Scorecard Owners set the tone for the work done by the other owners. Scorecard owners work on high-level questions such as issue definition (identifying the specific strategic issues that need to be addressed), agenda setting (deciding on a course of action for the group's activities), and meeting preparation (aligning the work of various owners and marshalling the group's latest data to discuss at the next strategy meeting).
• Objective/Theme Owners provide analysis and commentary about the specific objectives – a finer level of detail than the overall Scorecard itself.
• Measure Owners provide performance analysis about specific measures as outlined on the organization's Balanced Scorecard.
• Initiative Owners provide performance analysis on strategic initiatives and help evaluate whether the organization's top projects are on track and helping deliver results.

Owner and Data Analyst: Separate but Supporting Roles

One of the most important roles of Owners, especially as it relates to the organization's Balanced Scorecard, is to ensure the most accurate data is analyzed and presented at strategy review meetings. While the owner may not be specifically responsible for the day-to-day tracking, they are responsible for the data's accuracy and the value of the analysis – and ultimately for championing the required actions in the highest circles of organizational leadership.

Each owner typically has one of more "data analysts" supporting themselves. Owners are usually not ideal for this role as it is more time consuming, more focused on collection, and is not directly related to strategic analysis or action. The data analysts collect the numbers, verify they are accurate, compile any supporting documents, and ensure the owner is knowledgeable of any emerging trends.

• "Data Analyst" – in this role, supporting staff needs to collect updates from different parts of the organization, and tabulate and graph the data for each measure. For example, a school district might need to track student test scores, graduation rates, dropout rates, or the percentage of students going on to enroll in college. Collecting and analyzing these data is a complex task, but once the numbers are in order and emerging trends identified, the data analyst passes the information the Owner.
• "Owner and Champion" – in the role of Owners, the champions of strategy are responsible for providing recommendations for future action based on the data compiled. Owners review the graph and investigate the underlying data to understand why the measure is behaving as it is, then suggest, act upon, and ensure strategic objectives are being acted upon.

For example, if a school district's graduation rates are down and dropout rates are up, they might analyze some of the risk factors for dropouts – has the community suffered an economic downturn, leading to increased financial stress on families? Have the demographics of the district changed in the past few years, bringing a greater proportion of students who are at higher risk of dropping out of school? Then, as champion, what can they do to ensure the organization achieves its mission? Are new programs required? Should funding or resources be realigned to meet new challenges? These are the questions and resulting actions an Owner is responsible for.

While it might seem obvious, the Owner, needs to be have the right level of authority to make changes that will drive the measure towards the intent of the organizational objective. The authority should appropriate both formally (by title and job description) and informally (authority is recognized and honored by the organization) to ensure success. Owners need to be empowered and confident that they can act and to spur change within the organization. No matter the challenge, Owners ultimately have to be able to drive the organization forward in response to the findings.

The importance of reporting: managing "small things"

In addition to these higher-profile instances of managing change in response to new data, Owners also have an important leadership role in the ongoing task of enforcing behavior and sticking to a reporting calendar.

Maintaining a solid regimen of reporting is one of the most critical tasks of the Owners. If your organization is serious about performance management and staying on track with your strategy, you need Owners who will work to ensure that the Balanced Scorecard stays relevant, that the data and analysis are accurate and result in clear decision making, and that decisions are acted upon.

With increasingly high stakes - politicians and leaders across the country are focusing on results. Be it unemployment numbers or budget deficit projections, effective performance management is in increasingly high demand. Thanks to incredible investments by large organizations, powerful tracking systems are now available to even the smallest groups.This doesn't mean every public sector and non-profit organization should focus on earning more revenue and managing costs – after all, public sector organizations and non-profits have different goals and answer to different constituencies than businesses. What it does mean is that many leaders of public sector organizations need access to the tools and information so they can operate more like a business – with better metrics for efficiency, accountability, and an overall sense of precision in the organization's focus and results. So why is public sector performance management gaining such momentum? Systems that work: Corporations and intelligence agencies paid a premium over the years to develop IT systems to measure and track all aspects of an organization's work – and now these same powerful systems are becoming available at reasonable prices to non-profit and governmental organizations. Higher expectations: People are impatient for data. Expectations for quality and timeliness of data delivered to decision makers have grown – people don't want to wait to learn what they need to know about your organization. Anyone who needs data about your organization – whether they're executives, lenders, donors, volunteers, partner organizations, or even public officials working on legislation related to your organization's mission who need real statistics to prove a need – wants to be able to find relevant information as quickly as possible. Risk management: It's a risky world, and your organization increasingly needs to track all sorts of data, from sentinel events in a hospital (unexpected events leading to death, serious injury or the risk thereof), the number of EEO complaints in the workplace, student test scores for No Child Left Behind, or the number of fatalities on state highways tracked by the state Department of Transportation. Better performance management can help your organization track the numbers you need to promote your mission and defend your reputation. Competition: At a time of shrinking budgets, decreasing donations and ever-scarcer resources, programs that cannot prove their effectiveness are seeing major funding cuts, while programs that can point to metrics and data to prove their effectiveness are attracting more resources. Performance management can help your organization prove that you get quantifiable results – and that you're being a good steward of your resources. Accountability: Every organization needs to maximize its effectiveness, which means that every individual employee is under greater scrutiny and has to be accountable for performance. Better performance management can help your organization develop performance plans (for individuals, teams and larger departments), specific performance targets, and a method of tracking progress on the individual level or organization-wide. You can see these trends at work in many different public sector organizations. One of the major driving forces behind the new emphasis on performance management is not only a "reactive" measure in response to public scrutiny, but also a "proactive" measure by organizations looking to promote their work and raise awareness of their positive results. For example, in Washington DC, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has posted an online Metro Scorecard showing various performance metrics for the city's public transit systems, including cost per ride (and subsidy per ride), on-time performance, and employee and customer injury rates. Many public sector leaders use performance management data as a way to prove that their organizations are doing a better job than the media tend to report. Increase Interactions with Constituents and Stakeholders: Another driving factor behind the shift to performance management is a reflection of the larger consumer culture – in the era of social media, when dealing with private sector brands, customers expect their favorite brands to be interactive, to respond to their ideas and demands, and all with a certain level of brand humor and "sex appeal" in the products they purchase. Gatorade has taken listening to the customer to a whole new level with their new Mission Control team – a group of social media operatives at Gatorade headquarters who constantly monitor and respond to feedback about Gatorade on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. The goal is to have a rapid response to customers' ideas, feedback and criticism, and engage customers in conversations to improve customer loyalty and sales. What does this mean to your organization? The fact is, right now, people are talking about your organization, in public, on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other social media. They might be praising your staff, expressing complaints, or offering useful suggestions. Many public sector organizations have a big opportunity to increase their presence on social media, engage in conversations with constituents – not only for immediate customer service needs, but also for longer-term awareness and public support of the organization's mission. This kind of heightened responsiveness to your constituents' needs is another aspect of public sector performance management that is going to continue to grow in importance. Performance management will be an enduring part of any public sector or non-profit organization's operational future. If you want to learn more about how your organization can improve its performance, develop strategic alignment, and develop metrics that pinpoint your performance, contact Ascendant Strategy Management Group for guidance.

There are three big trends in Web marketing that non-profits should pay attention to: Online Advertising (including mobile marketing), Social Media (like Twitter and Facebook), and an updated understanding of Website Metrics. The new world of online media, social media and mobile technology is presenting significant opportunities for organizations that are ready to embrace change. If you're ready to include Web marketing in your organization's mix of methods for fundraising, outreach and communications, continue reading below.Online advertising: Be ready to "pay per click" and "go mobile". Google recently announced strong 3rd quarter earnings, indicating a 20 percent annual increase in revenues from its AdSense online advertising programs. Paid clicks on Google are up 16% - showing that people are becoming more likely to use paid links to find the information they're looking for. Another big trend in online marketing is mobile marketing – web ads and messaging designed specifically for smart phones. According to the Mobile Commerce Forum, mobile Web users are expected to spend $119 billion a year by 2015 – and this shift in buying behavior has implications for non-profit fundraising as well. As people become more comfortable searching, shopping and spending from their mobile phones and personal electronic devices, they also will become more willing to donate. Even small text message-based donations can make a huge difference – the Red Cross raised millions of dollars after the Haiti earthquake by asking people to send $5 or $10 donations via text message. These trends are real, and they are likely to continue to grow – there is an army of people using smart phones for information on the go, and they are open to interacting with (and donating to) their favorite non-profits. Are you ready to extend the invitation? Amplified "word of mouth" Millions of words have been written about how social media is changing everything in the world of online marketing. Some non-profit organizations have been a bit slow to embrace these new opportunities – either due to a lack of resources, a lack of understanding of the new technology, or by not seeing connections between the new media and the organization's existing goals and constituencies. Non-profits are constantly looking for new ways to educate, congregate, and cause some action in a group of people. Using social media like Twitter and Facebook can be a fun and effective way to achieve these objectives. Whether your organization is experienced in social media, or whether you're still learning the difference between Twitter and Facebook, here are some tips to help improve your social media footprint to engage with your stakeholders online. Twitter: By posting timely, relevant messages 140 characters at a time, your organization can mobilize a volunteer workforce. Here are some of the types of "tweets" you can send to engage with your organization's friends and fans online: •From a church's outreach office: "Father-son softball tonight at Tall Oak park, 6 p.m., All welcome!" •From a homeless shelter: "We need volunteers to serve dinner during Thanksgiving week – contact www.tinyurl.com/### by November 10 for details." •From a local public official: "Would you like to serve on the Mayor's public recreation advisory board? Short-term commitment, big opportunity to make a difference." You can adjust your Twitter settings (or use more advanced Twitter platforms like "TweetDeck") to automatically post your Twitter messages to your Facebook page as well – saving time and effort. Facebook: The world's most popular social networking site has over 500 million users worldwide (and counting). Does your organization have a fan page on Facebook yet? Facebook, like Twitter, can be a valuable resource to cultivate donors and recruit volunteers, post announcements, build excitement for upcoming events, and share the mission and expertise of your organization. One difference between Facebook and Twitter is that Facebook is not limited to 140 characters per post – so you can be more expansive. It's also a bit easier to upload videos, photos and links via Facebook. How to get more Friends and Followers: There are no hard and fast "rules" for social media for non-profits, but there are a few key principles to keep in mind: •Interact: There's a reason why they call it "social" media – you're supposed to treat it like a conversation, not a monologue. One of the best ways to find more followers for your organization is to interact with people – in a personal and authentic way. Respond to comments about your organization, and get involved in blog discussions or online forums about the issues your organization addresses. •Be patient: It takes time to build up a big social media presence; it doesn't happen overnight. Assign someone at your organization to spend some time every day on Twitter searching for mentions of your organization and sending "@ replies" to the people who have positive things to say. Find the people who are already talking about your organization, and follow them – often they will follow you back. •Reach out: Do a Google search and find bloggers who are writing about your organization, reach out to them and ask them to refer people to your Facebook page. •Build on existing contacts: Send a mass e-mail to your existing donors, volunteers and fans, and invite them to join you online. Make it easy to connect to your Facebook and Twitter pages by posting buttons on your website Contact page, from your blog posts, and everywhere else you have a presence on line. Finding effective website metrics Every non-profit organization should have a website, no matter how basic. But do you know what your website means? You need to have a way to identify relevant information and track metrics to show how your website is supporting your organization's overall goals – and these metrics should be included and tracked on your Balanced Scorecard. Potential BSC Key Performance Indicators •Number of viewers: How many people are visiting your website each day, week, and month? What are the peak visit days? How many unique visitors do you have? •Length of site visit: How long are people hanging around on your website? Do you have enough interesting content to keep people's attention, or do they just drop by briefly and then move on to something else? •Days since last update: One of the most important ways to keep your website at the top of the Google search results is to refresh your site regularly with new content – especially with blog posts or social media feeds (you can connect your Twitter feed so that all of your Tweets appear on your website as well). By tracking the days since last update, you can give your staff another measurable performance goal to track on the Balanced Scorecard. •Number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends: quality is more important than quantity, but quantity doesn't hurt – and this gives you a way to track whether your online efforts are getting attention. •Number of Twitter @ replies – track how many people are forwarding your messages and spreading the word to others? Are you "Findable" online? Another related goal for your organization's website should be to make sure that your website is up-to-date on Google, Bing, and MapQuest Maps with your organization's phone number, address and hours (if that is important to your organization). Social media has matured and it's time to join professionally. The tools impact real users, create real events, and result in real donations. If your organization would like guidance in this field of strategic impact, we would be honored to work with your organization. Just an email or phone call can start the conversation.

The city of Charlottesville, VA is in the process of rolling out a performance management and measurement initiative. This initiative is managed by the Office of Budget and Performance Management and is called P3 within the city. It stands for "Plan, Perform, Perfect."

The Guidestar Survey of Nonprofits released today reveals that non profits continue to struggle with declining donations and increased demand on services. With an emphasis on the first five months of this year the survey shows that while things are stabilizing somewhat, current conditions are being compared with some of the worst years ever. Competition for resources, pressure to restrict services, and the need to do more with less increases the importance of disciplined strategy management through tools such as Balanced Scorecard and Logic Models.

Last week, over 120 social and public sector leaders from across the world, including Russia, the UK, South Africa, Tunisia, and Finland convened in Washington, D.C., to discuss ways to more effectively manage their organizations' strategy.

It is hard not to get excited about the Mission-Driven Performance Summit that starts tomorrow in Washington, DC. Drs. Norton and Kaplan are great key notes when it comes to understanding and applying leading edge thinking around the topic of strategy management. There are clinics on Tuesday and then great case studes on Wednesday and Thursday. Over 100 people are registered to attend.

Ten years ago, the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) had low and declining student achievement, demoralized teachers, crumbling buildings, high turnover among superintendents (average tenure of two years) and disaffected parents pulling their children out of the system. More than 60 percent of the city's high school students missed at least two weeks of school per year, and the district had more than 700 teaching vacancies. The system was failing its students and stakeholders. Fast forward 10 years, and Atlanta has reversed its dismal numbers.

Pablo Eisenberg rightly points out the crisis facing charitable giving today in today's Wall Street Journal Report. He uses the better of a full page of print to outline his recommendations for how foundations and others can make a difference for nonprofits and their beneficiaries. While one can agree or disagree with the list – readers of this blog no doubt agree that to formalize strategy management, reporting and execution using a Balanced Scorecard would go a long way to addressing the challenges the author outlines.

Building a Balanced Scorecard is fun. We have been helping organizations determine what their strategy map, measures, and initiatives are for over 10 years. The process and the product are both enjoyable. Imagine spending time waxing on about your strategy and your objectives. Looking at your past performance and pondering the future opportunities. Your leadership team then gets together to debate the one-page view of your strategy, the strategy map, as Norton and Kaplan call it. This is fun stuff.

It is actually not all that bad to then determine key measures. What will drive the right behavior? How high or low of a target should we set? What initiatives are we working on today and what should we be focused on in the future? These are all intellectual challenges that a leadership team usually embraces. For the ambitious, there is a follow-on exercise to link the business units and support services to the strategy of the organization and create and alignment matrix with objectives and measures. While some of this takes more time than other things, this is stimulating work.

The real challenge is what to do after you have built your Balanced Scorecard. Many leadership teams will talk about the value they received during the "construction" phase of work, but if you stop there, you will fall short of the true benefits of the BSC. Organizations should begin the process of managing their strategy. Some people think that producing an annual report based on their Balanced Scorecard measures is the next logical step. This report many times is given to the board of directors or submitted to a committee of the board. I would argue that this is called reporting and not managing.

Managing with the Balanced Scorecard means that on a regular basis, the leadership team of an organization creates and looks at the information in a Balanced Scorecard, discusses what it means, what the impact is on the organization, and what actions should be taken as a result. This is a lot of work. With this work comes a reward. Members of your organization's leadership start acting like a team and have a good command of all of the components of the organization, not just their silo. Adjustments are made throughout the year, rather than just at budget time. The organization begins driving results, not just reacting to them. Meetings not only become interesting, they become important.

In the next few posts, I'll talk about some of the components of managing your strategy, and I don't want to discount the fact that building a scorecard is important. It is the first step. You just must not forget that there are several steps in the process.