Balanced store card was created in 1992 to give performance measures which are not just financial. It should create measures against the institution’s strategy and also looks at how institution’s intangible assets create value for that organisation.
A fundamental idea was that it would be available to all employees.
Areas of the scorecard are:
- Finance
- Customer
- Internal business – how to improve processes
- Learning and growth – priorities to support innovation and growth
It helps clarify strategy and communicate it to the organisation.
One criticism is that it is hard to show that they have made a difference – you need to be clear what you want to get out of them.
Strategy mapping (google Southwest Airlines, Robert Norton for simple model).
The starting point is your organisation’s mission.
Clare Hewitt, Institute of Education, conducting her workshop
IOE student services mission ‘we are here to give you a hand so your journey at the IOE is the best it can be’ with graphic of figures holding hands. Took some time to agree. Matched student feedback that informal support is what they want. Also does not suggest that ‘success’ is students completing course as they may not for many reasons be able to.
Thinking about adding value is difficult as it depends to some extent on what resource the institution is prepared to offer. It may not be possible to influence this. Within this the service has to be as effective as possible. Setting key performance indicators was very tricky, people really did not want to commit. The other problem is that a lot of the processes are quite manual.
A new phone system showed that 50% of all telephone calls were not being picked up. This has been used to get more staff and most calls now picked up.
In the process area, work on admissions (outside the dept) and exams has been undertaken.
On the staff side there has been work on what people like and don’t like, etc.
There are still gaps in the final scorecard as a result of the lack of an overarching institutional strategy. One learning point is that things keep changing so the score card needs updating, people not always comfortable. The biggest benefit has been the process of staff thinking through what the targets should be. The biggest challenge is to quantify some of the interactions, for example is a student happy with a particular intervention, has it fully met their needs.
Blogged by Hilary Simmons, Head of Colleges and Student Life, Lancaster University
