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What Is a Strategy Map & Why Do I Need One?
Written by: Sarah CustackArticle Overview: Review of Strategy Maps and how they enhance the strategic planning and execution process. Strategy Maps are the foundation for Balanced Scorecards.
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What Is a Strategy Map & Why Do I Need One?
A Strategy Map is a custom, one-page graphic of an organization's strategy divided into four main segments:
Financial Perspective
What growth and cost structures are required to sustain the organization and meet financial objectives? (Lag Performance Indicators)
Customer Perspective
How does your organization appear to your customers via your products, services, marketing, and community involvement? (Lag Performance Indicators)
Internal Perspective
What processes must the organization develop to produce predictable results for our customers? (Lead Performance Indicators)
Growth & Development
What investments in human, organizational, and informational capital will your organization make to facilitate success in the Internal Perspective? (Lead Performance Indicators)
Why is it important to have a Strategy Map? It is a communication tool that graphically displays your mission, vision and strategy. It is easy to highlight the 3 to 5 strategic objectives that are deemed critical in strategic planning sessions. Because the Strategy Map shows linkages and relationships between perspectives, it becomes clear where the organization will have to focus and develop its resources to ensure the success of any particular objective.
Employees and strategic partners can easily see where their work is on the map and see how their work aligns with and supports the strategic objectives. This is the foundation for employee engagement. When you involve employees in growing and improving your business, and provide time-proven systems for continuous improvement, your organization will experience higher levels of productivity and innovative problem solving.
Repeatable systems produce predictable results, and this holds true for strategic planning systems. Your Strategy Map becomes the centerpiece of each annual planning meeting. It also required to create a meaningful Balanced Scorecard, the dashboard for your company. Key performance indicators for strategic objectives are identified and tracked regularly.
The Strategy Map describes what you want to measure and the Balanced Scorecard defines the measurements. If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. Most strategic execution fails because it is not measured and tracked with diligence and vigor.
Strategy Maps are custom and can be cascaded from the organization level, to departments, and down to individual employees. They should be reviewed annually in a structured strategic planning session where three to five objectives are selected as the focus for the next year. From those objectives, the measurements for the Balanced Scorecard are developed. Thus begins the road of continuously improving the bottom line with breakthrough results.
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Article Tags: communication tool, community involvement, continuous improvement, customer perspective, employee engagement, financial objectives, internal perspective, linkages, mission vision, performance indicators, predictable results, proven systems, segments, services marketing, span style, strategic objectives, strategic partners, strategic planning, style text, text decoration
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com
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About the Author: Sarah Custack RSS for Sarah's articles - Visit Sarah's website  Sarah Custack facilitates strategic change. During her 20 years of applying the Toyota Production System, Sarah improved safety, quality, delivery, cost and morale for bottom-line results. A natural problem solver and strategist, she firmly believes in the competitive advantages gained through strategic planning and continuous improvement. She has worked extensively with executives and cross-functional teams to successfully improve the bottom line, solving problems with a scientific and consultative approach. For more information, click to see Sarah's Strategic Planning and Continuous Improvement services. If you are looking for business ideas, see the Online Sales Business Sarah endorses. To schedule your strategic planning session, contact Sarah at sarah.custack@gmail.com or call (810) 287-3530. Click here to visit Sarah's website   Build New Entrepreneurial Skills and Start a Business Take Control of Your Future What Is a Strategy Map Why Do I Need One |
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- Secrets of Six Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to up your earning and change your life
Barbara Stanny, 2002
Jacket:
Maybe you've noticed - a subtle trend is gathering steam. Quietly and steadily, the number of women making six figures or more is increasing, and it continues to rise at a rate faster than for men. From entrepreneurs to corporate executives, from white collar executives to free lancers and part timers, women are forging careers with considerable financial success.
Through extensive research and hundreds of interviews, including dialogs with more than 150 high earners whose annual incomes range from $100,000 to 7 million, Stanny discovered that ...they all had certain traits in common:
1) a profit motive
2) Audacity
3) REslience
4) Encouragement
5) Self-awareness
6) Non-attachment
7) Financial knowhow
She amplifies on these in the book itself.
Table of Contents
Intro: Welcome to the era of the six-figure woman
1. The Queen in the Countinghouse
2. The Lowdown on low earners
3. Raising the bar
4. Strategy 1: The Declaration of Intention
5. Strategy 2: Letting go of the ledge
6. Strategy 3: Get in the Game
7. Strategy 4: Speak Up
8. Strategy 5: The Stretch
9. Strategy 6: Seek Support
10. Strategy 7: Obey the rules of money
11. Claiming our power
Appendces:
Resources and websites
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Investing Basics: Wealthbuilding 101
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It is really my pleasure being around so many Entrepreneurs and strategic minds. Strategy is something I always loved and eager over every new move. Being a newbie I would need your support and I hope I would get that.
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The top 4 are:
1) Good to Great by Jim Collins
2) The E-Myth by Michael Gerber
3) Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
4) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
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