Case Study

Creating Alignment with a Common and Agreed-Upon Strategy

Company

Mid-sized public transit agency

Challenge

The client wanted to create an organization-wide strategic management system that aligned department activities with the broad organizational vision and strategy, communicated strategic intent throughout the agency, measured desired outcomes, and allowed for data-driven decision-making.

Intervention

Bâton Global (B|G) worked with the client to build a balanced scorecard system that aligned enterprise and unit-level projects and programs, monitored the implementation and effectiveness of strategic objectives, and steered employees toward a shared vision.

Results

The new strategic management system has provided a means for the client to articulate, communicate, and execute a strategy that is aligned from the unit to enterprise level.

Learn More

The scope of this project includes four main areas of activity:

Insight

The Insight phase of the project was focused on identifying internal and external strengths and weaknesses that would drive strategy creation and the approach to achieving future results.

  • B|G met with members of the leadership team to further understand their common and unique aspirations and challenges.
  • A peer group analysis was conducted that provided insight into the strategies used by other transit providers to achieve high performance.
  • Findings during this stage helped to inform the drafting of enterprise-level and unit-level scorecards.

Innovation

During facilitated work sessions, the management team drafted an enterprise-level scorecard reflecting priorities in five key dimensions of performance.

  • The management team developed strategic objectives that aligned to each of these five dimensions.
  • Each objective was assigned a key performance indicator (KPI), a target by which progress would be tracked, and an owner to ensure accountability.

Integration

Once the enterprise-level scorecard was completed, facilitated work sessions focused on drafting unit-level scorecards.

  • Members of the management team broke off into groups and worked with individuals in their department to select objectives, measures, and targets that were oriented toward their specific business unit.
  • To ensure alignment, unit-level scorecards were organized around the five key dimensions identified in the enterprise-level scorecard.

Impact

Enterprise and unit-level scorecards with realistic and sustainable objectives, metrics, and targets were implemented throughout the organization.

  • Structure was given to strategy making it easy to keep goals front and center and track progress toward achieving those goals.
  • Unit-level strategies were better aligned with enterprise-level focus areas and goals.
  • A culture of strategic thinking was created within the organization that included a common language, goals, and trust.
  • The client was given the tools to update and refine the scorecard system to reflect the new realities of the organization over the course of time.

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