Strategic Impact

Balancing Acts & Success within your Family

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 02:24:00 -0400

Many non-profit organizations, associations, and government agencies use the Balanced Scorecard as a way to overcome the strains and varying pulls of their combined energies. But have you ever considered that the Balanced Scorecard can help you outsi... [More]

Telescope or a Microscope: How do you focus on a problem?

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 23:07:00 -0400

Leadership at a non-profit or government agency is not always about high-level thinking and flying-by-wire; sometimes you need to get up close and personal with a pesky problem or uncooperative trends and measures. Leaders especially need to know ho... [More]

Reinventing Rochester City School District

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:19:00 -0400

Rochester City School District is in the process of reinventing itself, and perhaps, reinventing the way that educational leaders across the country think about K12 educational performance. Rochester is on its way to improving its graduation rate, g... [More]

Effect of the Economy on Non profits

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:10:00 -0400

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 ... [More]

Program Evaluation

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:17:00 -0400

For many of us it is budget season and time to decide how and where we will spend our money next year. Sadly, too many places, especially resource strapped organizations simply take last year's budget and modify it by a percent or two. But there is... [More]

It is hot outside! What about in your organization?

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:24:00 -0400

While we swelter this week in 90+ degree temperatures, many organizations are also sweltering under the heat of their stakeholders to demonstrate that they are making an impact. Nonprofit executives are usually trying to show their boards and funder...

Ascendant Is Hiring!

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:24:00 -0400

Ascendant Strategy Management Group is looking for an associate consultant (entry level position) in the Washington, DC area to support our rapidly growing social and public sector practice. As an associate consultant with Ascendant, you'll get a ch... [More]

Between your Balanced Scorecard Meetings

Wed, 26 May 2010 09:12:00 -0400

Many organizations have created a Balanced Scorecard, but they don't know how to use it. Some just use their scorecard as an annual strategy planning tool. Others will create a report each year based on the results. Some organizations even have st... [More]

Leadership vs. Management

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:16:00 -0400

There's been a lot of writing on the importance of leadership in an organization. There have also been volumes written about the importance of management. But one of the critical issues -- how management and leadership intersect -- hasn't been deal... [More]

Running your first Balanced Scorecard Review Meeting

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:02:00 -0400

This post builds on my earlier post called Preparing for your Strategy Review Meeting. Let's assume now that you have prepared for your monthly strategy review meeting well, and it is time to start thinking about the meeting itself. There are a few... [More]

Balanced Scorecard Community Relaunch

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:42:00 -0400

We're happy to announce the relaunch of the Balanced Scorecard Community at www.bscCommunity.com. The all-new Balanced Scorecard community is a 100% free, no registration required, collaboratively edited question and answer site. It's a great resou... [More]

Ascendant's Mission Driven Performance Summit Engages Global Public and Social Sector Leaders

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:15:00 -0400

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. [More]

Mission Driven Performance Conference - Balanced Scorecards for the Public Sector

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:11:00 -0400

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 strate... [More]

The Strategy-Focused District: Driving Transformation at Atlanta Public Schools

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:28:00 -0400

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... [More]

Preparing for your Strategy Review Meeting with the Balanced Scorecard

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:02:00 -0400

This post continues my thinking on running a successful Balanced Scorecard strategy review meeting. Remember, this review meeting happens quarterly and is focused on strategic issues and not operational information. To set the table for this review... [More]