Washington Area Corporate University Consortium: WACUC learning exchanges.

On Sept. 29, 2005, DAU hosted the Washington Area Corporate University Consortium's fourth very successful session of learning exchanges for 2005. Jeff Parks of the Balanced Scorecard Institute and Dr. Arthur McMahan of the U.S. Army Management Staff College (AMSC), Ft. Belvoir, Va., were the keynote speakers. Both spoke on the Balanced Scorecard Approach and its impact on organizations today.

The Balanced Scorecard Approach, Parks explained, was a new approach to strategic management developed in the early 1990s by Drs. Robert Kaplan (Harvard Business School) and David Norton. It provides a clear prescription as to what companies should measure in order to "balance" the financial perspective. Parks then led a lively interactive discussion, defining for participants what the Balanced Scorecard Approach is and what it is not, what it looks like, and how it is developed.

McMahan, as a quality assurance officer, manages the Balanced Scorecard process at AMSC and facilitates the improvement process with the AMSC Corporate Board. During his presentation, he discussed the journey as the AMSC links its strategic plan and Balanced Scorecard in a non-traditional academic setting.

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McMahan calls the Balanced Scorecard a "living, breathing document that is constantly changing.... It is also a great tool to measure our effectiveness," McMahan said. "It helps us understand who we are, what we do, and how we do it. And, it allows us to measure what it is that we do. When fully deployed, the Balanced Scorecard transforms strategic planning from an academic exercise into the nerve center of an organization."

Mandley is a management analyst with the Planning. Policy & Leadership Support Group, Defense Acquisition University, Fort Belvoir, Va.