Part 2
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Everyone agrees that clarifying Hainsworth & Smith's strategy is an essential first step in the task force's work. Over the coming week, several members of the team meet with managers throughout the unit to obtain their thoughts about what part the unit plays in executing the company's strategy.
When the task force reconvenes, members affirm that Hainsworth & Smith's strategy indeed centers on building a global reputation as a company on the leading edge of technology. Now that the team understands the high-level strategy, members feel prepared to generate ideas for moving their work forward.
view textWhat should Allen recommend for moving the task force's work forward?
Explore all the choices.
Identify the one most important high-level objective that would enable the unit to support the corporate strategy—such as improving product innovation or increasing market share
Not the best choice. Allen shouldn't define just one objective for his unit. He'll need a set of objectives to get the most comprehensive and balanced picture of his unit's performance. Eventually, these objectives will be translated into a blend of metrics that include financial and nonfinancial, internal and external, objective and subjective, and lagging and leading indicators that will enable him to assess how well his unit is achieving its objectives.
Brainstorm as many aspects of his unit's performance as the task force can think of, to ensure that he generates a metric for every aspect
Not the best choice. Brainstorming as many aspects as possible would distract Allen from something else he should be doing at this stage: identifying objectives for his unit that support the company's high-level strategy.
Select several strategic objectives for his unit, then define the critical activities necessary for achieving those objectives
Correct choice. The best way to develop metrics is to establish four or five strategic objectives for his unit that support his company's strategy. The electronics unit, for example, might define objectives including "Boost rate of successful innovations introduced," "Develop more innovative products for mobile use," and "Speed products to market." Next, his task force would define two or three critical success factors (CSFs) for each strategic objective. CSFs are the activities most essential to achieving a particular objective. For instance, a CSF for "Speed products to market" might be "Reduce product cycle time." The task force would then translate each CSF into one or more performance metrics, for example, "Average product cycle time."
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