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.

Led by Balanced Scorecard creators Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, and facilitated by Ascendant Strategy Management Group, the conference focused on how organizations can effectively implement and manage strategy to survive and thrive in the new environment.

This year's summit focused on the key management areas driving successful organizations today: strategy management, risk management, project management, and human capital management. Case studies from Atlanta Public Schools, the Department of Education, Rare, Catholic Charities of Boston, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the FBI, the US Army, and Project Management Institute were complemented by best practice keynotes by Drs. Kaplan and Norton.

Social sector participants included the American Academy of Pediatrics, Conservation International, Enlightenment Foundation, Folkhalsan, Kayenta Health Center, National Education Association, Victoria Children's Foundation, and the United Way. Public sector organizations attending included the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, Atlanta Public Schools, the Regional Airport Authority of Columbus, the County of El Paso, the City of Moscow, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Throughout the conference, participants shared insights and experience on how they used the Balanced Scorecard to align and link their organizations to drive success. Barbara Higgins, a repeat delegate from the CFA Institute, said:

"This conference inspired us to action. We gained insight from the event that allowed us to bring back the operational people into the conversation on strategy. It has re-empowered the people who are the biggest part of what we do."

In talking about their progress, Amy Katz, Associate Director at the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, said of the benefits of its Balanced Scorecard, "the strategy map gives us a common language. It gives us something to come home to." Liz Mengel from John Hopkins Library said, "Implementing the Balanced Scorecard this year has allowed us to restructure the responsibility and decision-making across our leadership team. We are a better organization because of it."

Laura M. Downing, master of ceremonies for the event and founder of Ascendant, commented:

"We are excited to host this second annual event as it demonstrated the continuing need for and impact from performance management in mission-driven organizations. In a difficult economy, we were thrilled to see the conference grow by 100% over last year's event."

To learn more about the Mission Driven Performance Summit, please contact Laura Downing at [email protected], visit www.missiondrivenperformance.com or call (617) 379-0918.