As most people who have children know, a major milestone in a newborn's first few months of life is when he finally sleeps through the night. If it isn't obvious why this is a milestone, I will tell you: Because his parents get to sleep through the night as well.

Well, with an eight-week old baby boy who was waking up about three times per night and a pediatrician for a wife, something had to give. So, I wasn't surprised when she handed (figuratively, since she gave me the Nook book) me The Baby Sleep Solution. "Read this," she said, "This is how we are going to get him to sleep through the night."

So, I'm not much of a person to talk to people when I'm on an airplane. I guess I don't like to chit chat much, and what are the chances I'm ever going to see that person again. But I was on a plane last week, and the flight was delayed. The woman next to me was trying to meet her son back in Washington, DC for dinner. I told her she would miss the dinner as soon as I noticed the United purser whispering to an attendant from the gate. It turns out that we had to switch planes. My row-mate asked me what I did for a living, and I mumbled something about strategy consulting and the Balanced Scorecard. She said "Oh I hate that thing, the concept is so old!" Well that got my attention.

Nonprofit organizations may have differing missions, taglines, and strategies, but one thing remains constant- the need to attract donors. Donors are the lifeblood of these organizations, providing the funding necessary to sustain operations and accomplish the mission. The donor landscape is constantly evolving and, as a result, organizations must look for new and improved ways to attract donors, while sustaining their relationship with current ones. It is an ongoing challenge to understand the expectations of donors and identify the most effective channels to communicate with them.

In a Harvard Business Review article titled, "Having Trouble with Your Strategy? Then Map It," Drs. Kaplan and Norton say this about strategy maps, "The key to executing your strategy is to have people understand it – including the crucial but perplexing processes by which intangible assets will be converted into tangible outcomes. Strategy maps can help chart this difficult terrain." To help nonprofit and social sector leaders better understand the purpose and value of a Strategy Map, we have compiled and posted a number of real nonprofit, educational, medical, government, and professional examples in our library of white papers. The entire library of white papers are free to download here: Balanced Scorecard Strategy Maps - Free Templates and Examples Each white paper follows a similar framework of describing typical balanced scorecard layouts, the four perspectives (customer, financial, internal processes, and learning and growth), and then briefly overviews the purpose of Balanced Scorecard objectives. After quickly covering the basics, each white paper introduces 5-10 real balanced scorecard strategy maps. Each whitepaper can also be downloaded directly by clicking the links below: Example Strategy Maps for Charity and Nonprofit Organizations Example Strategy Maps for Government, Police and Support Agencies Example Strategy Maps for Medical and Healthcare Organizations Example Strategy Maps for Public, Private, and Charter Schools and Libraries Example Strategy Maps for Societies, Associations, and Unions

We have spent an incredible amount of time compiling and organizing this library and will greatly appreciate any and all feedback! And if you find them useful in guiding your organization's strategy, we'll recommend you check out ClearPoint's balanced scorecard software.

I have been asked about strategy review meetings on a more frequent basis. The most recent one was "Tell me about the best strategy review meeting you have seen. Why was it so good?" It got me thinking that there are multiple ways to conduct a strategy review meeting: Review objectives that are off track, review everything, review by theme, and review just one objective. In this blog, I'll focus on reviewing just one objective.

In the previous post of this series, we followed the microfinance institution as it went through the process of creating objectives for the strategy map and developing the corresponding measures and initiatives. Now that the strategy was in place, everyone in the organization was eager to begin achieving. This post will take a peek into the first strategy review meeting and provide a brief update on the microfinance institution's progress.

I have been asked about strategy review meetings on a more frequent basis. The most recent one was "Tell me about the best strategy review meeting you have seen. Why was it so good?" It got me thinking that there are multiple ways to conduct a strategy review meeting: Review objectives that are off track, review everything, review by theme, and review just one objective. In this blog, I'll focus on reviewing by theme.

It is often said that government agencies either do not have the discipline or are too easily distracted by operational issues to concentrate on measuring how well they execute their strategy. Agency heads pay lip service to strategy execution and never attend strategy review meetings, so "why should we care?" managers ask.

Well, I listened to a webinar the other day at which Peter Grace, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD's) Director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Management, discussed HUDStat, the Department's performance measurement and accountability process. HUDstat helps HUD comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act requirement that each agency conduct senior-led progress reviews on their priority goals.

In part two of this series, we followed the microfinance institution as it learned the importance of having an effective mission statement. After drafting and agreeing upon a mission statement, everyone leaned back in their chair and seemed to be content with what they had just done. Eventually, after a few minutes went by, one of the board members asked, "acum ce?" This is Romanian for "now what?"

Has your GPS ever failed you? You know that moment of panic when said robot voice tells you to "turn left...in...50 feet" onto a road closed for repairs? "OH NO – these directions LIED, my plans are shot to pieces, AND I'm going to be late that big meeting!" Strategic planning is not so different...