Moving to a Balanced Scorecard

In 2016, the University of Manchester Library moved from using a management dashboard for supporting leadership meetings to a balanced scorecard approach, with the specific aims of improving data-driven decision making at... [ view full abstract ]

In 2016, the University of Manchester Library moved from using a management dashboard for supporting leadership meetings to a balanced scorecard approach, with the specific aims of improving data-driven decision making at management level and encouraging senior managers to consider the relevance of what was being  tracked and measured against the University's strategic objectives. In order to engage all Library staff and to overcome the initial lack of knowledge around the theory and aims of scorecards, a series of interactive events were promoted to all Library staff and these were well-attended by staff at all levels. From these events, a draft scorecard was produced for further refinement by the Library Leadership Team and the first scorecard was produced to cover the 2015/16 academic year. Having established the top-level scorecard, the next step of the process has been to cascade the balanced scorecard approach across the Library and the aim is to have this completed by July 2017. 

The process followed in creating a bespoke scorecard from scratch for the Library's Leadership Team and the subsequent process used to cascade the scorecard throughout the Library will be explained, with an opportunity for those present to share their own experiences and thoughts on the use of balanced scorecards (including visualisation software) in an academic library setting.  

By the conclusion of the workshop, participants will 

* possess a basic understanding of balanced scorecard theory

* understand the problems and issues that arise when applying and adapting scorecard theory in a public sector setting

* be able to reflect on how to move towards a greater senior decision-making culture which is increasingly data-driven

* be able to evaluate potential quadrant headings, measures and targets specific to a library setting

* understand the link with the wider institution's strategic planning aims

* be able to evaluate various methods of engaging staff in the process and of achieving staff buy-in to the scorecard approach

* understand the specific issues arising when cascading a scorecard approach across the whole library

* understand some of the practical issues that arise when adopting a balanced scorecard