Case Study

Case Study # 6 United

Nations Agency (UNA)
Executive Balanced Scorecard in a United
Nations Agency Head Office
2008

2GC Active Management

1 Bell StreetMaidenheadBerkshireSL6 1BUUK
T:+44 1628 421506E:info@2GC.euW:2GC.eu
Copyright 2GC Limited 2013. All rights reserved.
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You are free to copy, distribute, display,
and perform the work subject to the following conditions:
Attribution. You must give the original author credit.

Non-commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No Derivative Works. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute
the modified material.
For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these
conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
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UN Agency Case Study

Summary
Over a period of 18 months 2GC worked with a United Nations Agency (UNA) in their New
York City HQ to implement a new corporate performance management regime integrating
the 3rd Generation Balanced Scorecard framework with the UNs Results-Based
Management system. Working closely with both the Strategic Planning Oce (SPO) and the
Executive Committee (EC), we produced two dierent versions of the Balanced Scorecard.
These were used to set the EC agenda in areas where collaboration between SPO and the EC
was essential, and to ensure alignment in the results targeted by each group. In parallel, we
worked with the Asia Pacific Regional Director and his team to produce a pilot regional
Balanced Scorecard used to monitor and drive Regional management priorities.
After a 12-month pilot, the project completed with a redesign of the UNA Balanced
Scorecard to reflect evolving strategic goals and priorities.
This case study covers both the original work and the subsequent reset project after 12
months and has the following sections:

Client need
Processes followed
Challenges faced
Outcomes achieved and lessons learned

What was the UNA trying to achieve?

During the 2004-05 period the UNAs Management Services Function carried out significant
work to develop and promote the Balanced Scorecard in-house, however, this foundered
because the methodology was perceived to be overly complex and there was a failure to
sell its value suciently at the most senior level. However, in June 2006 under pressure to
increase top-level accountability from the UN Secretariat, the Executive Committee decided
to adopt Balanced Scorecard and to link it to their 2008-11 Medium-Term Strategic Plan.
Initially the plan was to pilot the Balanced Scorecard at two levels: Executive Committee and
Country Oces, prior to full implementation.
In its own analysis the client reported that:

UNA was good at planning: having a Medium-Term Strategic Plan, Oce Management
plans and Personal development plans thanks in part to a very capable strategic
planning team;

Perceived diculties arose in consistently translating these planning documents into

planned-for results, while field-level programmatic results were impressive, HQgenerated management improvements were less apparent;

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Accountability at the Executive Committee level was not strongly established with little
collaborative discussion of the objectives to be pursued jointly.
These weaknesses were due in part to a lack of prioritisation: current plans contained more
ambition than central management resources could deliver.
2GC was selected to support the project because of its previous experience in working with
UN Agencies and in integrating its Balanced Scorecard methodology into organisations using
the Results Based Management framework (RBM).

The Approach Used

Executive Committee Level
2GC developed plans to work in its normal participative manner to facilitate the designing of
an Executive Committee level Balanced Scorecard comprising:

A Destination Statement (DS) for 2011 the end of the Medium-Term Strategic Plan;
A Strategic Linkage Model (SLM) for 2008-09, and;
Metrics and Targets underpinning the priority objectives on the SLM.
Unfortunately, within the cultural norms of the UN it was not feasible for the Executive
Committee members themselves to participate directly in the Balanced Scorecard
development work. Instead, a proxy group was constituted comprising Regional
Representatives, sta functions and (by video link) four Country Oce managers. This group
was then facilitated through the Balanced Scorecard design workshop-based process,
starting with a draft UNA Destination Statement prepared previously by the SPO and 2GC.
The workshop was constrained by the mixed management levels in the room this is
something 2GC warns clients against which diluted the open contributions of all attendees.
The process was also hindered by the limitations of video conferencing technology in a
highly participative workshop like this, as those not physically present are not able to fully
read and react to the material produced. Nevertheless a draft SLM was produced according
to plan.
After the workshop it was concluded that the participative approach was not the most
eective in the UNAs environment. From then on SPO led the work - working directly under
the guidance of the Executive Oce. Meetings with the Chief Executive allowed the project
team to explain the accountability-related benefits of the design process. The meetings also
secured the Chief Executives backing for completion of a full Executive Committee level
Balanced Scorecard with ownership of each Activity and Management Result held by one of
the EC members. The meetings with the Chief Executive were followed by sessions in which
the SPO and 2GC worked jointly to develop metrics and targets.

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The Executive Committee decided that the HQ management results perspective was their
current priority and so elected to have limited coverage of field programme or development
issues on their Balanced Scorecard. The EC Strategic Linkage Model is shown in Diagram 1
below.

Diagram 1: Executive Committee Strategic Linkage Model

2GC also worked with the strategic objective owners in a final workshop to agree how the
performance review process would operate and to ensure that cross-functional working
essential for the delivery of the Activities and Results expected could take place in an
environment where silo working was strongly engrained.
In view of the work done, the level of performance reporting imposed already on Country
Oces and on advice from 2GC, the client decided to pilot the BSC approach at a regional
level before considering any use in country oces. This pilot is briefly described on the next
page.

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Regional Balanced Scorecard Pilot - Asia and Pacific Region

Supported by a forward-thinking Regional Director this pilot comprised:

The o-line development by 2GC and the Regional Director of a draft Destination
Statement for 2011;

A workshop with the regional management team in HQ to create an SLM;

Work on metrics and targets by the regional management team on their own;
Usage of the tool by the regional management team to set and manage their
performance agenda during 2007.
The success of this part of the work was down to the keenness of the regional team under
the sponsorship of the Regional Director. Their work was at an operational level and the
link between work being done (Activities) and Results achieved was more evident and
tangible for them.

Executive Committee Balanced Scorecard Reset after 15 months

After nine months of piloting the new Balanced Scorecard over three quarterly review
meetings, the EC decided to review the Balanced Scorecard and to revise it to focus Directors
attention solely on the Results (per RBM approach) and delegate all Activities to the Deputy
Directors. This would also bring the BSC into line with the existing Departmental planning
processes. 2GC was asked to conduct interviews with Directors about the initial pilot and
assist in a retreat to reset the contents of the Balanced Scorecard.
This reset work involved following a plan designed by the Strategic Planning Oce with 2GC
adding changes as necessary based on discussions with users (the Directors). The work was
partly attended by 2GC and addressed the following key issues:

Using agreed Priority Results to drive Activities (for greater coherence with the UN
Results-Based approach and to reflect the fact that Directors delegated the work Activity
to produce these results to their deputies);

Results would be divided into two categories: Management Results (concerning the
ecient running of the UNA) and Development Results (linked to the UNAs core field
programme mandate) this would give the Balanced Scorecard greater traction with the
rest of the organisation as it would be seen to be embracing programmatic outcomes.
There was a desire to ensure links to existing work plans (called Oce Management plans) this was a sensible approach assuming no new Actions were chosen.
In early February 2008 the Executive Committee met to revise their Balanced Scorecard as
described above. An extract of the output of this meeting is shown in Diagram 2 below.

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Diagram 2: Extract from Reset output

Here the approach diered from 2GCs standard approach in that it did not use an agreed
Destination Statement vision and the brainstorming of actions to achieve the priority
elements of this Destination but started with an agreed set of results - two of these are
shown in the ovals in Diagram 2. The activities needed to achieve these results were then
decided in groups during the workshop led by the owner of the result being discussed. This
approach was chosen because it accorded more closely with the way that the EC had worked
in its departmental planning.

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Challenges faced in this project

The particular challenges encountered in UNA and met by 2GC and the client project team
from the Strategic Planning Ocer, included:

Explaining to the Executive Committee the need for a top level Balanced Scorecard to
drive the execution of the UNAs strategic priorities and thereby improve top-level
accountability;

Influencing the CEOs oce to replace their own CEO-centred process with one owned
by the whole Executive Committee and thereby contributing to the CEOs individual
requirement under the UN performance management regime for greater accountability
of the whole of senior management;

Managing continued challenge on the whole project from one doubting Director, who
was leader of the Oversight (Audit) function;

Engaging new Directors in the process during the year who had not been party to the
initial design work;

Clarifying users understanding of the dierence between the priorities and the metrics
used to monitor progress against these priorities and persuading them to manage the
objectives NOT the numbers;

Integrating the Balanced Scorecard approach with the UN Results-Based management

framework.

Outcomes achieved and lessons learned

The Balanced Scorecard has brought transparency of performance and is strengthening
accountability for performance at the top levels of the UNA. It has promoted open discussion
and consensus building across the Executive Committee and has started to erode siloworking. It has allowed the directors to adopt a performance review process that reinforces
accountability for results. It enabled improved performance for management eciency at
the HQ centre in support of improved delivery at the country/programme level.
One executive described the 3rd Generation approach as enabling the Executive Director to
support and endorse the Balanced Scorecard as a useful tool for senior management.
Another executive described the performance review meeting using the Balanced Scorecard
as the best executive retreat I have ever seen. Indications are that the UNA has
implemented a management tool that the Executive Committee believes in, and that will
continue to support improved UNA results.
This project showed that the 2GC methodology has considerable application to an
international UNA, it is able to work eectively with other similar approaches (in this instance
Results Based Management) and can bridge the gap that exists in top-level accountability in
some multi-national agencies. However, the challenges of working at political rather than

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operational levels at such agencies means that flexibility in style of facilitation and of the
process is essential, for example:

Detailing objectives on specific template forms by owners: at the Executive Committee

level this work should be delegated for completion with the owner validating the work
after drafting; and

Workshop numbers should be reduced: with project team work taking the place of
workshops with the EC members.
Subsequent to this project 2GC has continued to adapt its processes appropriately when
working with senior teams in the international UNA field and in the public sector.

About 2GC Active Management

Established in 1999, 2GC is a specialist strategy implementation consultancy and thought
leader in the Performance Management field. With oces and partners spanning the globe,
we have a diverse range of clients in the commercial, public and NGO sectors both in the UK
and worldwide.
2GC is dedicated to bringing the sharpest focus to its clients strategic and operational
activity. To achieve this we work on the alignment of strategy, operations, teams and
individuals, helping organisations to design and implement tailored performance
management systems.
2GCs methods are proven and reliable. They enable leaders to control the broad spectrum
of strategic and operational issues their organisations face every day. Our consulting
processes achieved the prestigious ISO 9001 accreditation in 2012.
T: +44 1628 421506

UN Agency Case Study 2008

E: info@2GC.eu

W: 2GC.eu

Copyright 2GC Limited, 2013

11 June 2014

2GC Active Management

1 Bell StreetMaidenheadBerkshireSL6 1BUUK
T:+44 1628 421506E:info@2GC.euW:2GC.eu
Copyright 2GC Limited 2013. All rights reserved.
This document is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You are free to copy, distribute, display,
and perform the work subject to the following conditions:
Attribution. You must give the original author credit.

Non-commercial. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No Derivative Works. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute
the modified material.
For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. Any of these
conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
More information on this license from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en_GB