“The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind—computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys of the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers… storytellers.”
Daniel H. Pink,
author of A Whole New Mind
Turning Data into Insights
Delivering survey results in a way that will be meaningful to organization leaders and that will have an impact on business performance means putting the results in the context of the strategic issues facing the organization.
Advanced analytics alone are unlikely to make a lasting impression on senior management. The story of an organization has to be told… as a story—one with themes built on issues relevant to the organization, connected to strategic objectives and easily linked to business results.
The most powerful tool to show this story in a single view of the organization that simultaneously illustrates the big picture and some critical details is Metrus Group’s ACE Scorecard®.
Every Picture Tells a Story
The ACE Scorecard summarizes the levels of Alignment, Capabilities and Engagement (ACE) across major units. Using red, yellow and green color coding, patterns within the organizational structure become clear immediately. In the sample provided, both high-performing units and groups that are struggling are identifiable. Consistent themes such as misalignment in Sales and strong Capabilities in Corporate Services are also easily observed.
Sales has much less favorable results than the other divisions. However, though Alignment is a consistent challenge within the Sales force, the overall negative results are primarily driven by the very low scores in North America. At the first glimpse of Sales, one might conclude serious problems exist throughout the organization. However, when drilling down to the specific subgroups, a good deal of variation is revealed.
In the Support group, results overall are quite favorable. But within the division, Supply Chain displays an atypical pattern. In that unit, Engagement is as high as other units, but Alignment and Capabilities are much lower.
Supply Chain was a unit with a manager who spent a lot of time “shielding” the team from corporate directives that he did not agree with. Although employees felt secure and supported by their manager and peers, they could see that they were not consistently meeting expectations of their stakeholders—thus the low score on Capabilities. And it was painfully obvious that the team was not aligned with the rest of the company.
Using the powerful ACE Scorecard, several key facts of this story have been uncovered in the connection between what is happening at the unit level and what is happening at the division and corporate level.
A Strategic Analysis for Senior Management
In a single, clear yet data-rich ACE Scorecard, several of the most important insights for senior management may be achieved. It quickly provides leaders throughout the organization with pertinent, easy-to-interpret information that helps them understand, prioritize and establish an appropriate course of action.
The ACE Scorecard is created through the use of a Metrus Group ACE Survey.
The red/yellow/green analysis modeled on an organization chart is a great visual way to see where you are and where you want to go.”
Nora Swimm,
VP of HR and Corporate Client Services
at PJM Interconnection
The red/yellow/green analysis modeled on an organization chart is a great visual way to see where you are and where you want to go.”
Nora Swimm,
VP of HR and Corporate Client Services
at PJM Interconnection