Top 5 Management Tools #1

from Linked IN 7/13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz

Management Tools, if they are used appropriately, can be powerful enablers of change and positive actions in companies. They can, for example, help define & execute the strategy, engage with customers & employees + monitor performance. I am always interested to see which tools are most popular and how the popularity of the various management tools is shifting & changing.

The latest Survey. A great insight into this is provided by Bain’s “Management Tool & Trends 2013”. This study conducted by Bain & Company gives us a global picture of the adoption & trends of management tools. It has been produced annually since 1993 and is now covering 12,371 respondents from North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific & Latin America. The results of the recently revealed 2013 Survey show that the world’s top five management tools are: Strategic Planning, Balanced Score Card, Benchmarkikng, Customer Relationship Management, Employee Engagement Surveys.

Strategic Planning on the top of the list is not surprising at all. It seem that it has always been been the most important tool. But when the economic climate is tough, then making sure all efforts are “focused” on the most important things is vital. In difficult times companies haven’t got the luxury of wasting time & money on things that are not really important and don’t contribute to their strategy. While the Strategic Planning is getting better in most companies, the strategy “execution” isn’t. Research finds that only 10% of strategies – even of those that are well formulated – are well executed. I find that the communication of the strategy is often poor and most Mission & Vision statements exemplify that.

Balanced Scorecard [BSC], is good to see on the Mgt Tools list. This is particularly important, if the strategy “execution” is weak. In fact, BSC ranks as the #1 tool in Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Balanced Scorecard can take the output from Strategic Planning and turn it into something the companies can execute. BSC helps companies to execute their strategy by: 1) creating a simple one-page Strategy “map” (ie, It could be in the form of a Flow Chart.), that contains the most important Strategic Objectives, 2) “monitoring” the Strategy “execution” with meaningful & relevant Key Performance Indicators, and 3) ensuring the correct Action Plans are in place to deliver the Strategic “priorities” – to turn them into practice.

[ Benchmarking, Customer Relationship Management, & Employee Engagement Surveys in Premium Content ]