The Ministry of Works (MOW) in the Kingdom of Bahrain has made history by being among only four recipients from Europe, the Middle East and Africa to be awarded the prestigious Excellence Award for executing business strategy. The accolade - awarded by Palladium Group Inc., a US-based specialist in systems and processes to improve the execution of business strategy - recognizes and admits the Ministry to the Balanced Scorecard ‘Hall of Fame’, where it stands proudly among some 120 other leading inductee organisations from 19 countries worldwide. The honour was accepted by H.E. Fahmi Bin Ali Al Jowder, Minister of Works at a gala event held as part of the European/Middle Eastern/African Balanced Scorecard Summit, which is currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain.
“It is an honour to be one of this year’s recipients of this prestigious award, which endorses the performance and abilities of the Ministry of Works,” said H.E. Al Jowder. “It confirms the soundness of our approach to strategy management, which guides the direction in our vital role in providing public works services to citizens and residents of the Kingdom, and in contributing towards achieving sustainable economic and social development. It is also integral to our capability of achieving the goals of the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 and our national development strategies.”
The Palladium Group is the global leader in helping organisations to execute their strategies by making better decisions. Its expertise in strategy, risk, corporate performance management, and business intelligence aims to help its clients achieve an execution premium. Its services include consulting, conferences, communities, training, and technology.
The Balanced Score Card is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor an organization’s performance against strategic goals.
Palladium's Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame for Executing Strategy recognizes organizations that have achieved an outstanding “execution premium”. The Palladium Execution Premium Process — based on the seminal work of Professors Robert Kaplan of the Harvard University Business School and Dr. David P. Norton founder of the Palladium Group — is a proven framework used by hundreds of organizations worldwide to link strategy and operations to achieve performance results.
Strategy management and business planning are key competencies of the Ministry. By diligently progressing its strategic intentions and directions it has been achieving breakthrough results since adopting strategy management. During 2007 for instance, the Ministry accomplished projects worth more than ten times the projects it achieved in 2004 using almost the same number of staff. The Ministry’s strategic intent and direction was validated as being in accordance with the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 which also acknowledged that its strategic objectives are also in full alignment with all relevant national objectives.
The strategy management tools deployed enable the Ministry to translate strategy into action, to align resources to strategy and form the basis to report and track execution through regular reviews. Strategies are managed through participative management with a majority number of professional staff actively involved in strategy management along with full support from the entire organization.
Through its strategy management tools, the Ministry has also achieved enthusiasm and buy-in from staff and intra-department collaboration and external cooperation and communication are at an all time high. Transparency & knowledge sharing have also increased and this has created a level of flexibility that allows it to swiftly align with any national strategic direction, such as with the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 and the Center of Excellence model.
“Our strategy positions us as leading professional organization embracing the principles of fairness, competitiveness and sustainability and this fits our role as a key planning player in all national strategies and as a leader in public-private partnership and project management practices,” said H.E. Al Jowder.
To be eligible for induction into the BSC Hall of Fame, an organisation must have implemented the Balanced Scorecard as defined by the Kaplan/Norton management system; exemplify the five principles *1 of a Strategy-Focused Organisation; earn media recognition for its Balanced Scorecard implementation and present its Balanced Scorecard case at a public conference; achieve breakthrough results over a period of 24 months or longer; and provide a testimonial from a senior executive attributing the organisation's results in part to its Balanced Scorecard.
“The Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame judges, led by Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton, were impressed with the quality of applications from Europe and the Middle East this year,” said Robert L. Howie, Jr., Managing Director of Palladium Group and Director of the Hall of Fame program. “Beyond the actual breakthrough performance results of the Ministry of Works, the judges were most impressed by the Ministry’s measurement of employees’ strategic awareness, the consolidation and standardisation of measures, and its ability to link strategy with operations.”
“Our induction is a tremendous achievement for Bahrain and for the Kingdom’s global aspirations as recognition is a powerful testament of the strength of strategic management practices and quality of employees, and by implication, of Bahrain and its attractiveness to those with an interest in the Kingdom,” concluded H.E. Al Jowder.
*1 The principles of a Strategy-Focused Organization:
• Mobilize change through executive leadership .
• Translate the strategy into operational terms .
• Align the organization around its strategy.
• Motivate to make strategy everyone's job .
• Govern to make strategy a continual process .
About Palladium Group, Inc.
Palladium Group is the global leader in helping organizations execute their strategies by making better decisions. Our expertise in strategy, risk, corporate performance management, and business intelligence helps clients achieve an execution premium. Our services include consulting, conferences, communities, training, and technology.
About the Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame
The Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame was launched in 2000 and currently 120 organisations from 19 countries have been inducted for successfully using the Balanced Scorecard to achieve and sustain performance results. They represent a cross-section of private- and public-sector industries.
