As we are all set for a more happening and fulfilling 2017, each one of us has our set of ‘new year resolutions’ ready, once again. Some of you must have made a mental note of them and some of you must have written them down. But aren’t we doing that for years now?
As the year passes by, either we forget them or keep chasing ‘some of them’ leaving the rest of them to next year and again next year. The process never stops. During my interaction with many more professionals during their counselling sessions, I realized almost three forth of them can’t achieve balanced success. When they chase career, family takes hit when they try to balance both health goes on toss and learning & growth remained ignored for years until you realize that its too late to act!
Why can’t we ensure that we will tackle all of them in the most balanced manner?
I realized, I was falling for the same trap for last few years before I discovered this interesting framework for personal effectiveness. As an MBA student I always hated these ‘models’ however, during my management consulting stint, I realized how much they can simplify things for us. They are not only tools to channelize your thinking, but also putting that into real action. One of my favorites was balanced scorecard (BSC).
What is Balance Scorecard?
A Balance Scorecard is planning and management system which is being used by organizations worldwide to align business activities with their overall vision and monitor organizational performance. The approach is so powerful and effective that more than 50% organizations adopted it worldwide and according to Harvard Business Review it is one of the most influential business ideas from the past 75 years.
I am fond of this model because it not only factors the past but helps you to prepare for the future, it strikes balance between internal and external measures and also the objective and subjective measures.
Adopting BSC for Personal Effectiveness
Like organizations adopt BSC for their operational effectiveness, individuals too can adopt it for ‘Personal Effectiveness’. The modified version of BSC would have below components drawing parallel with the existing model
1. Financial Perspective – Earning Perspective
Like companies measure their financial in revenue and profitability, individuals have the earning and savings perspectives.
e.g: Income earned, bonuses/rewards achieved, savings/investment made
2. Customer Perspective – People Perspective
Friends, family, partners and all the people we interact, constitute the people perspective. You need to ensure that these ‘customer’ needs are taken care.
e.g: Spending more time with family, kids’ education and exams, events of friends and families
3. Internal Process – Health and Wellness
Your health and wellness are like internal processes to the organization. You need to ensure that they function efficiently.
e.g: Exercise, yoga, meditation, emotional well being
4. Growth & Development – Learning & Development
Individual growth can only be achieved by gaining knowledge and skills which are not only restricted to your work areas but also getting better understanding of life and reasons for your existence.
e.g: Knowledge and skills acquired, training programs attended, spiritual advancement
Putting All This Into Action
Now you have understood the BSC model for personal effectiveness, let’s put it into action. Prepare your New Year resolutions (if you have not done that) and divide them into the above perspectives. Each of your resolutions is to objectives that have to be achieved. It has to be supported by measures, targets, and initiatives to achieve them.
The same is explained below with an example:
Hope you are all set to put your new year resolutions into actionable initiatives which not only limited to one area but striking a more balanced approach towards it.
Journey towards personal effectiveness is always rewarding! Wish you a happy and successful 2017!!
About Career Corner
Career Corner is a career services company aimed at helping students and professionals to make RIGHT career decisions. Our assessment, counseling, coaching, mentoring and training programs aimed at helping individuals to discover and develop their careers. We can be reached at www.careercorner.in
About the Author
Business Leader with 10+ years of diverse experience across Strategy & Operations. Worked across industries (Automotive, IT Services, Management Consulting, Education) and geographies (India, USA and South East Asia).
A social entrepreneur at core who started his first social venture SPANDAN at 22 at COEP. Under SPANDAN, TMI and Career Corner conceptualized and developed innovative approaches for solving education and employment challenges by youths. Currently heads Career Corner a career services company aims at helping students and professionals to build their careers.
Rushikesh holds Bachelor of Engineering from COEP (Pune University) and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.
This article is one of any articles that he has written and posted on his Linkedin Profile
