Strategic Planning Using the Balanced Scorecard Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Strategy Directors, Business Unit Leaders and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-SP-040

Before you join: Participants should have experience contributing to annual plans, business plans, performance reports, transformation programmes or management meetings.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Strategic plans often fail because priorities remain broad statements, measures track routine activity rather than strategic progress, and leadership teams lack a disciplined review process. The Balanced Scorecard addresses this problem by translating strategy into a visible chain of objectives, measures, targets and initiatives. It gives senior teams a structured way to test whether financial results, customer outcomes, internal processes, people capability and risk controls support the strategy they have chosen.

This advanced course teaches participants to build and run a Balanced Scorecard as a strategic management system. Participants examine external and internal evidence, define strategic themes, make strategic choices, and develop a cause-and-effect strategy map. They then create objectives, key performance indicators, targets, strategic initiatives and accountability arrangements across the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives. The course also covers scorecard cascading, data governance, performance review meetings, corrective action and annual strategy refresh cycles.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with worked cases, facilitated group analysis, scorecard design workshops, performance-review simulations and individual application planning. Cases reflect issues faced by public bodies, banks, NGOs, industrial firms and service organisations, including growth, service quality, operational resilience, regulatory obligations and cost discipline. Participants leave with a completed Balanced Scorecard design pack for their own organisation or business unit: strategic themes, a draft strategy map, objectives, measures, target-setting logic, initiative portfolio and review calendar.

The course is suited to leaders and strategy professionals who must convert an agreed direction into managed execution. It is particularly valuable where several functions contribute to shared outcomes and where existing dashboards contain many measures but provide little strategic focus.

What you will be able to do

  • Construct a Balanced Scorecard architecture aligned to mission, strategic themes and decision rights
  • Analyse external and internal evidence using PESTLE, Five Forces, SWOT and stakeholder mapping
  • Develop a cause-and-effect strategy map across the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives
  • Write strategic objectives with clear intent, scope, ownership and causal links
  • Design leading and lagging KPIs using definitions, formulas, data sources and thresholds
  • Set targets and initiative portfolios using baselines, capacity constraints and strategic priorities
  • Cascade enterprise scorecards into business-unit and functional contribution scorecards
  • Run a strategy review process using performance analysis, decisions and corrective actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce a board-ready strategy map rather than a disconnected list of priorities
  • Distinguish strategic KPIs from routine operational measures
  • Challenge weak causal assumptions before investment decisions are made
  • Lead structured performance conversations focused on decisions and corrective action
  • Build a reusable scorecard design method for future planning cycles

For your organisation

  • Creates a common structure linking strategy, budgets, initiatives and performance reviews
  • Reduces measure overload by prioritising indicators tied to strategic objectives
  • Clarifies accountability for enterprise outcomes and cross-functional dependencies
  • Improves early warning through leading indicators and agreed intervention thresholds
  • Supports consistent strategy execution across corporate, business-unit and functional scorecards

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can select an appropriate Balanced Scorecard architecture and explain its role in strategy execution.

  • Balanced Scorecard origins, purpose, limits and common implementation failure modes
  • Four perspectives translated into linked strategic questions and evidence needs
  • Mission, vision, values and strategic themes distinguished for scorecard design
  • Strategy management cycle connecting formulation, execution, review and renewal
  • Assessing organisational readiness, sponsorship, governance and data ownership
  • Selecting scorecard architecture for corporate, business-unit and functional levels

Participants can convert strategic analysis into prioritised issues and explicit planning assumptions.

  • PESTLE analysis identifies external drivers, uncertainties and planning assumptions
  • Porter's Five Forces tests industry economics and competitive pressure
  • SWOT converts evidence into strategic issues rather than unranked lists
  • Stakeholder mapping separates influence, interest, needs and likely resistance
  • Scenario planning frames plausible futures, signposts and contingent responses
  • Materiality matrix prioritises strategic issues by impact and uncertainty

Participants can define strategic themes and choices that provide a focused basis for scorecard design.

  • Strategic intent converts ambition into a bounded direction of travel
  • Choice cascade clarifies winning aspiration, markets, capabilities and management systems
  • Value proposition defines customer, citizen or beneficiary outcomes sought
  • Strategic themes group related objectives into a manageable execution agenda
  • Trade-off analysis tests priorities against resources, risk appetite and capability
  • Strategic hypotheses state how chosen actions will produce intended results

Participants can construct a cause-and-effect strategy map that communicates the organisation's strategic hypothesis.

  • Strategy map structure links learning, processes, stakeholder outcomes and finances
  • Cause-and-effect chains test assumptions behind proposed strategic objectives
  • Financial perspective reflects value creation, stewardship, sustainability and resource efficiency
  • Customer perspective defines segments, service promise, trust and relationship outcomes
  • Internal process objectives identify critical value-creating and control activities
  • Learning and growth objectives specify skills, culture, systems and capacity
  • Vertical logic checks whether capability objectives plausibly drive outcome objectives

Participants can write precise strategic objectives and assign accountable owners for delivery.

  • Objective statements combine action, result, beneficiary and strategic intent
  • Outcome objectives distinguish results from activities, projects and routine operations
  • Objective dictionaries define scope, boundaries, dependencies and interpretation notes
  • RACI analysis allocates accountability, responsibility, consultation and information rights
  • Cross-functional objectives expose hand-offs requiring joint leadership attention
  • Risk ownership connects strategic objectives with material risk treatment actions

Participants can select balanced measures and document KPI definitions suitable for management use.

  • Leading and lagging indicators reveal drivers and realised performance
  • KPI selection criteria test relevance, controllability, timeliness and decision value
  • Measure definition sheets specify formula, unit, source, frequency and owner
  • Baseline analysis establishes current performance before target-setting decisions
  • Data quality dimensions examine accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness and traceability
  • Thresholds and tolerances distinguish normal variation from management intervention
  • Metric trees connect operational drivers with higher-level strategic outcomes

Participants can establish credible targets and prioritise initiatives that close performance gaps.

  • Target-setting methods use baselines, benchmarks, trends and strategic ambition
  • SMART targets specify expected result, timeframe, scope and measurement basis
  • Performance gaps quantify distance between baseline, forecast and desired outcome
  • Initiative charters define benefits, milestones, sponsor, owner and resource needs
  • Benefits dependency maps connect initiatives with capability and outcome changes
  • Portfolio prioritisation compares strategic fit, value, risk, cost and feasibility
  • Resource alignment links scorecard priorities with budgets and workforce plans

Participants can cascade enterprise objectives into aligned business-unit, functional and team scorecards.

  • Cascading principles preserve strategic intent while allowing local contribution measures
  • Contribution maps show how business units support enterprise objectives
  • Functional scorecards translate shared outcomes into controllable process commitments
  • Alignment matrices identify duplicated measures, gaps and conflicting local incentives
  • Shared KPIs establish common definitions across organisational boundaries
  • Personal objectives connect role accountabilities with team and strategic priorities
  • Communication plans explain scorecard logic, accountabilities and review expectations

Participants can run evidence-based strategy reviews that result in clear decisions and follow-through.

  • Strategy review cadence separates operational control from strategic learning meetings
  • Performance packs combine trends, commentary, risks, forecasts and decisions required
  • Red-amber-green status rules prevent subjective reporting and inconsistent escalation
  • Root cause analysis uses Five Whys, fishbone diagrams and process evidence
  • Corrective actions identify owner, deadline, expected effect and verification method
  • Governance forums define decision rights, escalation routes and challenge responsibilities
  • Learning reviews update assumptions when evidence contradicts the strategy hypothesis

Participants can prepare a practical implementation plan for embedding the Balanced Scorecard in management routines.

  • Implementation roadmap sequences design, validation, rollout and review activities
  • Pilot selection tests scorecard design before wider organisational adoption
  • Change impact assessment identifies affected roles, processes, systems and behaviours
  • Data governance assigns stewardship, approval, access and retention responsibilities
  • Scorecard operating manual documents definitions, calendars, roles and decision rules
  • Annual refresh process revisits strategic assumptions, objectives, measures and targets
  • Ninety-day application plan specifies immediate actions, sponsors and milestones

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Balanced Scorecard design template
  2. Four-perspective strategy map model
  3. KPI definition sheet
  4. Target-setting and threshold matrix
  5. Strategic initiative charter
  6. Scorecard implementation roadmap

Who should attend

  • Strategy Directors — translate corporate strategy into managed execution
  • Business Unit Leaders — align local priorities, measures and initiatives with enterprise direction
  • Performance Managers — design meaningful measures and review performance against strategic objectives
  • Transformation Leaders — govern strategic change portfolios and benefit realisation
  • Finance Directors — connect strategic measures, targets and resource allocation decisions
  • Public Sector and NGO Leaders — link mission outcomes, service delivery and accountability measures

Skills and tools covered

Strategy map designKPI architectureTarget settingScorecard cascadingStrategy reviewInitiative governance

Tools and standards

Balanced Scorecard, Strategy Map, PESTLE Analysis, Porter's Five Forces

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish Balanced Scorecard concepts, followed by case analysis, facilitated design work and peer challenge. Participants interpret strategy evidence, build strategic themes, draft strategy maps and specify measures using realistic planning scenarios. Small-group exercises test cause-and-effect logic, target choices and scorecard cascades. A performance-review simulation develops confidence in using the scorecard for decisions rather than reporting alone. Individual application planning connects the methods to each participant's current strategy or business plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience contributing to annual plans, business plans, performance reports, transformation programmes or management meetings. They should understand their organisation's mission, operating model, current priorities and principal performance measures. Familiarity with financial measures, operational KPIs and basic strategic analysis is useful. Participants will gain more from the course if they bring a current strategic plan, performance dashboard or planning challenge. No previous Balanced Scorecard training, specialist software, statistical modelling expertise or formal strategy qualification is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand your organisation's strategic priorities and have some exposure to planning, performance reporting or management meetings. Previous Balanced Scorecard study is not required.

Bring a current strategic plan, business plan, dashboard or a specific execution problem if these can be shared appropriately. Participants can also work from the supplied cases where organisational material is unavailable or confidential.

It is designed for strategy, performance, finance, transformation and senior operational leaders. It is also suitable for public sector and NGO managers responsible for linking mission outcomes to measurable delivery.

General strategic planning courses focus mainly on analysis, choices and plan development. This course gives equal attention to translating choices into strategy maps, KPIs, targets, initiatives, governance and review routines.

You can use the templates to structure a scorecard for a business unit, programme or enterprise priority. The final application plan identifies the first actions, sponsors, evidence requirements and review arrangements needed at work.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, case-based analysis, facilitated design work, peer review, simulations and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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