Progress report
Drive to improve quality
Simple solution
'We needed very clear documents to communicate all our
strategie goals - starting with the Mission Statement and
filtering through to the Balanced Scorecard (the Rabobank
Group-wide framework established for setting out key
objectives and performance measurement), the Business
Plan, the Desk Plans and, most importantly, to the actions set
out in the individual staff objectives,' explains Dan Seale,
Global Financial Markets (GFM) Chief Operating Officer.
To translate strategy into action, GFM initiated the Quality
Assurance Project (QAP) so that staff objectives are aligned
with high-level strategie objectives, as set in the Balanced
Scorecard initiative. The QAP is also intended to simplify and
lighten the task of goal-setting, and makeit seema less
complicated and boring process. This isthefirstyearGFM
has coordinated objective-setting for all of the GFM
departments, and the first time that each desk head has
created Desk Plans using a standardised template that
specifically challenges them to state their common goals and
targets with other parts of GFM, Rabobank International (Rl)
and the Group. To also ensure transparency and help assure
consistency, all the plans are published on the GFM website.
'By reading the higher level objectives in the GFM Balanced g.
Scorecard document, it was easy to translate key GFM
initiatives into desk and personal objectives, and this has
offered a new clarity,' says Mark Northway, Global Head of
Credit Structuring, London. The result has been the
establishment of definite Desk Plans and the uncovering of
more effective cross-selling opportunities. Moreover, plans
that had previously been based on discussions are now
down on paper instead. Desk Heads are directly involved in
objective-setting in a drive to improve the quality of
planning and staff objectives, and this has given the process
more transparency.'
The Balanced Scorecard and our EASY HR system (the on-
line appraisal system for the purpose of recording employee
performance reviews) are linked in that the systems provide
a platform for management,' explains Wim den Dekker,
Senior Human Resources Advisor, Utrecht. All the objectives
obtained from the Balanced Scorecard are fed into EASY
assigned at an individual level, enabling management to
make quick use of results. The EASY System enables senior
management to monitor goals and individual smart
objectives, and then determine what has been achieved
throughout the year. A boon to managers, it has many
advantages and makes the task of reviewing employees and
making up a report, relatively simple.
'We have certainly made progress during late 2004 and the first half of 2005,' claims Dan Seale, GFM Chief Operating Officer.
'And we are pleased to say that staff mid-year reviews were completed in EASY more or less on time this summer. Next we will
be carrying out a full-year review in December by measuring our performance against both the financial and non-finanical
goals set in our Balanced Scorecards. During this Autumn, in line with the Rl planning and budgeting cycle, we are setting out
our GFM Business Plan 2006 against the three-year ambitions we set out in 2004, and the progress we made in 2005. At the
same time, we will set interim goals where there are gaps in our progress. Remember the happy and sad faces on the Balanced
Scorecard? We need to grade our performance honestly, and then focus on those sad faces!'
The Word 23
