What is a strategic map?

Strategy map is a visual interpretation of organization goals and steps needed to achieve these goals. These maps allow companies to better delegate responsibilities and plan problems through visual communication. Bubbles, boxes and other shapes are connected on the map with arrows representing progress. Strategic maps used in various industries show ideas, plans and intentions. There are many ways to create maps, from using the computer to simply drawing from your hand.

The strategic map was first conceived in 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David Norton as a balanced Scorecard. Over the next decade, the team significantly changed Scorecard and in 2001 appeared with what is now known as a strategic map. The new management tool is designed to help organizations to cope with focus and align with goals.

Traditional strategic map lists all current people, processes and strategies of the company at one end of the chart and ultimate goal or resulton the other side. These graphs are usually one page, but can occupy several pages and flow to the side or up and down. The creator should mark the freedom of directional flow and the symbols used. Any number of symbols may be used between start and completion of the result, but all steps will be connected together with arrows that readers show each step in the process.

The development of concept and process engineering is important elements in creating a strategy map. Building a map means learning every work on the map and knowing how everyone logically proceeds and working with other tasks on the board. The result will be a mixture of time OS, corporate strategy and job description. The ideal result will be a rapid reference sheet that will have during the task.

Strategy maps can be used in any setting, but traditionally they are used to express the main business objectives. Financial objectives are the most common and the map shows the necessarysteps to improve the financial position of the company. The customer's perspective is another common use because it shows what customers want and expect in society and how these goals can be met. The internal process is another key use because the map will show how the company currently performs one or more tasks and describes in detail how these tasks can be performed more efficiently or a change in the structure. Learning is also common use of maps because it shows the skill to be achieved and the steps needed to fully understand it.

There are a number of ways to create a map of a strategy. There are several computer programs that allow users to draw maps from different templates and make quick changes. The strategic map can also be drawn manually on the main projector or paper sheet. No matter how the graph is created, its simplicity and visual communication help readers Better understand goals.