Strategy Management at Scale draws heavily on the substantial body of experience and scholarship that grew out of Drs. Robert Kaplan and David Norton’s work on the Balanced Scorecard methodology.  The flagship tool of that methodology is the use of a specific type of strategy map techniques and a rich set of related practices that focus on alignment and strategy implementation.   For the past decade, Bill Barberg has focused on modifying this set of techniques to be ideal for working on large-scale social issues in collaborative scenarios where no organization is in charge.  Barberg introduced several key innovations, three of which are:  

1. Changing from the four classic perspectives of a business-focused strategy map (Financial, Customer, Internal Process, and Learning & Growth) to three perspectives better suited for coalitions working on social impacts or system change: Outcomes, Strategies, and Capacity Development).

2. Making strategy maps “Zoomable” so that viewers of the top-level strategy map can “zoom in” to see a set of more detailed objectives that contribute to the desired change described in any objectives.

3. Adding “From-To Gaps” for each objective to provide greater clarity in the details of the desired change for that objective.

Incorporating Key Principles for System Transformation into Strategy Map Design 

When the strategy map is focused on system transformation, there are valuable principles that can be incorporated into the strategy map design.  Frank Geels, a professor at the University of Manchester, popularized an approach for socio-technical transitions based on a multi-level perspective (MLP).  This conceptual framework stresses the importance of working to achieve transformation by working on change at different levels: 

1. The landscape, which includes the mindsets and other characteristics of the environment that keeps existing systems in place.

2. The niche innovations which create examples of elements that can be part of the transformed system.

3. The regime which is the “system” that gets transformed into a new state as a result of both pressures from the changing landscape and the success of niche innovations.

The strategy map for transforming the family justice system is structured around this conceptual framework.  

Strategy Maps as a Theory of Transformation 

Michael Quinn Patton has been an influential thought leader in the field of evaluation for over 40 years, and he has become a strong advocate for transforming evaluation in order to better evaluate transformation.  He encourages evaluators to shift from a Theory of Change (which is typically developed from the perspective of an organization or program seeking funding) to a larger Theory of Transformation that creates a structure for a larger system change or social transformation that is larger than what individual programs or organizations can accomplish.  The high-level strategy map for transforming the family justice system is an excellent example of a Theory of Transformation that is much larger and more detailed than a typical Theory of Change.  In addition, the Strategy Management at Scale approach incorporates evaluation criteria designed for large scale transformation rather than program evaluation. 

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