Sport has an incredibly broad scope to positively impact society. And whilst this makes the sector a lot more exciting than one driven by a single metric (profit), it can be challenging for management teams and club committees to track progress across multiple priorities without any falling through the cracks. The absence of a system that sharply focuses and links all activities to an organisation’s vision opens the risk of:

1. inefficient resourcing, which most clubs and organisations cannot afford in the current landscape; or

2. a skewed focus towards lead measures such as elite performance and gold medals.

The balanced scorecard - for sports

The balanced scorecard entered the business reporting toolkit in 1993 as a way for companies to extend performance measurement beyond a sole focus on the bottom-line, to include tracking strategic objectives that would also predict future performance. The traditional balanced scorecard used in for-profit sectors measures performance through four perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal Process, and Learning and Growth. Within each of these perspectives, a series of objectives, targets, measures and initiatives are outlined.

The same concept can be applied to sport organisations to holistically measure progress towards its vision , and project clear links between culture and values, daily processes, and on-field performances.

Balanced Scorecard for Sport Example

The following example provides a snapshot of what a balanced scorecard may look like for an organisation, excluding the specific measures and initiatives under each pillar.

As you have seen we tweaked the order and language for a sporting context and adopted the four perspectives as follows:

1. Community Impact (Customer)

This perspective tracks the core outputs of a club - the experiences it facilitates. Depending on the organisational focus this will include a blend of measures that are participation-based (such as active players or members), performance-based (wins/losses, promotion/relegation), and predictive measures like Net Promoter Score.

2. Internal Processes

Internal processes looks at the strategic priorities of the organisation in order to achieve their community impact. Measures would be introduced to track progress in areas such as stakeholder relationships, governance and integrity, digital engagement and IT systems, as well as program management.

3. Culture and Capacity (Learning and Growth)

The engine of an organisation is its people, so this perspective ensures organisations continue to prioritise investment in acquiring and empowering the right people to deliver best practice across all internal processes. Typical measures within Culture and Capacity will drive inclusiveness through policy development and committee quotas, innovation through human-centred design principles, alongside the recruitment, training and retention of volunteers.

4. Financial Management

Strong financial management remains the core of a sport organisation’s operations, so its placement as the fourth perspective is not to understate its performance. Rather, it acts as the foundation for sport delivery.

Not just for CEOs

A balanced scorecard like this can be implemented at a department, program or team level - linking your activities with the organisation’s vision and providing your management team with a clear framework guiding your approach.

Get in touch

If your club or organisation would like to discuss developing balanced scorecards for your organisation, connect with us here.