Balanced Scorecard

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a strategic planning and management framework that measures organizational performance across four balanced perspectives: Financial (revenue, profitability), Customer (satisfaction, retention), Internal Business Processes (efficiency, quality), and Learning & Growth (innovation, skill development). The idea is that focusing on finances alone gives an incomplete picture of organizational health.

For OKR practitioners, the Balanced Scorecard offers a useful lens for ensuring well-rounded goal-setting. When planning OKRs, you can ask: "Do we have objectives in all four perspectives?" This prevents the common trap of over-optimizing one area (like revenue) at the expense of others (like employee development or customer satisfaction).

OKRs and the Balanced Scorecard complement each other well. The Balanced Scorecard provides the strategic framework — which areas to focus on — while OKRs provide the execution mechanism — specific goals and measurable outcomes within each area. Some practitioners use BSC categories as their OKR categories, ensuring every quarter includes objectives across all four perspectives.