December 2006

Welcome to the BBRT global news letter. This is designed to keep you informed of developments in BBRT and contains the latest news, events and research activities in the BBRT community. We hope you enjoy it. 

Performance Management INSIGHTS
BBRT are continuing to receive the latest series of research papers - the INSIGHTS series. Insight 4 was sent out earlier this month. Here is the abstract:

INSIGHT 4 – How to release the creative power of self-managed teams
Abstract: Self-managed teams are hardly a new idea. They have been tried in one form or another for over 50 years. But they usually operate within strict budget limits and are accountable for fixed targets. This severely limits their scope and authority and, in most cases, strangles them altogether. Leading organizations treat self-managed teams differently. They give them real autonomy to set their own plans and goals and regulate their own performance. This paper examines the key issues that cause self-managed teams to either succeed or fail.

BBRT Members can download the complete papers from the BBRT Private Forum 

BBRT Public Sector Interest Group
The British Council hosted a very successful PSIG meeting at their headquarters in London on 5 December where the members explained their practice, vision, opportunities and challenges relating to the theme is "Prioritization and making opportunity cost choices". 

The next meeting is planned for 6 March in London at which the the theme will be "Implementing rolling frameworks". Each participating organization will provide insights into how they are addressing this theme. The resulting discussion will enable us to understand how the Beyond Budgeting principles can help with this very important topic.

Plans for a "Forecasting" Special Interest Group

After many years leading the finance transformation program at Unilever, Steve Morlidge is leaving to pursue other opportunities in the Beyond Budgeting 'space'. In the immediate future this may involve developing a BBRT Special Interest Group on "forecasting " building on his experiences in Unilever . Effective forecasting is the key to managing the future and maintaining control. Most importantly, it is a key step in convincing CFOs to let go of the old annual planning and budgeting system with its time consuming revisions. It fills the gap between the coordination elements of budgeting and the more dynamic elements of fast-response devolved management. The potential benefits are huge. But few organizations know how to build, maintain and make full use of rolling forecasts. Steve has been working on this topic for a few years and has developed some interesting tools that enable managers to build reliability into their forecasts and enhance their understanding of their business. Together with Steve we are developing a Special Interest Group which we hope to launch at the 2007 April/May BBRT meetings in Europe and North America. So watch this space… 

BBRT Members' meetings in 2007 (so far)

Europe

6 March: PSIG meeting

6 March: BBRT DACH inaugural meeting

25 April: BBRT Europe Members' meeting

11 July: PSIG meeting

17 October: BBRT Europe Members' meeting

5 December: PSIG meeting

North America

2-4 May: 6th Annual North American Beyond Budgeting Conference

Middle East

January: BBRT Middle East inaugural meeting

South America

11-12 April: 2nd South American Beyond Budgeting Conference

For the latest information on public events and BBRT Members' meeting please go to our web site at www.bbrt.org. 

BBRT is an independent international shared learning network for all organisations that seek to improve their performance management through sharing information, past successes and implementation experiences. Our purpose is to help organizations introduce a new management model for the innovation age.

For more information, please visit www.bbrt.org, email Peter Bunce, or call +44 1590 679803