VIEWPOINT: Balanced Scorecard, AFSO21 work together Published May 25, 2006 By Gen. Bruce Carlson Air Force Materiel Command commander WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- (Editor's note: the following was taken from the April 10, 2006 Commander's Log)We will continue working Command strategy through our Balanced Scorecard and Continuous Process Improvement efforts through the AFSO21 initiative. I have taken and will continue to take an active, direct role in both areas. Our work in cascading the Command Balanced Scorecard with the Center Balanced Scorecards is key to achieving One Materiel Command. We must continue to think of the Balanced Scorecards as focusing elements which drive us toward our most important priorities. Our Balanced Scorecards provide "clarity of purpose" in the words of Dan Clark, a guest speaker at the Spring 2006 Commanders' and Spouses' Conference. Commanders and directors should ask themselves two questions: (1) Are you focusing on work that contributes to the Command Balanced Scorecard?; and (2) Are you contributing in the most meaningful way possible to what's going on across our Command? Your Balanced Scorecard should focus on your priorities. But your priorities should contribute directly to what our Command provides its customers. We will use AFSO21 tools to improve problem areas identified in our Balanced Scorecard measures. More than that, the AFSO21 continuous improvement mindset will drive performance improvements in all of our processes -- at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. Most of what we're doing right now is at the strategic level and impacts our entire Command. That's where I expect the most profound results because we're making improvements at an enterprise level. However, the operational and tactical improvement efforts must continue. For the foreseeable future, we will provide AFSO21 training just-in-time as we take on these improvement efforts. That way we will get the most value out of the training.