> MetaManagement Group - BBRT Brazil - BBRT South America

About the Beyond Budgeting Round Table (BBRT)

The "concept" and the "community"

The BBRT is a concept (the "BB" model) and a community (the "RT"). The BBRT is at the centre of a new movement that is searching for ways to build lean, adaptive and ethical organizations that can sustain superior competitive performance. Our aim is to develop and spread the concept through a vibrant growing community.

The BBRT is a supported network of member companies with a common interest in improving planning and budgeting - sharing information, past successes and implementation experiences, with guidance from the research team and associates. Over 100 members have participated including Unilever, UBS, Schneider Electric, Coors Brewers, Omgeo, The World Bank, Clariant, Deutsche Bank and IBM. For more information, visit www.bbrt.org

What is the Beyond Budgeting concept?

The Beyond Budgeting Model has been derived from the 'best of best practices' of leading-edge organizations and consists of two sets of six principles that redefine performance management. The first six support a more adaptive set of management processes that enable enterprises to be more responsive to the competitive environment and to customer needs. The second six support greater devolution of responsibility to teams accountable for improving (internal and external) customer outcomes and relative performance.

Adaptive Management Process Principles
1. Target setting	Set aspirational goals based on continuous relative improvement not fixed
2. Rewards	Reward shared success based on relative performance not on meeting fixed targets
3. Planning	Make planning an inclusive and continuous process not an annual event
4. Resources	Make resources available as required not through annual budget allocations
5. Coordination	Coordinate cross company interactions dynamically not through annual plans and budgets
6. Controls	Base controls on relative performance indicators not variances against plan

Adaptive Management Organization Principles
1. Governance	Base governance on clear values and boundaries not on detailed rules and budgets
2. Performance	Build a high performance culture based on relative success not on meeting targets
3. Freedom to act	Devolve decision making authority to frontline teams don't micro-manage them
4. Accountability	Create a network of small units accountable for results not centralized hierarchies
5. Customer focus	Focus everyone on improving customer outcomes not on meeting internal targets
6. Information	Promote open and shared information don't restrict it to those who 'need to know'

These principles represent a holistic model (not a menu of options!) but different organizations will place different emphases on different elements at different times.

What problems does the concept address?

Many organizations today recognize that they are too rigid, unresponsive, bureaucratic and complex. Our belief is that this is caused by performance management systems that are fixed, annual and based on negotiation resulting in multiple fixed performance contracts at every level of the organization that constrain actions and stifle initiative.

Why should you adopt the concept?

	1.	To release the energy and enterprise of all your people
	2.	To make the organization more agile and adaptive to change
	3.	To focus everyone on maximizing value for customers and shareholders
	4.	To effect a permanent (and significant) reduction in bureaucracy and costs
	5.	To eliminate processes that are too protracted, expensive and adds too little value
	6.	To eliminate gaming and other dysfunctional behavior leading to better governance

Why now?

The performance management process determines how people think and behave inside your organization. Changing this behavior from managing numbers to responding to change and improving customer and shareholder value will potentially have a greater impact on the bottom line than almost any other improvement initiative.

Q&As

We have prepared two Q&A White Papers which answer some of the most common questions regarding the Beyond Budgeting model:
- Beyond Budgeting Questions and Answers. White Paper by Jeremy Hope and Robin Fraser, October 2001 (also available on the bbrt.org website)
- "Beyond Budgeting means the end of the command-and-control culture". White Paper in German by Niels Pflaeging, April 2004

Some fundamentals of Beyond Budgeting are also explained on the page What is Beyond Budgeting? and you will find further information in the resource centers in German and Portuguese languages.