Cascade To Scorecards

Cascade to Scorecards

When to use

For strategy office or BU leaders translating a corporate strategy map into business-unit or team scorecards. Assumes a corporate map exists from /balanced-scorecard:build-strategy-map. Output is a structured cascade draft for strategist review.

What this skill does not do

• Does not build the corporate strategy map — requires build-strategy-map output first.
• Does not set quarterly OKRs — if OKR plugin is layered beneath BSC per practice profile, route execution commitments to /okr:cascade.
• Does not select measures or targets — route to /balanced-scorecard:select-measures and /balanced-scorecard:set-targets-and-initiatives.
• Does not validate empirical truth of mechanisms — flags weak or missing mechanisms; hand off to /balanced-scorecard:review-and-validate.

Preconditions

Provisional mode

When corporate map is partial or BU scope is unclear:

• Label output as scaffold-only in CASCADE HEALTH CHECK.
• Flag coverage gaps explicitly; do not invent cascaded objectives to fill gaps.
• Tag mechanisms UNVALIDATED when the user cannot state how the BU operationalizes the corporate parent.

Trust spine

• Confidence bands (structured-aggregation):
  • High: Every relevant corporate objective has a specific cascaded child with stated mechanism; local-only objectives explicitly flagged; coverage gaps listed.
  • Medium: Mostly complete; some mechanisms weak or generic cascade partially flagged.
  • Low: Scaffold only — missing parent map, fully generic or fully disconnected without deliberate call; explicitly marked incomplete.
• Tag vocabulary: [verify], [review], UNVALIDATED, local, not traced per plugin CLAUDE.md.
• Failure modes:
  • Strategic advice vs. support: Surfaces cascade structure and health flags; does not decide whether a BU should be autonomous vs. fully aligned — [review] on fully disconnected patterns.
  • Client confidentiality: Cascade content may expose BU strategy — apply CONFIDENTIAL header; destination check before distribution.
  • Accountability gap: CASCADE HEALTH CHECK and COVERAGE GAPS force engagement; generic copy-paste cascades flagged, not smoothed over.
  • Analytical Rigor: N/A — mechanism discipline inherited from build-strategy-map, not MECE decomposition here.
  • Incentive Gaming: N/A — no scoring or target-setting in this skill.
• Escalation triggers:
  • Fully disconnected cascade with no deliberate autonomy rationale → flag and ask strategist to confirm intentional design.
  • Fully generic cascade (copy-paste corporate objectives) → flag, require local operational specificity or explicit demotion.
  • Corporate objective relevant to BU with zero cascaded support → name in COVERAGE GAPS; do not silently omit.
  • OKR plugin installed and user expects quarterly KRs here → clarify seam; route to /okr:cascade.

Workflow

1. Read the practice profile for cascade levels and whether locally-owned objectives are expected at cascaded levels.

2. For each corporate-map objective relevant to this BU/team, draft the cascaded version as operational implementation — specific enough that it's clear what this unit would do differently, not a restatement with a new owner.

3. State the mechanism linking cascaded objective to corporate parent: "this unit achieving X operationalizes corporate objective Y because [mechanism]." Apply same rubric as build-strategy-map — tag UNVALIDATED if missing; do not invent prose.

4. Distinguish legitimate local objectives from disconnection. Local-only objectives (e.g. plant safety with no corporate equivalent) → flag local, not traced; not a failure on its own. Flag extremes:

   • Fully generic cascade — corporate objectives copy-pasted with no local specificity.
   • Fully disconnected — most objectives local with no traced link; may be deliberate for autonomous units — flag [review], not a silent default.

5. Coverage check upward: every corporate-map objective relevant to this unit has at least one cascaded objective? Name gaps.

6. OKR seam: if okr is installed per practice profile, note this output is the BSC-layer cascade; quarterly execution is /okr:cascade's job.

7. Completeness check: every figure source-tagged or flagged [verify] before output.

Output format

BUSINESS UNIT: [name]

Cascaded from [corporate objective]:
  → [Cascaded objective] — Mechanism: [...] — Quality: [strong | weak | UNVALIDATED]

Local objective (not traced to corporate map): [objective] — [why it belongs here]

CASCADE HEALTH CHECK: [fully generic / appropriately mixed / fully disconnected] — [explain]
COVERAGE GAPS: [corporate objectives relevant to this unit with no cascaded support]

Worked example

Input: Corporate map objective "Grow enterprise ARR 20%." BU: EMEA Sales. User proposes cascaded objective "Hit EMEA quota" with no mechanism.

Expected output (excerpt):

BUSINESS UNIT: EMEA Sales

Cascaded from Grow enterprise ARR 20%:
  → Close $12M net-new enterprise ARR in EMEA — Mechanism: UNVALIDATED — user stated quota only, no operational link to corporate growth target — Quality: UNVALIDATED [review]

CASCADE HEALTH CHECK: appropriately mixed — one cascaded objective drafted but mechanism unstated
COVERAGE GAPS: none for stated corporate objective

Quality checks before delivering

• Corporate parent map read and referenced
• Every cascaded objective has mechanism or UNVALIDATED tag
• Local-only objectives explicitly flagged, not hidden
• Generic vs. disconnected health check run
• Coverage gaps listed
• OKR seam noted if applicable
• Output does not read as a concluded alignment decision

Propose profile update

When a stable convention surfaces during this run (thresholds, naming, tone, output format, or recurring corrections), propose a profile update: show the exact diff against ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-strategy/balanced-scorecard/CLAUDE.md (org-wide facts go to org-profile.md), ask for confirmation, and write only on yes. Only /balanced-scorecard:practice-setup auto-applies a full profile write.

Outputs

Follows plugin CLAUDE.md § Outputs. Natural next branches: select measures for cascaded objectives, cascade OKRs beneath BSC layer, or review-and-validate on UNVALIDATED mechanisms.