The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has launched a new performance management strategy aimed at reviving and improving the cocoa industry through the implementation of the balanced scorecard approach. 

The initiative was announced at the opening of a three-day management retreat in Kumasi, where leadership and senior staff gathered to discuss a shift from administrative-oriented systems to a performance-based culture. 

Mr Ato Boateng, the Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Finance and Administration, COCOBOD, stressed the urgency of the transition, indicating that the current state of COCOBOD required collective effort to achieve meaningful change. 

“By Friday, when we will be leaving here, every staff member of COCOBOD must have a scorecard. This is not just a framework but a culture and a lifestyle,” he said. 

 “We must measure what matters and put value on it. The journey towards recovery starts now,” he added. 

Mr Boateng outlined a three-phase implementation plan to support the new policy. 

These include establishing clear objectives in financial, customer, internal process, and learning and growth perspectives, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing errors to achieve quality standards and encouraging cross-functional collaboration and accountability to eliminate departmental or divisional silos. 

He encouraged the management staff, and by extension all staff, to reimagine activities that add value and eliminate those that do not, adding that promotions and career progressions would be strictly tied to measurable performance under the new system. 

The Deputy Chief Executive noted that the approach aimed to move COCOBOD from a focus on routine administrative processes to a dynamic, results-driven culture.  

He said management believed that the balanced scorecard would serve as a key tool for aligning staff efforts with strategic goals and fostering a culture of continuous improvement across the organisation. 

Mr Francis Ocran, the Director of Human Resources, COCOBOD, emphasised that the balanced scorecard would begin with leadership ensuring alignment at all levels of the organisation.  

He described it as a departure from the traditional appraisal system, positioning it instead as a framework to embed performance into the daily culture of COCOBOD. 

The retreat marked the official start of the implementation process, with the expectation that staff would begin adopting the Balanced Scorecard as soon as possible.