The MCR Journey: Data Driven Performance Management

Follow CoreNet Global Australia’s MCR scholarship recipient Ujwal Lakra and his study journey – it’s time to catch up on his third unit of study.

This year, CoreNet Global Australia has offered our first-ever scholarship to the industry-renowned Master of Corporate Real Estate (MCR) program. Over the next 18 months, we’ll be following Uj (Ujwal) Lakra ’s journey, what he’s learning and the benefits he’s getting from the course. Follow along for updates.

We sat down with Ujwal after his third unit of study, Data Driven Performance Management, held over three days in August to get some insights and how it’s helping him to grow professionally.

The Data Driven Performance Management unit is divided into six sessions over three days, covering:

• Developing a Performance Management Program
• Performance Management Methodologies
• Sourcing and Assembling Data
• Creating a Performance Scorecard
• Case Study Presentations
• Interpreting Data, Articulating Insights, and Drive Effective Decision Making

Here’s Ujwal’s reflections on the unit:

“Having now completed half of the units for the MCR, I’m thoroughly enjoying the program. Each unit delivers value in a stand-alone way, while all building on each other to connect the various aspects of the corporate real estate function.

This unit, Data Driven Performance Management, has been particularly useful for exploring the various ways for managing and tracking performance, including comparing to competitors and against other business functions. The course went through ways to establish performance frameworks and standardising units of measurement across portfolios, with clear ways to apply these in a practical context.

In my consulting work, I’m often asked to advise on performance structures, so the coursework has been great for understanding alternative mechanisms and different ways performance management frameworks can be structured.

It was also interesting to learn about alternative frameworks and the application of different models. For example, we looked at balanced score cards, which is an instrument that isn’t so commonly used these days, but I think might be having a renaissance. It was good to consider how more traditional approaches can still have value in a modern setting and be used in conjunction with other frameworks.

The case study presentations were also incredibly useful. Our cohort of 34 was divided into four groups, and each group given a fictitious focus case study: a global financial services organisation (this was my group), a global technology firm, a regional healthcare provider, and a national consumer goods organisation. We had to present the process we went through to develop performance management framework and how we would develop this based on the scenarios provided. We looked at benchmarking and different types of metrics, as well as how those would align to the set corporate strategic objectives. It was an incredibly practical session, putting into practice all the theory of the coursework.

As well as the content, the networking remains an incredibly valuable part of the MCR experience. Around 30% of the students this time were familiar to me from my previous units and I’m building a network of connections on LinkedIn from the program. My units to date have had a strong representation from North America with a few students from Australia and New Zealand.

Late last week I started my fourth unit, Corporate Real Estate Finance. This has been the unit I’ve been most excited for and I look forward to providing an update next month. The cohort for this subject is also more concentrated in the APAC region with students from India, Singapore, Malaysia, China and Australia, which is providing some different perspectives.”

Thanks Ujwal for sharing your experience. Stay tuned for his Corporate Real Estate Finance recap soon.