I always find the acceptance speeches at Hollywood’s Academy Awards to be inspirational. The ones I enjoy most are Oscar recipients who thank the teams that contributed to their receiving the award. Success comes much more from teams than from an individual’s performance.

My favorite acceptance speeches are from the recipients of the scientific and technical awards. These winners love pushing the envelope in fields like animation, special effects, costume design, and sound editing. They’re like NASA engineers enjoying the thrill of landing an astronaut on the moon or placing a telescope in orbit that can answer the questions that so many of us are interested in.

So how do film awards relate to implementing performance management projects?

There’s a tight connection. Project teams that implement analytics-based enterprise performance management methodologies — such as customer profitability analysis, driver-based rolling financial forecasts, strategic scorecards, and operational dashboards — may not see their efforts hit the big screens, but they do enjoy the success of seeing their work go live. They may never receive raucous applause, but they do receive the thanks of their colleagues who use their work to gain insights, make better decisions, and align work activities and priorities with the executive team’s strategy.

With that in mind, why not turn to the Academy Award nominees for a little inspiration?

• Inception – The hugely talented director and screenplay writer Christopher Nolan imagines a world in which highly skilled operators can penetrate other people’s dreams. I’ve always felt that being a dreamer is integral to being innovative!

• The Social Network – In this film about the creation of the website Facebook, we learn that connecting with colleagues to share passions and viewpoints is critical to developing more and better ideas.

• The Fighter – In this boxing movie, we learn that winning is never simple. It requires getting buy-in from many others, who are often resistant to change or risk-averse.

• True Grit – A young girl pursues her father’s murderer. We learn how perseverance and commitment to one’s beliefs are essential. The movie also demonstrates how leveraging skilled partners outside your “organization” can drive success.

• The King’s Speech – This film about the how Britain’s King George VI overcame his speech impediment to inspire the British people during World War II teaches a crucial lesson: obstacles to change can surmounted.

Those are my performance management lessons from the Oscars — what are yours?