T&S has benchmarked major parts of its operations with the street and outsourced activities when it was clear that this was the best option for the bank.

In addition, it has implemented a balanced scorecard system of metrics, designed to clearly communicate the company's business plan objectives for the year and its progress in meeting those objectives.

It's a 'balanced' scorecard because the company is not just measuring financial results. The scorecard has a shareholder component, which accounts for 60 percent of the overall performance; a customer satisfaction component, accounting for 25 per cent; a processes component for 10 per cent; and an employee component for five percent. By balancing these perspectives with economic results, BMO has a better chance of creating future value for all areas of the bank, and achieving some consistency in its approaches year over year.

According to Darlington, the process of adopting a balanced scorecard is not only a 'journey', it's also hard to do.

"The challenge is to get out to the 5,600 people that work with us the objectives and measurements that will allow us to move the business to achieve those objectives," he explained. "So how do you tackle the complexity of it? How do you cascade it? How do you build these commitments that we are making to the Board and to the CEO and get them reflected in the day-to-day operations of the T&S people, so that their piece of it is reflected in their plans for the year, and so that ultimately they are recognized and rewarded for their contribution? That's what's tough, and there's no cookbook for success."