We have a back office operations seat responsible for inventory control and shipping logistics. Because their work is highly dependent on sales volume and supplier lead times, we are struggling to find weekly, proactive metrics that they actually control. What should we put on their Scorecard?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Focus entirely on the activities and quality control factors this person directly influences, rather than macro market forces or sales fluctuations. When a back office seat is subject to external volatility, you must measure process compliance and operational efficiency.

Start by tracking inventory accuracy rate through weekly cycle counts rather than total stock value. You can also measure the average hours elapsed between receiving goods at the dock and logging them into your system. Another powerful metric is the shipping discrepancy rate, which measures how many outbound orders were packed incorrectly.

These are direct reflections of how well the seat is performing, regardless of whether sales are up or down. If the inventory manager claims external delays prevent them from hitting targets, use a strategic pause to analyze the workflow. By stepping back to look at the process objectively, you can separate supplier failures from internal execution.

Ultimately, every seat on your Accountability Chart must have at least one measurable. If this person truly GWC, meaning they get, want, and have the capacity to do the job, they will welcome these numbers because it proves their performance objectively.