We are building our very first leadership Scorecard and are overwhelmed by the options. How do we select the absolute first five to fifteen numbers to put on the board without getting stuck in analysis paralysis?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When building your first Scorecard, do not try to design the perfect, permanent dashboard on day one. You will fail, get frustrated, and abandon the tool. The goal is simply to get started with a draft and refine it over the next twelve weeks.

To choose your initial five to fifteen numbers, start with your Accountability Chart. Look at the major functions of your business: Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Finance. Every major seat must have a number that represents their primary activity.

Ask each department head one question: if you were stranded on a desert island and could only receive a single text message with three numbers to tell you how your department is doing, what would those three numbers be?

For Sales, it might be weekly proposals sent. For Marketing, it could be qualified leads generated. For Operations, it could be units shipped or billable hours logged. For Finance, it might be weekly cash balance or accounts receivable over forty-five days.

Put those basic numbers on your Scorecard first. Do not worry yet if they are perfect leading indicators. Just start the habit of tracking them every week.

In your Level 10 Meeting™, you will quickly realize which numbers are actually useful and which ones are useless noise. You can swap out, refine, or adjust these metrics as you go. The key is to start running on data immediately, rather than waiting for the perfect set of metrics that does not exist.