Our weekly Scorecard is filled with backward-looking financial metrics that do not help us predict the future. How do we design a Scorecard that actually gives us a weekly preview of where we are heading?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A great Scorecard is a dashboard of leading indicators, not a historical archive. If your weekly numbers only tell you what happened last month, you are driving your business by looking in the rearview mirror. To build a predictive Scorecard, you must focus on activity-based metrics. These are the daily and weekly actions that directly cause your lagging results. For example, do not track closed revenue on your weekly Scorecard. Track the number of outbound discovery calls made or proposals submitted. If those numbers are healthy, the revenue will follow. Work with your leadership team to trace every major result back to its root activity. Use a strategic pause to sit down with your team and review your current metrics. Ask yourselves if each number gives you an early warning sign at least three weeks before a crisis hits. Keep the total number of weekly metrics on your leadership Scorecard to between five and fifteen. Assign a single owner to every metric on the Accountability Chart. That owner is responsible for ensuring the number is updated and has GWC™ for the activity. When your Scorecard is packed with predictive, activity-based data, you can spot and solve issues weeks before they show up on your profit and loss statement.