We suspect some of our department heads are choosing scorecard metrics that are easy to hit but do not actually drive business growth. How do we identify and eliminate these gameable numbers?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If your weekly scorecard targets are always green but your top-line revenue is flat, your team has figured out how to game the system. Employees naturally optimize for whatever you measure, so you must ensure you are measuring results, not just motion.

To spot gameable numbers, look for high-activity metrics that lack quality controls. For example, a business development rep might hit their target of fifty outbound calls a week by calling cold contacts who have zero buying intent. To fix this, change the metric from outbound calls to booked discovery meetings with qualified prospects.

Another common area for manipulation is project management. A team lead might mark a project phase as complete on time to keep their scorecard green, even if they bypassed critical quality checks. You must pair this progress metric with a quality check, such as client sign-off or zero post-release errors.

Look closely at any metric that relies entirely on self-reporting without a system of record. If a manager manually inputs their own scores without verification, the temptation to smooth out bad weeks is high. Ensure every number is pulled directly from a CRM, project management tool, or financial system.

Audit your scorecard quarterly. Ask yourself if hitting a specific target actually moved the company closer to its goals. If a green metric did not produce a positive business outcome, kill that metric and replace it with a harder, more meaningful leading indicator.