We are building our first leadership team scorecard from scratch and our team is already arguing about which metrics are important. How do we run the initial meeting to select our first five to fifteen numbers without getting stuck in endless debates?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To build your first scorecard, do not try to make it perfect on day one. Start by having your leadership team put away all existing reports and spreadsheets. Give everyone a blank pad of paper and ask them to complete the Great Day or Lousy Day exercise. Have them list everything that happens in the business on a phenomenal day and everything that happens on a terrible day.

Once everyone has their lists, compare them. You will quickly see patterns. Group the items into logical categories like marketing, sales, operations, customer satisfaction, and finance. From those patterns, identify the five to fifteen metrics that give you a complete, high-level pulse of the business.

Do not argue about whether a number is perfect. If it is a weekly leading indicator and someone on the Accountability Chart can own it, put it on the scorecard. Commit to tracking it for four to six weeks. Treat your scorecard as an evolving tool. You will naturally refine, swap, and sharpen these metrics during your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ as you run on data. The goal is to get started with an initial draft so you can begin looking at twelve to thirteen weeks of data at a glance to identify patterns.