We have thirty numbers on our weekly Scorecard and none of them actually tell us if we are winning or losing. How do we fix this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A useful weekly Scorecard should give you a clear pulse on the business in less than five minutes. If you have thirty numbers on your dashboard, you do not have a Scorecard, you have an overwhelming data dump. You cannot run a business effectively when you are drowning in noise. To fix this, strip your Scorecard down to five to fifteen high-level, leading indicators. These must be numbers that predict future results, not lagging indicators that only tell you what happened last month. Every single number on your Scorecard must have:
- A clear target to hit weekly.
- A single owner on the Accountability Chart who is responsible for that number.
- A direct link to an active process in your business.
If a number misses its target, it turns red and immediately drops to the weekly Issues List to be addressed during IDS®. Keep refining your Scorecard over several weeks. If a number does not trigger a meaningful action or discussion when it misses its target, remove it. Your Scorecard should only contain the absolute essentials required to know if the company is on track to hit its quarterly goals.