We know our leadership team needs to track between five and fifteen metrics on our Scorecard, but every time we try to narrow it down, we end up with forty numbers because we are terrified of missing a blind spot. What is the filter we should use to aggressively pare this down to the absolute essentials?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To successfully pare your metrics down to 5 to 15 numbers, use the airplane metaphor. If you were flying a plane over the ocean and could only see a small dashboard of twelve dials, which dials would tell you if you are going to land safely or crash? Everything else is secondary noise.

Start by looking at your Accountability Chart. Each major seat should have one to three primary weekly indicators that prove they are executing their core functions. If marketing, sales, operations, and finance each have two high-level leading indicators, you will naturally end up with about eight to ten numbers. If you track more than fifteen, you track nothing because the critical signals get drowned out by the volume of data.

Trust that your departmental scorecards will catch the granular details. Your leadership team Scorecard must only track the high-level pulse of the business. If a metric does not trigger an immediate operational action or discussion when it goes red, it does not belong on the leadership Scorecard. Strip it away and push it down to a departmental level.