We understand that leading indicators are supposed to predict future results, but our managers struggle to see the actual cause and effect relationship between a weekly activity and our final monthly results. How do we clearly map our weekly leading indicators to our primary lagging outcomes?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To help your team see the value of leading indicators, you must map the operational chain of custody. Lagging indicators, like monthly revenue or net profit, are just historical reports. They tell you what happened, but they do nothing to help you change the outcome. Leading indicators are activity-based numbers that you can control in real time.

To map the relationship, work backward from your main lagging goals:
- If your lagging goal is closed monthly revenue, the immediate leading indicator is contracts signed.
- The leading indicator before that is proposals delivered.
- The leading indicator before proposals is scheduled discovery calls.
- The leading indicator for discovery calls is outbound marketing activities completed.

When you arrange these numbers on your weekly Scorecard, you can see the future. If your outbound marketing activities drop in week one, you can predict with absolute certainty that your monthly revenue will drop in week eight.

Showing this chain of custody to your leadership team makes the data real. It shifts their mindset from reacting to historical financial statements to actively managing the weekly activities that drive those numbers.