Our sales reps and operations staff have figured out how to game their weekly Scorecard numbers so their measurables stay green even when output quality is low. How do we redesign these metrics to prevent staff from playing the system?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

People game numbers when you track pure volume disconnected from quality, downstream consequences, or revenue conversion. When a sales rep gets measured solely on outbound dials, they call wrong numbers or ring three times and hang up. When a service tech is measured on tickets closed, they close tickets prematurely and force clients to open new ones. The metric looks green, but the business decays.

To kill the gaming, introduce counter-balancing metrics or redefine the measurable around completion criteria that require third-party verification.

- Pair quantity with quality: Do not track dials alone. Track meaningful conversations that result in a booked discovery call. Do not track tickets closed. Track tickets closed with no reopen within seven days.

- Tie measurables to handoffs: When work transitions from one seat to another on your Accountability Chart, let the receiving seat validate the entry. If sales books a meeting that operations disqualifies on arrival, it does not count as a qualified handoff.

- Audit raw activity periodically: You do not need to micromanage daily workflows, but Integrators must run random spot checks on green entries. If an employee logs twenty prospect calls in five minutes, address the integrity issue immediately using your Core Values.

When you measure inputs that have strict definitions of done, gaming becomes harder than simply doing the actual work. Scorecards exist to expose reality, not to make people feel safe. If someone continues to manipulate data to hide poor performance, you have a GWC or Core Values issue, not a scorecard issue.