Our business is highly seasonal, meaning our sales and operational volumes swing wildly depending on the time of year, making static weekly Scorecard targets either demoralizingly high or pointlessly low. How do we set realistic weekly targets on our Scorecard for a seasonal business without changing our goals every week?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Setting static weekly targets in a seasonal business is a common mistake that leads to frustration. During the off-season, your team will constantly hit red numbers despite working hard, which destroys morale. During the peak season, they will hit green easily without pushing themselves, which breeds complacency.

To solve this, you must implement dynamic, seasonally adjusted targets on your weekly Scorecard. Instead of a single static number for the entire year, you should set quarterly or monthly targets that reflect your historical seasonal trends.

When you build your V/TO® and map out your weekly Scorecard for the upcoming quarter, look at your historical data for that specific three-month period from previous years. Use that historical baseline to establish realistic, challenging targets for each week of that quarter.

For example, if your peak sales occur in the summer, your weekly sales target might be fifty units in July, but only fifteen units in January. Your operations capacity targets must scale accordingly.

The owner of each seat must still own their respective metrics, but the target they are aiming for will adjust based on the calendar. This approach keeps the targets highly relevant and keeps your team focused on winning the week they are currently in. It ensures that green always represents peak performance relative to the season, maintaining high accountability and motivation year-round.