When establishing weekly Scorecard targets, our leadership team argues about whether goals should be aspirational stretch targets to motivate staff or realistic baselines that trigger an issue when missed. How should we set the weekly goal for each measurable?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A Scorecard target is not a motivational stretch goal. It is an operational baseline that defines acceptable health for your business.

Stretch goals belong in your Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) as long-term targets, or as ambitious quarterly Rocks. The weekly Scorecard, by contrast, is your company dashboard. In an airplane, the fuel gauge does not show an aspirational amount of fuel to motivate the engine; it shows whether you have enough fuel to stay in the air.

When you set unrealistic stretch targets on a weekly Scorecard, your numbers stay permanently red. Within three weeks, your leadership team develops learned helplessness. Red numbers become normalized, no one drops missed numbers to the Issues List, and genuine operational failures hide behind unrealistic expectations.

Use this standard to set your weekly Scorecard goals:
- Define the minimum acceptable standard: The target must be the threshold below which the business cannot hit its quarterly and annual commitments. If hitting 85 percent of the target satisfies your quarterly plan, then 85 percent is your Scorecard goal.
- Base goals on proven math: Work backward from your financial targets. If you need 1.2 million dollars in closed business this quarter, calculate the exact number of weekly proposals and discovery calls required at historical conversion rates. That operational requirement is your target.
- Treat every miss as a real issue: If the number is set properly, missing the goal even once is a warning sign that deserves five seconds of review and an entry on the Issues List.

Set your Scorecard targets at absolute operational necessity. When green means healthy and red means broken, your team will act with decisive urgency.