Our leaders try to set leading indicators like booked client discovery calls or incoming customer inquiries, but these depend on external market actions. How do we test whether a weekly Scorecard measurable is a true controllable leading indicator versus an uncontrollable upstream outcome?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Incoming inquiries and booked discovery calls are not leading activities. They are early lagging outcomes. The market decides whether to call you or book on your calendar. Your team does not control that decision.

A true leading indicator meets one strict operational test: your employee must have 100 percent direct control over the activity, regardless of how the outside world reacts. If your team does the work, the number goes up. If they sit on their hands, the number drops to zero.

To separate controllable inputs from early outcomes, trace the workflow backward:

- Booked discovery calls is an early outcome. Target outreach calls made or custom pitch videos delivered is the controllable leading activity.
- Proposals accepted is a lagging outcome. Proposals delivered within 24 hours of qualification is a controllable leading activity.
- Customer five-star reviews is a lagging outcome. Proactive account check-in calls completed is a controllable leading activity.

Lagging outcomes tell you what happened. Controllable leading indicators tell you what work was executed this week to create future outcomes. If your Scorecard tracks market responses, your team will spend their Level 10 Meeting explaining why third parties failed to respond rather than owning their execution.

Review every measurable on your sheet. If an outside vendor, customer, or economic shift can stop your team from hitting the number even when they put in forty hours of focused effort, that number is not a pure leading indicator. Shift the target to the specific internal activity that drives that outcome.