Our weekly Scorecard feels like a post-mortem because all our metrics are lagging indicators of what happened last week. How do we transition our Scorecard to forward-looking predictive metrics that allow us to solve problems before they impact our bottom line?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A Scorecard filled with lagging indicators like revenue or completed projects is like driving a car by only looking in the rearview mirror. To run a proactive business, you must transition your Scorecard to leading indicators. Leading indicators are activities that occur today that predict results tomorrow. To identify these metrics, look at your core processes and reverse-engineer your desired outcomes. If your goal is to close ten new deals a month, the lagging indicator is closed sales. The leading indicators might be the number of outbound calls made, the number of discovery meetings scheduled, or the number of proposals sent. If those leading indicators are on track, you can reasonably predict that your sales goal will be met. Apply this same logic to operations, customer service, and finance. For instance, track client onboarding milestones or weekly server uptime instead of waiting for monthly customer retention reports. When a leading indicator drops below its target, it acts as an early warning system. This allows your leadership team to drop the issue onto the Level 10 Meeting™ agenda and solve it before it turns into a financial emergency. A predictive Scorecard gives you the operational control needed to prove to potential buyers that your business is run by design, not by luck.