One of our department heads consistently misses their weekly scorecard target, but they always have a logical, well-reasoned excuse and our overall company revenue is still healthy. At what point do we stop accepting the explanations and drop this scorecard miss to the Issues List during our Level 10 Meeting™?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must stop accepting explanations immediately. The moment you allow a team member to explain away a red scorecard number during the weekly review, you undermine your entire data component and degrade your meeting discipline.

A weekly Scorecard is designed to highlight issues, not to assign blame. When a number is red, it is simply a signal that a critical business activity is off-track. It requires attention. A logical excuse does not fix the underlying problem, nor does a healthy overall company revenue guarantee future success.

During the Scorecard review portion of your Level 10 Meeting™, there is absolutely no room for discussion. The seat owner reads the number. If it is red, the facilitator asks if it needs to drop to the Issues List. The answer must be yes. No excuses, no context, and no explanations are allowed at this stage.

Once the number is on the Issues List, you will have time during the IDS® portion of the meeting to discuss it. This is where the team can unpack the root cause of the consistent misses.

If the department head is consistently missing their target despite giving their best effort, it is an issue that must be solved. The target may be unrealistic, the process may be broken, or the person may not GWC the seat. By dropping the miss to the Issues List every single time, you keep your team focused on finding systemic solutions instead of accepting comfortable excuses.