Today, we look at the Keep Score practice on the strategy row of fundamental practices for success. Leaders can reach their vision by adopting these 8 practices.
StrategyOS works with these fundamentals by creating a process to execute them as part of your daily work.
Now, here’s today’s newsletter covering setting up scorecards to ensure action leads to delivering your vision…
A scorecard is the best way to ensure progress toward your vision. Completing rocks and action items and resolving issues is only valuable if it can eventually be measured on the score card that demonstrates results are achieved and you are working toward your Vision.
Scorecards check the health of the business model by monitoring quantifiable results. They create fast cycles of feedback to help steer daily activities. A company scorecard with key measures ties together all the strategy elements in a way to verify progress and achievement.
Use Themes to organize measures into groups. Have two or three of the most important Measures that show performance for each. Measures are only useful if they support Themes and ultimately track progress toward your Business Model Vision, so use them as the basis for evaluating the utility of any measure on the scorecard.
Start simple. You don’t need fancy dashboards or real-time tracking to get started. Start with a matrix of past scores. There is no need to wait for all your metrics to be available to begin regular tracking. As soon as you have one metric, use the scorecard on a regular basis. Add other measures as soon as you are able.
In addition to result metrics that might not change each week, be sure to include leading measures to give early indication of success and key diagnostic measures to help determine if potential trouble areas need more or less focus. Include measures to ensure you are monitoring work that may be needed around non-operational improvements like developing your people, new competencies and the right customers.
Show the Theme Outcome (typically 3 year target) annual Target and at least quarterly goals for each Measure. Since quarterly performance can vary, normally performance is tracked against the annual Target. Use smart goals to set a threshold, target, and stretch goal for each Measure. This allows you to have an objective way to code and color performance across the scorecard as outstanding (green – at or above Target), satisfactory (yellow – between threshold and Target), or unacceptable (red – below threshold.) Trends might also impact the performance coding of a metric; err on the side of highlighting where attention is needed.
I also add Rocks related to the Theme to the score card and show them color coded to indicate whether or not they are on track or at risk. Often reaching a goal requires having a Rock complete.
Assign owners that are responsible for tracking each metric and its performance. Update your scorecard weekly and review it as part of the pre-work for your Leadership Team Meeting. This ensures you know whether you are getting results from daily and weekly actions that work toward quarterly goals and yearly Targets.
If not, raise the issues that the metrics highlight. Track and resolve these according to your problem resolution approach.
Give scorecards extra scrutiny at quarterly and annual meetings to ensure you are ultimately progressing to deliver your strategy Themes and your longer-term Vision.
You can find an example Scorecard here. How will you use a scorecard to evaluate progress toward your vision?
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Follow your Passion, find Joy in your work, and create Freedom to pursue all life’s priorities.
Horizon Line Group 
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