Need a Vacation? Get a Scorecard
Business owner, want a vacation somewhere nice after The World’s Longest January™? You need a Scorecard.
Imagine you’re on a tropical island. Blue skies, crystal-clear water. White sand soft as talcum powder. You’re relaxing in a lounge chair with a drink in your hand. The kind with an umbrella in it.
A server comes out with another frosty drink and a sheet of paper. Cell phone reception’s terrible, the Internet’s down, and the hotel’s all out of carrier pigeons. You can’t reach the office. But the numbers on that sheet of paper free you up to stay on that island, in that chair, drinking that frosty drink, another day. Or another week.
That’s Scorecard: Five to 15 activity-based numbers giving you an absolute pulse on your business. They’re leading indicators that predict your quarterly results, so you can feel confident packing your bag. (One bag—all you’re packing is flip flops, shorts and a swimsuit, after all.)
Create Your Scorecard
Actually, what’s in your head for the sheet of paper is your rough-draft Scorecard. Finalize it with your leadership team’s help. Here’s how:
One: Write on a whiteboard the five results every company wants:
- Get new customers
- Get orders from existing customers
- Ensure customers are happy
- Serve those customers profitably
- Have cash
Two: Let the team tweak the results list with items critical to them that are missing.
Three: For each business result ask, “What are the two to three most important things you do every day and every week to make that happen?”
Those most important things are your numbers. Now, for each number:
- Set a weekly goal.
- Make one person accountable for hitting that goal every week.
- Track performance weekly with your leadership team.
Do that, and you’ll have an absolute pulse on your business.
See some sample scorecards at gear80.co/scorecard.
Take a break this summer! Come back refreshed and energized to grow your business and create more jobs here in Lincoln.
Scorecard is a vacation machine. Use one, and take one.
Scorecard and the Entrepreneurial Operating System:
Scorecard is part of the Entrepreneurial Operating System®: A complete, proven system with simple, practical tools that get you great at achieving vision, traction, and healthy.
- Vision: Everyone on the same page with where you’re going and how to get there.
- Traction: Everyone executing on your vision with discipline and accountability.
- Healthy: Your team’s a cohesive group of people who enjoy working together.
Great Lincoln companies like EyeCare Specialties, Berry Law Firm, Bulu, ComPro, and Firespring run on the Entrepreneurial Operating System and get fantastic results. Text or call me at (402) 202-2820 if you’d like to join them.
