Maintaining clarity on your scorecard targets
Of all the different ways to implement a scorecard, there are some that tend to be more mathematical and some which are more intuitive. Clearly, there is no “right answer,” rather it varies by industry and corporate personality. However, one thing is constant: If you’re going to use your scorecard as a communication tool, make sure it’s build in a way that your people can understand success.
While companies see the purpose of the scorecard in different ways, whether it be the integration into other systems such as compensation or grading corporate performance to the board, it often pushes the scorecard to become highly mathematical. This isn’t to say that this is a bad thing, provided that the organization maintains the clarity on what is being targeted and what success looks like. Without a clear picture of exactly where the company is moving, it will be difficult to maintain alignment between the organizational resources and the strategic direction.
So, feel free to evolve your scorecarding methodology, but don’t forget to talk about “what does this mean to our people” before you sign off on next years goals.