Introduction
Two proven critical success factors that will help you and your leadership team to stay on track are:
1. using a Scorecard with the right key performance measures and
2. running highly effective Weekly Meetings to assess progress and resolve issues.
In our first blog article “Strategies to Close the Execution Gap” we emphasised the importance of first and foremost getting clarity on what needs to be done, and being intentional about which priorities and how many you will focus on within the month, quarter or year.
Making consistent and positive progress towards your business objectives requires you and your Leadership team to make good choices and keep the focus on the most important tasks. Avoid letting everything become a priority or changing priorities every other week.
Another obstacle to consistent progress is failing to address the issues that hinder your team’s success. These issues need to be identified, prioritised, and resolved to prevent underachievement and demotivation.
Once you are clear on your goals and priorities for the quarter, the next steps to stay on track are:
1. Set up and use a scorecard to track and manage your progress towards achieving your targets.
2. Review your teams progress weekly using the scorecard as your compass to quickly identify actions needed to stay or get back on track.
This blog discusses the key considerations for setting up your scorecard, defining clear and measurable targets, and running effective Weekly Meetings to keep your team on track.
Setting Up Your Scorecard
Using a scorecard with key measures and targets aligned with your priorities and business objectives will help ensure you and your team remain focused on what matters most. You will also need to work with data and the “facts” to determine whether you are making progress or drifting off track.
Your scorecard should include all key targets for the current quarter, along with historical actual results from previous Quarters which will help you to identify trends and track the impact of your actions.
The key numbers to track should be weekly and activity-based, not monthly financial performance (i.e., Profit & Loss) numbers. Performance against your scorecard should indicate whether or not you are on target for strong financial or overall business performance. Monthly financial results should still be reviewed which we recommend including as an agenda item at every fourth weekly meeting.
You and your Leadership team need to agree on all the areas that require measures or targets to track, such as Sales, Customer, Team, Operations, Financial or major Projects.
For each area agree on up to two or three measures to assess progress towards your targets. Look for leading activity indicators or ratios that will help you predict the likely outcome and better understand whether or not you are on track. For example rather than Sales Revenue which is a lagging indicator use:
• weekly booked revenue, or
• weekly proposal $value made, or
• close / won deals $value or percentage, or
• value of new opportunities added to pipeline.
Ideally your scorecard will have no more than 15 measures. It is likely that it will take you several iterations to get to the right balance of how many measures and surfacing and “proving” the most useful leading measures. Rather than wait for “perfection” we advise starting with your best effort then refining as you go. Another important step is to work backwards from your target at the end of the Quarter to determine your weekly run rate target. This step also tests the “achievability” of the target and the timeframe you are aiming for.
For each key measure or category of performance assign an Owner who is accountable for:
• delivering the target,
• tracking weekly performance, and
• addressing any variances between actual and target results. While others may contribute or assist with success there should always only be one Owner.
Depending on your business size you may improve results by cascading scorecards and the weekly meeting process to your business teams or departments. We recommend only doing this however, once the process is working well with the Leadership team.
Using SMART Measures
We know that shared clarity on what we are seeking to achieve is the first step in consistent effective execution. To achieve this use the SMART framework to ensure the target is:
• Specific: Clear and detailed enough to remove ambiguity and provide direction.
• Measurable: Quantifiable ways to measure and track progress.
• Achievable: Realistically attainable with a clear action plan, timeframe and resources
• Relevant: Aligned with long-term objectives and business goals
• Timebound: Has a clear deadline or timeframe.
Examples of (almost) SMART Targets
• Reduce the number of orders shipped outside of our service level agreement from X% per week to under Y% per week by the end of the quarter ending 30 Sept 25
• Increase total Sales Revenue by X% per month by the end of the quarter ending 30 Sept 25
While these are specific, measurable and have a clear timeframe the “Achievable” and “Relevant” factors of SMART also need to be applied. This requires either you or the team thinking through “how” the target can realistically be achieved, in what timeframe, and what activities and resources will be required. This action plan then needs to be agreed and progress reviewed in the weekly scorecard review meeting.
Weekly Meetings
Your weekly meeting helps maintain focus on your targets and results requiring the leadership team to actively and regularly assess progress and quickly act to remove or mitigate issues hindering success. Done well they also reduce the need for more frequent catch-ups and 1 on 1’s.
The weekly meeting should last between 60-90 minutes. The trick is to not get into lengthy discussions as you quickly work through your Scorecard in the first part of the meeting. You will either be on track or not. On track is a tick and move on! When Off track allow one or two minutes if needed to clarify the situation then add the “miss” to your Issues list for more in-depth discussion in the second part of the meeting. You should aim to spend maybe 20 minutes on this first part of the meeting with the remaining time spent addressing the areas that aren’t on track and resolving priority issues.
After reviewing the scorecard, your focus then switches to the Weekly Issues List. Delegate issues that can be best addressed by specific teams or individuals outside the leadership group then re-prioritise the remaining issues. Starting with the top priority issue, work through a clear definition of the issue, then assess its root cause(s) and what actions are necessary to resolve or mitigate it. Once a plan of action, the Owner and timeframe are agreed and recorded on the Issues list, move on to the next highest priority issue until the available meeting time is exhausted.
Our Plan2Execute Immediate Actions Guide includes a Weekly Meeting Agenda, a section on effective Issue Management and an example Issue tracking worksheet you can copy.
Conclusion
First, get your priorities clear for the next quarter then set up your Scorecard, assign ownership of each target, use SMART criteria to define success and establish the leading indicators you will use. Hold weekly meetings to review progress. Start now and as your team becomes more comfortable with the Weekly Meeting approach, refine the scorecard and your meeting process for greater effectiveness. While there is a lot more that we could (and may in future) write about refining and finessing each of these Execution pillars (Scorecard, Leading Indicators, Weekly Meeting, and Issue Management) getting these in place and pushing forward will go a long way to helping you stay on track.
At Management Response, we work with business owners and their teams to sharpen planning and execution. We have developed an SME-tailored Planning and Execution methodology, which we would be happy to discuss in more detail. Contact us for a free, no-pressure discussion.
