The Scoreboard Doesn't Lie

by David Kajganich

It doesn’t matter if it’s sports or business, the numbers tell the story. The scoreboard doesn’t lie. The financial statement doesn’t lie. We live and die by our ability to perform against our opponents or our metrics.

In sports, we know who won by looking at the scoreboard at the end of the game. The scoreboard doesn’t care what the circumstances were that dictated the final score. As my dad used to say, “The conditions/ field/weather were the same for both teams.” Basically, quit whining and making excuses. The other team had the same conditions.

So, it is with business also. Our competitors are facing whatever conditions we are facing. Whether it is the economic conditions, employment issues, supply issues, prospecting, etc. - no time to make excuses because the financial statement doesn’t care.

It really doesn’t matter what you call them…targets, goals, objectives, etc. but you have them in your business. The numbers are extremely important to you, but are they important to your team? Do your employees care if they “win the game” or not? If not, how can you possibly expect to win the game if the players don’t care about the score or aren’t affected by the outcome? Heck, do they even know how the game is going; whether they are winning or losing, do they know the score?

Worse yet; what if they don’t even care? Or are they just going through the motions? Research shows that 55% of employees are not engaged and 20% don’t care at all. Yikes…75% aren’t engaged!

What can you do?

We live and die by our ability to perform against our opponents or our metrics.

First, you can’t allow disengaged employees to remain in the organization because they will be detrimental and cancerous to your business. Second, you must demonstrate to each employee how what they are doing impacts the entire company. Third, the employees need clarity of expectations; exactly what to do to win, what’s expected of them, how to achieve it and how will they know when they have.

Get creative. Set up a “scoreboard” for the team and each individual performance. Review it weekly or monthly, or whatever is suitable for your business. Set some goals and targets to meet. If this is new, then set some small targets. Get some “early wins” to build confidence and momentum. The most important emotional and psychological state for high performance is confidence.

Build their confidence. Teams can achieve greatness with it. Without it, they will crumble.

Once they have the confidence, accountability is easy. They know the targets. They have clarity and certainty. The scoreboard keeps it simple. There is no guessing what is expected of them. Keep the energy going by having short-term objectives. Always have something to strive for.

How will you know how you are doing in leading them?

Check the scoreboard.