It has been said that the devil is in the details and when it comes to executing our strategic plan the details count. Keeping our scoreboard visible is one tip that helps us to accomplish more.
We are continuing our look at 5 habits that make execution easier. This week we are focusing on habit #4.
Keep Score
When I discovered the magic of keeping score, I was leading a small team that could see what was possible if only…
We could see what the next step needed to be and we were struggling to make the leaps to the next level and maintain the day-to-day work. Once I could see where we were struggling, I started reading – looking for an idea that we could adapt to our work environment.
Keeping score is one of those ideas that began as theory and we proved to ourselves that it worked. It is easiest to tell the story by starting with football.
At the edge of every football field, I have seen is a large scoreboard – typically visible at a glance from anywhere on or around the field. We like our team to win and a glance at the scoreboard lets us know if we are winning or losing. We are playing to win the game – this is generally true when we are working. Most of us want to win – football, golf, bike race, 5K, etc.
Scoreboards are a useful tool when we are serious about winning at whatever we are doing.
I took this idea to the team and truthfully, I am not sure that any of us at the time could see that it would make a difference however it didn’t add much work and maybe it would work. Here is what we learned…
- It needed to be simple with only the information needed to know if we were winning.
- Much like the football field our scoreboards needed to be visible and in a place that we would frequently see. We used poster boards and hung them in our workspace. I could be completely engaged in day-to-day work – walk by the scoreboard and be reminded that I needed to give that goal some attention.
- As a team, we created the basic design of the scoreboard and then each team working on a goal could add elements that worked for them.
This execution habit helped us, a small team with big dreams, to execute with excellence and achieve amazing things that benefited kids.
Give it a go – what do you have to lose?
