As the founder of a growing business, you want to make sure that your staff are performing at the peak of their ability. You (hopefully) have employed a great - or improving - team, but how are you getting them to engage with the business and keeping tabs on their performance?
This is where Employee Role Scorecards come in.
Employee Role Scorecards set expectations around key performance indicators (KPIs), provide clarity of what is required to succeed in a given role - for both the team member and the manager - and can be used as a coaching document to identify opportunities for development and improvement.
Observing adverse trends in scorecards metric can see where things are going right, and identify when things are heading off track. And where multiple people are in similar roles - if used wisely - scorecard metrics can also create competition to achieve results.
What is a scorecard
Desired result metrics and key responsibilities form the basis for a scorecard. Scorecards can be kept on a spreadsheet, in a database, or (if you have to) on a sheet of paper.
Less is more when it comes to metrics - keep the number of metrics between one and five, recorded and reviewed at least monthly.
See below for a scorecard snapshot.
Benefit to the business
Employee Role Scorecards force the business to consider what is required - and what defines success - for each role.
Scorecards also provide a basis and structure for regular reporting and review with each team member. These regular review sessions go a long way to engaging team members, and making sure everyone feels like they are part of a team with a common goal.
Benefit to the team member
Team members benefit by having a scorecard that clearly defines success, and that forms the basis for regular review sessions. With the desired results laid out as target metrics, an employee or contractor can clearly see what is required of them, and focus on achieving these results.
Good metrics
Bad metrics
Choosing a metric starts with the overall goal of your business. Consider the purpose of the of the role, write out the key responsibilities, then ask yourself (or the team member) “how do I know this person had a great week”. You may want to agree on a purpose for the team first, then the purpose of each role in the team.
Some example metrics are shown below.
Example metrics
Sales
Customer Satisfaction
Operations
Staff Satisfaction
Reporting and review
For effective at monitoring and reporting, metrics should be reported weekly if possible, or no less than monthly. Reviews should be conducted monthly (or more frequent for fast-growing businesses), with more in-depth formal “performance reviews” taking place once or twice per year.
To improve team engagement, the monthly scorecard review needs to be a two-way street. In addition to the manager reviewing the scorecard metrics and an assessment of key responsibilities, the team member needs an ability to provide feedback to the business. Some examples of this are shown in the scorecard review snapshot shown below.
Each member of your team should feel they are part of a team, they should feel heard, and they should have a sense of achievement.
Employee Role Scorecards are another tool in your arsenal to meet your teams needs and keep them engaged.
Key takeaways
- Every person in your business should have a scorecard
- Each scorecard should have 1 - 5 specific and measurable metrics
- Review scorecards with team members monthly
- Scorecards are used to measure success (what goes right) and identify when things start to head off track (what goes wrong)
Download the template
Use our Scorecard & Monthly Review template
