We here in South Florida are in the final third of the Hurricane season. Fortunately, so far, we’ve been spared. However, there’s a lot going on in the gulf this year. New Orleans and Texas have been bearing the brunt of storms throughout the season. What I most remember about that area was Hurricane Katrina in 2005 how it completely ravaged New Orleans. What I also remember was being a football fan that first Monday Night football game hosted by the New Orleans Saints back in the Super Dome. It was like the city was able to feel whole again as they all finally got a chance to cheer after weeks of adversity.
During this time there were also some lower-level football games going on in the city. One particular Friday evening, weeks after the storm the local high school team had an important game to play. As usual and expected, the stands were full of moms, dads, and friends of the young boys to watch them play. Everyone experienced the usual excitement leading up to the kickoff including the actual opening kick-off of where everyone hoots, hollers, and makes lots of noise.
However, what was most interesting is once the ball was kicked off and the game progressed, something unusual was happening. No one was cheering. There was no enthusiasm or excitement coming from the stands. No longer were the moms, dads, and friends cheering for their son or favorite player. Actually, no one was even paying attention to the game at all. What was going on?
What was happening was that the scoreboard had been blown down by the hurricane and had not yet been repaired. Because there was no scoreboard, no one knew what down it was, how many yards to a first down, how much time was left on the clock, and most importantly what the score was. The game was in progress, the boys were playing, however, no one in the stands knew what was actually happening.
The lesson is that no matter how hard the game is being played if you are not keeping score, they will soon become disengaged and will no longer care. If you do not have a compelling scoreboard in your organization where people are keeping track of not only their own in addition to the overall company progress, the results, where you’re at, and how far you need to go to accomplish the goal, the enthusiasm will eventually erode and they will become disengaged.
Why is this so important? It’s because disengaged employees cost the US economy billions of dollars in lost productivity. That’s bottom-line dollars we can’t afford to lose.
There is nothing more exciting to me than in business when the entire team is engaged while tracking the goals and KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). When the salespeople are competing in a friendly and professional manner to be the top dog (as they say).
Great teams know what it takes to win because they know to keep score. I encourage you to create a Compelling Scoreboard, empower your team, track the KPI’s, consistently measure your progress, and go win your game.