Running a small-to-medium-sized business is like a road trip. You have a destination in mind—growth, profitability, or market leadership—but if you don’t have a solid map, clear milestones, and a way to track progress, you risk veering off course. Without a system to measure what’s working (and what’s not), businesses often fall into common traps: burning through cash on ineffective initiatives, team members pulling in different directions, struggling to gain momentum, and celebrating numbers that may look good on paper but don’t actually drive real progress.
That’s where Scorecards and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) come in. Used correctly, they’re powerful tools that align your team and turn strategy into action. Used poorly—or not at all—they’re just another “management thing” that collects dust while your business stays stuck in neutral.
So how do these tools work in real-world terms and how they can help your business avoid roadblocks and accelerate growth?
Building a Scorecard System That Drives Alignment
A well-designed scorecard system isn’t just about tracking performance—it’s about ensuring alignment and accountability at every level of the company. From high-level business objectives down to individual contributions, scorecards provide a structured way to measure success, keep teams focused, and create a culture of continuous improvement. A medium-sized company might divide their scorecard levels like this:
- Company-Wide Scorecards – These set your overall strategy for growth and track more broad numbers such as revenue and gross profit. They define success for the entire business and serve as the foundation for all other scorecards.
- Departmental Scorecards – Each department (e.g., Sales, HR, Operations, Customer Service) tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) specific to its function. For Sales that might be the number of proposals sent each week. For Ops, it might be the number of errors caught by Quality Assurance. These scorecards break down company-wide objectives into actionable goals that drive daily operations.
- Managerial Scorecards – Managers are held accountable for overseeing their teams and ensuring their department’s success. These scorecards track leadership effectiveness, team performance, and goal attainment, ensuring that managers drive progress and remove obstacles.
- Individual Employee Scorecards – Every team member has a clear set of expectations and measurable goals that align with their role. These scorecards ensure that each employee understands their responsibilities and how their work contributes to the bigger picture.
The key is making sure everything lines up. Each scorecard should relate to the one above it, so everyone is working toward the same big-picture goals. This way, decisions are based on actual data, not just gut feelings, which helps both leaders and employees make smarter, more informed choices. It also takes the guesswork and emotion out of the process—because feelings aren’t measurable but real performance is.
How to Set OKRs That Actually Work
OKRs follow a simple format. The Objective is a big-picture goal that defines what you want to achieve, such as “Increase brand awareness.” The Key Results are the measurable steps that indicate progress toward that goal. For example, to increase brand awareness, a business might aim to secure five local press mentions.
Pro Tips for OKRs
- Set a ‘Zero KR’ for Stretch Goals – Want to test a big idea? Start with a Key Result baseline of zero (e.g., “Launch a pilot partnership with one local business”).
- Follow the 70% Rule – Hitting 100% of your OKRs means they’re too easy. Aim for 70-80% completion to ensure they’re ambitious but achievable.
- Pair Leading & Lagging Indicators – Revenue growth is a lagging indicator. Balance it with leading indicators like engagement rates or sales calls.
- Make OKRs Personal – If the company’s OKR is “Increase inbound leads by 30%,” a content writer’s KR might be “Publish 4 high-value blog posts per month.”
- Start Small – Limit teams to 1–3 objectives, each with 3–5 key results max.
- Run Monthly OKR Reviews – Don’t just track progress—ask: What’s working? What’s stuck? Should we pivot?
No matter your industry, these tools help you move with intention instead of guesswork—so you’re not just busy, but productive.
Scorecards & OKRs in Action
Here’s how businesses in different industries use Scorecards and OKRs to track progress, improve operations, and drive real results.
A restaurant group might use Scorecards to track key performance indicators such as revenue per location, table turnover rates, and customer review scores. By monitoring these metrics, they can identify trends and areas for improvement in their operations. To enhance the guest experience, they could implement OKRs focused on customer satisfaction and loyalty. For example, they might aim to increase repeat customers by 15%, maintain an average Resy rating of 4.5 stars or higher, and reduce average wait times by 10% through better table management.
A healthcare provider could leverage Scorecards to measure patient satisfaction, appointment wait times, and insurance reimbursement rates. These insights help them optimize patient care and operational efficiency. Their OKRs might center on improving patient access to care by reducing wait times by 20%, increasing telehealth appointment adoption by 30%, and achieving a 90% patient satisfaction score on post-visit surveys. By aligning their goals with measurable outcomes, they can enhance both patient experiences and internal workflows.
A construction company may rely on Scorecards to track project completion rates and safety compliance, ensuring that projects are finished on time and meet industry standards. To improve efficiency, they might set OKRs aimed at reducing project delays and streamlining operations. Their objectives could include decreasing project overruns by 15% and increasing the on-time project completion rate to 90%. By focusing on these targets, they can drive productivity, enhance safety, and deliver better results for their clients.
Commonwealth Payroll & HR Is Your Co-Pilot
Want to learn how to use scorecards and OKRs to hold your remote employees accountable? Join us on Tuesday, March 18th, at 1:00 PM ET for our exclusive webinar, Holding Employees Accountable in Remote Work Environments. Led by Jeff Plakans, Founder & President of Commonwealth Payroll & HR, and Ryan Villanueva, Senior Growth Consultant at Crews & Co., this session will show you how to monitor, motivate, and drive results with remote teams using proven strategies.
If you’re ready to take control of performance management in a remote setting, register now to secure your spot! Register today!
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