EOS: Everyone Has a Number

Welcome back to the Business Builder newsletter. We're continuing the EOS series, and in today's issue, I'll share my experience with implementing the “Everyone has a number” measure in my business.

Estimated read time: 3 minutes.

Everyone Should Have a Number

Every member of your organization should be accountable to at least one significant number that clearly defines what’s expected of them and whether they are performing well.

It doesn't matter who keeps score, as long as it's consistently tracked—ideally by the employee themselves. If it’s important, it should be measured. If it’s off track, it must be addressed.

Here are some key questions to consider if a number is off track:

• Is it a performance issue?

• Is the goal realistic?

• Is the job too large for one person to handle?

• Do other conflicting priorities and goals prevent the achievement of the goal?

• Is there a dependency on another person that prevents the employee from achieving the goal?

These discussions provide valuable learning opportunities for both you and your employees.

Setting Clear Expectations

Every effective leader knows that accountability begins with clear expectations. A numerical target is the simplest way to ensure everyone understands what is expected.

Expectations work both ways—your team needs to know what you expect from them, and you must understand their expectations of you.

If you expect your team to meet their numbers, you must also meet their expectations by providing the necessary resources, training, and coaching to help them succeed.

How we’ve applied this:

In my company, the “Everyone Has a Number” measure is linked to our Accountability Chart and its five individual responsibilities.

Everyone in the company has five responsibilities, each associated with a number. These numbers are tracked weekly, either on the functional scorecard or the company-wide scorecard.

The most important number for each person will be one of their five core responsibilities, especially if it’s linked to the company strategy.

For example:

• If someone has a customer engagement role, their KPI might be related to customer satisfaction.

• For someone in HR, their key number might be the number of new prospects.

• For a marketing person, it might be the number of leads generated each week.

Ideally, the KPI should be a person’s leading indicator, not a lagging one.

When everyone has the right number they are responsible for in the organization, you’ll find that everyone is focused on the right tasks and performing at a high level.

I’ll continue sharing business-building insights in the Business-Builder newsletter.

Stay tuned.