Guide to the role scorecard

The scorecard is composed of three parts:

the job’s mission,

outcomes, and

competencies.

Together, these three pieces describe A performance in the role—what a person must accomplish, and how. They provide a clear linkage between the people you hire and your strategy.

Mission

The mission is an executive summary of the job’s core purpose. It boils the job down to its essence so everybody understands why you need to hire someone into the slot.

The mission for the VP of sales clearly captures why the role exists: to grow revenue through direct contacts with industrial customers. That’s it. It isn’t to build channel sales. It isn’t to seek new industry verticals. It isn’t to serve as an administrator.

Outcomes

Outcomes, the second part of a scorecard, describe what a person needs to accomplish in a role. Most of the jobs for which we hire have three to eight outcomes, ranked by order of importance.

Set the outcomes high enough—but still within reason—and you’ll scare off B and C Players even as you pull in the kind of A Players who thrive on big challenges that fit their skills.

While typical job descriptions break down because they focus on activities, or a list of things a person will be doing (calling on customers, selling), scorecards succeed because they focus on outcomes, or what a person must get done (grow revenue from $25 million to $50 million by the end of year three). Do you see the distinction?

Competencies

Competencies define how you expect a new hire to operate in the fulfillment of the job and the achievement of the outcomes.

Focused Interview Guide

The purpose of this interview is to talk about _______ .

Fill in the blank with the specific outcome or competency such as the person's experience selling to new customers, building and leading a team, creating strategic plans, acting aggressively and persistently, etc.)

What are you biggest accomplishments in this area during your career?

What are your insights into your biggest mistakes and lessons learned in this area?

Get curious

What? How? Tell me more?

Until you understand what the person did and how he or she did it.