Do You Keep Score In Your Company

Do you keep score in your company? Do you know the score on a daily basis or do you have to wait until the end of the month for the books to close on the previous month? What does it cost you to have to wait to know what the score is?

And what about your people? Do they know what the score is? Do they know which number is most critical and where that number stands today? Or are they standing in center field with no scoreboard (often called a dashboard in business) to look at, and no effective way to ask for that information?

If you were to put up a scoreboard in your office, store or factory, what's the one key number that would have to be on it? This may change over time, but for this quarter or this year, what is your critical number? Is it inventory turns per year, or profit per transaction, or transactions per hour or what?

Back to our baseball field, they don't just track the score, do they? They also display historical data (how many runs were scored each inning of the game we're playing now), the number of hits and errors for each team, and current status (balls and strikes for the current batter, the number of outs, and which bases are occupied). Some scoreboards also give you the name of the pitcher and batter, and perhaps who's next up to bat. The center field scoreboard also displays many other bits of information, like the status of other games being played the same day.

What's analogous in your business? Besides that one critical number, what else might be useful for people to have within their line of sight?

There's one other type of dashboard that successful companies are using, as a management tool. This dashboard (scoreboard) shows a row for each of the company quarterly priorities (rocks) with the name of the priority and the name of the accountable person. Each column has a date, and each quarter with therefore have 13 columns for the 13 weeks.

Each week, the person accountable for that priority (rock holder) designates a color for that priority. If the priority is numerical and we're on track, that's green. If we missed but are close, that's yellow. If we're red, that means we're in the unacceptable range. 

For a milestone based priority, if we've met the milestones for that week, that's green. If we've fallen a bit behind but think we can catch up without a major change or reallocation of resources, that's yellow. If something major needs to change in order to get back on track, that's red. 

If the priority isn't so easy to define, we should talk more about how to set good quarterly priorities, but in any case, the rock holder can simply give a color based on their own prediction about where that priority will end up at the end of the quarter. There's no incentive for someone to give an overly rosy picture, because if they're showed green for 12 weeks and then turned up red.

Personal and Business Credit Score

Your personal and business life, is a good credit score. In fact not only will a good credit score get you credit, but it will get you more credit at cheaper rates. And in reality by following a few simple rules, it is easy to get and maintain an exceptional credit rating. In fact it is not hard at all to go from 0 to 850 in less than 5 years.

Here are some of the basics that have work exceptionally well for me in several countries around the world.

Step 1: Get a credit card.

This is without a doubt one of the simplest ways of building a good credit history fast. Credit card agencies report regularly and so it will grow your credit history with haste. Of course the question is how to get a card if you do not have a history.

Most financial institutions would be willing to give you a credit card if you are willing to make a deposit for the value of your card limit, typical allowing them to hold that deposit in a savings account as surety. This way the bank has no risk, and you get your card.

And if you manage your card well, within about one and half to two years it would be possible for you to get unsecured credit.

Step 2: Pay your card in full

One of the most critical aspects of successful credit card management is that you do not use it as a loan. It should be a convenience card, and you should pay the full amount outstanding every month, and on time of course. So do not spend money on your card that you are not able to pay in full. The interest on outstanding amounts are astronomical and so avoiding unpaid debts on your credit cards are essential. The other benefit of paying your card in full is that your available credit to used credit ratios will look better, and this will improve your score even more.

Step 3: Get secured credit

If you do not own a home, perhaps it is time to consider buying one as soon as possible. This is a very cheap form of credit, and there are several options available that will allow you to minimize your monthly payment and still get the full benefit of positive reporting. Interest only type accounts, secured against your home, will make it possible for your to not only improve your available credit to usage ratio as well, but also reduce your payments monthly, making it easier for you to keep up. Remember though, paying on time is still essential.

Step 4: Manage your bill payments with diligence
 

Paying on time will prevent negative reporting, and so it is important for every commitment you make. Overdue accounts will get reported and cost you dearly on your score.

 

Step 5: Live within your means

Having a regular income will prove helpful for your relationship with your bank, and of course may impact on your credit score. What is more important though is that you live within your means. The banks and the credit agencies have several formulas and ways to calculate your financial position and so making sure that you can afford your commitments, before you make them, will show up somewhere. And if done properly.