Team Scoreboard:Knowing Where Your Team Stands

Posted in: Team Tools, Workplace Performance, Workplace Teams
What is a Team Scoreboard?
A team scoreboard is a tool that enables a team to visually monitor and display current team progress on top priorities and goals. It can also be used to organize team information regarding scheduling, training, problem solving, and communication. Team scoreboards may vary in their configuration and placement depending on the needs and objectives of a given team.

Why Team Scoreboards Are Important?
Teams and team members need to know how well they are doing. They need to know, in real-time, whether they are “winning” or “losing” so that they can adjust accordingly.

The Team Scoreboard Helps the Team:

Create focus
Sustain team member commitment
Make “real-time” adjustments
Conduct team discussions
Collaborate on solving problems
Celebrate team success
Teams have a right to know how well they are doing. They need to know whether they are currently “winning” or “losing” while it still matters, while they can still make difference. Team scoreboards help make that happen!

The Team Scoreboard Should:

Constantly display and communicate the team’s priority goals.
Provide relevant and current information on how well the team is doing to meet those goals.
Notify the team of important updates or issues that need to be addressed.
Keep the team focused, motivated, and committed to team success.
Help the team coordinate work schedules.
Facilitate team collaboration, problem solving, and project planning.
Coordinate team training plans and schedules.
Tips to Create A Powerful Scoreboard
Make the team scoreboard easily accessible for each team member.
Keep the scoreboard within view of each team member – within their normal work environment.
Make the scoreboard as visual and self-explanatory as possible. Graphs, charts, symbols, and colors are better than just words and numbers.
The scoreboard can be posted on a wall or on a monitor. There are several web-based tools these days that can be used to automate team scoreboards so that they display on the team member’s desktop computer. In fact, with today’s technology, you can even have a scoreboard that shows up on a team member’s smart phones.
Team Scoreboard Example:

Team Scoreboard

Success Check
Does our team know whether it is currently “wining” or “losing?”
Does our team have an adequate system to keep score?
Does our scoreboard display and communicate the team’s priority goals?
Does our scoreboard display relevant and current information on how well the team is doing to meet those goals?
Does our scoreboard inform the team of important updates or issues that need to be addressed?
Does the scoreboard help to keep the team focused, motivated, and committed to team success?
Does the scoreboard help the team coordinate work schedules?
Does the scoreboard help facilitate team collaboration, problem solving, and project planning?
Does the scoreboard help coordinate team training plans and schedules?