How to Create Your CEO Job Scorecard

A job scorecard is a vital tool for any CEO, offering a clear framework for defining and achieving success in their role, as I’ve discussed in a previous article on how to become an effective CEO [link to article]. 

A job scorecard moves beyond a traditional job description to outline the values, specific behaviors, measurable results, responsibilities, authority (if applicable), and essential competencies to focus on in a role.

Benefits for the CEO:

Clear Expectations: A clear CEO job scorecard defines what success looks like, providing objective benchmarks for performance.

Strategic Focus: It helps you align your efforts with the highest value activities needed to lead your team and company to achieve your desired results. Ultimately, it helps you stay out of the weeds.

CEO Development: It provides a clear basis for assessing what parts of a CEO job you’re doing well and what parts can be improved to become more effective.

Values Reinforcement: It helps you focus on your company‘s core values and specific behaviours in order to set an example for the organization.

Succession Planning: It helps define the ideal profile for a future CEO successor, so you can proactively develop internal candidates, or if needed, find and select an ideal external candidate.


Key Components of A Job Scorecard:

Following is an overview of all the essential elements of a clear job scorecard. Also feel free to contact me [link to contact me form page] to access, at no charge, the job scorecard template I use with clients, or use the form in this article.


Purpose of the Job:

This is a concise, one-line statement that captures the primary outcome or key result your role is intended to produce. It should clearly articulate the fundamental reason the job exists and its most significant contribution to the company. Feel free to contact me [link to contact me form page] to access our draft CEO job scorecard that includes the purpose of the CEO job that we recommend to clients, or use the form in this article.


Company Core Values and Behaviors:

This section outlines the core values of your company and the specific behaviors that exemplify them. List each core value and the observable behaviors associated with each. This serves as a personal guide and sets a powerful example for the entire organization, demonstrating the importance of living these values from the top down. Identifying your company’s core values and behaviours is best done with your executive team, to ensure full buy-in. However, make sure you believe in them too, because you’ll need to promote and enforce them on an ongoing basis.


Results, Metrics and Standard Targets:

This section focuses on the "whats" of the job – the measurable outcomes that demonstrate your success. As discussed in a previous article on the role of an effective CEO [link to article], this should include both lagging company results, like key financial numbers, as well as leading company results related to the market, customers and employees. Our draft CEO job scorecard also gives you a running start at these metrics. Then identify the standard mid-level, top-end and bottom-end targets for each metric.


Areas of Accountability and Responsibilities:

Responsibilities are the job-specific duties and activities expected in your role, grouped into "areas of accountability" that represent common outcomes. Think of these as the "must-hows" – the non-negotiable ways of operating that are specific to your role and the company. This section should not list every single task but rather the critical activities that ensure you achieve your desired results and targets. As we covered in a previous article on the role of an effective CEO [link to article], the responsibilities of a CEO fall under the areas of: Strategy and Planning, Team Development, Organizational Communication, Managing the Culture, Strategic Partnerships, and Continuity Planning. The responsibilities we recommend are included in our draft CEO job scorecard.


Authority:

If you’re a hired CEO, this section clearly defines the decisions you, as CEO, have the authority to make, as well as any limitations on that authority. This type of clarity can make it easier for you to negotiate more authority than you may currently have, because the other areas of the job scorecard will provide assurance that you have things well under control. It can also help you ensure your owner or owners retain authority for the types of decisions you need them to make so that you have their full support. Some common types of authority we recommend are also included in our draft CEO job scorecard.


Key Competencies:

Competencies describe the essential skills and abilities required to perform your responsibilities and achieve your desired results. Select the behavioral competencies that are absolutely critical for anyone to be successful in the CEO role. This ensures the scorecard focuses on what is truly essential for your role. For a CEO, this can be a long list, including high level leadership competencies as well as more basic pre-requisite competencies also needed to be successful. We recommend a method to select these competencies and make them more manageable. A full list of potential competencies is included in our job scorecard template, and the essential ones we recommend for CEOs are included in our draft CEO job scorecard.

Note that a job scorecard is dynamic, adjustable as needed, but always serving as the definitive document capturing what it means to excel in the CEO role.


So, do you see the value in creating your CEO job scorecard? If so, contact me to get our complimentary job scorecard template and draft CEO job scorecard to help get you started, or use the form in this article.

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If you are a prairie CEO who wants to grow a thriving company, team and life more quickly, more easily and with less stress and headache, please contact me here