How Our EOS® Scorecard Helps Me Work Smarter

Before working at a company that runs on EOS®, I remember feeling like my days were packed and scattered all at once. I was constantly in motion with no clear direction. I bounced between different projects, emails, meetings, quick favors, and last-minute urgent requests (but were they really urgent?) that landed on my plate throughout the day. And most weeks ended the same way: I felt completely drained, but when I tried to answer the simple question, “Did I actually move the right things forward?” I couldn’t confidently answer yes.

I was caught in a cycle of measuring the success of my week based on how busy I felt. If my calendar was full and my to-do list was long, I told myself I was doing my job. But when someone asked how things were going, I found myself reaching for vague phrases like “there’s a lot in motion” or “I’m working on a bunch of projects,” because I didn’t have a clear way to see or describe progress. While I didn’t feel like a failure, it also didn't give me much confidence that my effort was moving anything in the right direction (or that I was making an impact at all).

When I joined Ninety and experienced firsthand what it’s like to run on EOS, I noticed a difference right away. Meetings felt like they had a clear purpose instead of just checking a box to say we had one. Quarterly goals for my team weren’t just set, they were owned by a single person and reviewed every week. And my team even had our own EOS® Scorecard with clear data we consistently updated and tracked.

I remember looking at our Scorecard for the first time and feeling pulled in two directions. Part of me loved how organized and focused it looked, but another part of me felt like I had just been handed a weekly report card with my name on it, whether I felt ready for it or not. And yes, that was intimidating. But it didn’t take long to realize the Scorecard was there to give me and my team a simple way to see whether our energy was going to the work that actually mattered.

Why Did Measuring My Work Feel So Uncomfortable at First?

The EOS® Scorecard itself is pretty simple. It’s a list of numbers that shows what success looks like for the company and for each team. In real life, though, seeing your work boiled down to a few measurables for the first time can feel personal, especially if you’re used to talking about your week in general terms instead of concrete results. I remember wondering what it would mean if one of my numbers went red and how that might shape the way people saw me and the work I was doing.

I also worried that measuring my work would force me to narrow how I did my job. I like testing ideas, adjusting as I go, and responding to what I’m seeing from teammates and customers. The idea of being tied to specific numbers made me picture long conversations where every result had to be defended and I had no freedom to experiment. That didn’t sound like a better workweek to me. It just felt like extra pressure stacked on top of everything I was already trying to juggle. So, I admit I was apprehensive about the Scorecard at first.

What started to shift my thinking was watching how my team actually used the Scorecard in our Level 10 Meetings®. No one used the numbers to point fingers or single anyone out. Instead, we used them to focus the conversation on where we needed to pay attention and where we might need to make a decision. When something was off track, the questions sounded more like, “Do we understand why this is happening?” and “Should we turn this into an issue so we can IDS® it?” than the personal attack I imagined.

Seeing that play out in real time helped me realize the Scorecard wasn’t there to catch someone doing a bad job. It was there to give all of us a clear view of what was happening so we could decide together what to do next as a team.

How Our Scorecard Helped Me Refocus My Week

Once I got past the initial discomfort, I started to see the Scorecard differently. Instead of treating it like a weekly report card, I began looking at it as a way to answer a question I’d never really had a clear response to before: “What does progress actually look like for my role?”

That question pushed me to move past general updates and get more honest about what really mattered. In the past, I leaned on how busy I felt and how long my to-do list was. With the Scorecard, I had to ask, “If I say I made progress, what numbers would back that up?” For marketing, that might mean more qualified leads, more of the right people engaging with content, or progress on specific campaigns that tie back to company goals. For other teams, it might show up as response times, shipped work, or key financial measurables. The details look different by team, but the idea is the same.

Once those measurables were clear in Ninety, my week started to feel more focused. They gave me a simple way to sort through all the noise and prioritize the work that actually mattered. I still had plenty of emails, meetings, and last-minute requests, but they weren’t the only way I evaluated my contribution anymore. If the measurables tied to my role were moving in the right direction and the work behind them connected to our team’s Rocks, I could finish the week with a stronger sense that my energy went to the right places. That alone took a lot of the vague stress out of my day-to-day because I wasn’t relying only on how busy (or chaotic) work felt to decide whether I was doing a good job.

How You Can Use Your EOS® Scorecard to Work Smarter

Once your measurables are set with clear targets in Ninety, the Scorecard can be more than a report you update and review once a week. For me, I use it to help me set up my week so I’m working on what actually matters instead of just what’s at the top of my to-do list from Friday.

Here are a few practical ways anyone on a team can use the Scorecard to plan their week:

• Start with your Scorecard, not your inbox: At the beginning of the week, open Ninety and scan your EOS® Scorecard before you look at email or chat. Look for the measurables tied to your role and pay attention to what’s on track, what’s off track, and what looks different from what you expected.
• Turn concerning numbers into issues: When you see a measurable that’s off track or stuck in the same spot, don’t just carry that stress around. Add it as an issue for your next Level 10 Meeting so your team can IDS it together instead of you trying to figure it out alone.
• Capture what’s working when numbers are better than expected: If a number jumps in a good way or consistently beats the target, take the time to write down what you think contributed to it. You can add a quick note in Ninety, bring it as a positive topic or issue in your L10, and talk about how to repeat or scale what worked instead of treating it as a lucky week.
• Align your To-Dos with your measurables: After you’ve looked at the Scorecard, review your To-Dos for the coming week in Ninety. Ask how each one connects back to a measurable or a priority. If it doesn’t connect to anything important, that’s a cue to reshape it, push it back, or talk with your leader about where it really fits.
• Use your Scorecard as a filter for new work: When new requests show up during the week, glance back at your measurables. If the request clearly supports them, it probably deserves your time. If it doesn’t, you can start a more grounded conversation about timing, tradeoffs, or whether it truly needs to happen right now.

These steps don’t take long, but they change the starting point for your week. Instead of letting your calendar, inbox, or stress decide what matters most, you’re letting the Scorecard do that job and then making your work align.

What Happens When You Actually Measure What Matters

If the EOS® Scorecard feels a little uncomfortable at first, that makes sense. It asks you to move from “I’m really busy” to “Here’s what actually moved this week,” and that shift can feel exposing. Over time, though, I’ve found it does the opposite of what I was afraid of. Instead of boxing me in, it gives me a clearer sense of where to focus, when to ask for help, and how to talk about my work in a way that’s specific and honest.

You don’t have to overhaul your entire routine to get that benefit. Start small. Pick a few measurables that really reflect your impact, look at them before you dive into everything else, and when you see changes, turn them into issues so your team can help you sort them out. As those habits become more normal, it gets easier to say yes to the right things, to push back when your plate is full, and to walk into meetings knowing you’re grounded in real data, not just your gut.

Now, instead of guessing or relying on how busy I feel, I can look at our Scorecard and see if my measurables are moving in the right direction. It helps me step back from the noise of the day-to-day and ask better questions about what I’m doing and why. Most importantly, it gives me a much clearer sense that my work is connected to real outcomes, which makes the week feel less chaotic and a lot more meaningful.

If your team is running on EOS®, Ninety gives you one place to align your Scorecard, Rocks, To-Dos, and Issues so you can execute with confidence. Start a free trial of Ninety with your team and see how much more impact you have when everything lives in one simple, shared system.