The scoreboard is not the game

Senior management personnel often mistake the excel sheet numbers and financial success for the game. I would go to the extent of saying that much of the predicaments that the healthcare players face from time to time can be traced back to this phenomenon of confusing the scoreboard with the game.

Senior managers in healthcare spend a good chunk of their productive time talking about, analyzing and thinking about the scoreboard. In the process, they often lose focus of the actual game. As any sportsperson will tell you, the scoreboard is important. It determines how you are playing and if you are winning. But scoreboard is not the game. In fact, sometimes the champion players do not deliberately look at the scoreboard while they are in their 'zone' and at the top of their form. They do this because the scoreboard distracts them from playing the game.

Organizations that over-indulge in the scoreboard run the risk of losing the game. They end up undermining people and the value of human spirit. They sometimes overlook key investment decisions that can result in long term success in order to have a prettier short term scoreboard. The focus on adding real value to the clients [in this case patients] gets diminished. The key partnerships with various internal and external stakeholders take a back seat in favor of the scoreboard looking good.

If the managers understood the game and played it well, the scoreboard will take care of itself, year after year. There will be no need to survive the quarter and the organization will be far stronger at the core. The competition will always be playing catch up and running out of breath if you are able to master the game. So, what is the game? How does one play and win consistently?

The key component of the game is having an enthusiastic team. Mahatma Gandhi said, “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.” The game is to create a spirited group that lives by a common dream. Give them a strong enough reason that takes them beyond their self interests. Create an example by being the biggest proponent of that common cause.

The game is to deeply understand what the consumer needs. I can bet, most of us have but a faint idea of what our consumers actually need and where we fall short in fulfilling those needs. We falsely think we know how they make choices and what priorities they have when they choose a service provider.

A crucial element of the game is to also create and manage your reputation. People like me call it - brand building. Only the strong brands survive the test of time. Branding is an extensive topic in itself. In short, pay close attention to your consumer touch points, outbound messages and service delivery consistency.

Companies that are ahead in the game are the ones who plan well. Set time aside to make road-maps, scenarios and milestones. Invest effort in obtaining market knowledge and forecast trends. Know your competitors. Assess them and map their thinking patterns. Move with the markets or better, define the market rules and never get caught napping. Sometimes players give away their advantage when they rest on their laurels too long. Create a victory, celebrate it for a while and then get back to the game.

Do the basic things right and do them everyday. Create process flows, protocols and follow them tirelessly. Champion sportsmen live by their regime. You cannot get them to deviate from the daily run or the time at the turf easily. They do that year after year and the scoreboard takes care of itself.

To end the story, it can be said that there is a delicate balance between the scoreboard and the game. The more you lean towards the scoreboard than the game, the more you endanger your chances of winning.

-Vivek Shukla