Consider the Four-Point Rubric

Rubrics are such a nice way to organize and prioritize. But I’ve changed my mind about one thing since I wrote the first blog post on rubrics over four years ago.

Now, I like a four-point rubric for most decision-making and prioritizing, instead of a 3-or- 5 point rubric.

For my purposes, it usually looks like this:

4=totally aligned

3=well aligned

2=somewhat aligned

1=not aligned

I like it because it forces me out of any indecision.

With a four-point scale, I have to make a commitment to be in at least a little bit of agreement or disagreement. There is no middle/neutral number.

My most frequent application of this particular four-point rubric is to evaluate strategic or tactical ideas. The two settings are:

1. The annual MindLab conference, filled with mainstage and breakout sessions for those of us who are DiSC and Five Behaviors partners.
2. A somewhat annual Mastermind retreat with a few other self-employed business owners who go through a rigorous business evaluation process.

In both situations, I come away with dozens of ideas for new practices or initiatives. We can’t do them all, so I keep a running list. Then when the list is done, I rate each action item on the 4-point rubric in terms of how aligned each idea is to our mission and/or current overall strategy.

We act on the top-rated items, and we file the others for future consideration.