The five slots
- Symptoms: what is visibly present and troubling — the presenting surface
- Causes: what maintains the symptoms — beliefs, ecology, reinforcing loops underneath
- Outcomes: the specifically-wanted state — run it through well-formed conditions
- Resources: what is missing between here and there — skills, states, references, allies
- Effects: what follows from achieving the outcome — the ecology check forward
Why coaches keep it on the table
It prevents the two classic engagement failures: treating symptoms while causes regenerate them, and winning outcomes that lose ecologically (the promotion that kills the marriage). SCORE makes causes and consequences first-class citizens of planning rather than afterthoughts. It also maps cleanly onto corporate problem-solving — which is why it survives in leadership rooms where technique names don't.
Practice shape
Run SCORE on paper for any stuck situation before intervening: five boxes, brutal honesty in each. In client work, elicit rather than lecture — the client's own words for causes and effects are the intervention's raw material.