How To Clearly Define KPIs For Innovation So That Employees Do Not Burn Out?

According to research from Deloitte, 2/3 of companies pursue innovation to grow or differentiate themselves from competitors, and half of companies innovate to meet customer needs. This proves the importance of a innovative “genetic code” for business operations in the current economy.

However, if creativity is not consistently bound within a certain framework, the quality of ideas can be far from reality or even deviate from the general direction of the organization. Ms. Holly Alexander, Director of Production and Strategy at CHE Proximity Australia, said that the creative process is often formed and appears within a framework – where everything has a specific direction and clear goals.

That is, any creative idea needs certain “constraints” and specific measurements to evaluate the quality and success of the idea. KPIs are how businesses show customers, investors, and even employees the practical results of innovation, thereby driving broader improvements.

However, the more businesses implement standardized KPIs for innovation, the more workers fall into burnout. In fact, at the leading technology company- Google, many employees struggle to achieve enough innovation KPIs and live in fear of being laid off. The reason is that this giant is gradually laying off 10,000 employees with poor work quality, as part of a plan to improve their innovation performance. 

“There is no general formula to measure or evaluate the quality of innovation because each worker has different abilities. Creativity, innovation or simply change requires a lot of innovative thinking, but businesses will need to be anchored those by measurable indicators. In other words, the KPI should be a specific destination, and each individual’s journey to the destination is the factor that needs to be done openly. By doing that, new businesses can achieve expectations of consistent and synchronous innovation,” shared Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy General Director of Talentnet’s human resources consulting company. 

Understanding thinking trends: KPI becomes the driving force that brings a “brilliant aura”

An interesting point is that currently, up to 80% of businesses in the Top 500 Fortune are applying thinking tests to understand and have an appropriate approach before agreeing on KPIs to measure creative effectiveness. 

Each individual will have one or more different approaches to the same problem and therefore will have different problem-solving methods in the process of realizing KPIs. Understanding these thinking and behavioral tendencies will help businesses build a set of KPIs that both stimulate creativity and innovation of members of the organization and are in line with the strategic direction of the business. 

“By understanding thinking trends, businesses can build creative mechanisms with appropriate KPIs to promote the unique, unmistakable creative DNA of workers. Creative culture needs to be stimulated by multi-dimensional sharing and exchange so that each individual can confidently present different perspectives. At that time, KPI will be the driving force, not the creative pincer of the organization,” Ms. Thanh Huong concluded.