If Innovation is Everything, It’s Nothing: How to Strategically Measure What Matters

In companies, things like metrics and expectations are a one-way street, with targets imposed from above, in the way that the business has become accustomed to doling those out and reporting on them. That might work better in the core businesses, where there are many known facts about customers, company operations, products and services, and the industry/market itself. However, when it comes to innovation, there’s still a lot that the executive team needs to understand and then be able to make choices about regarding its philosophies and drivers, not to mention the tools, techniques, and approaches it will favor. Expanding the business may still be the goal, but we are now developing new competencies and capabilities at the same time, which also need to be monitored and measured.