What is productivity? It is a measure that will tell you how well you are doing things that you will need to do. But, what about innovation and improvements. There are also productivity indicators that can help us.
Innovation and improvements in a company are one of the most important focus areas, normally if entrepreneurs and managers want to stay on top. The question is how we can follow what’s happening with innovation and how our current innovation systems help our company to be an innovative company.
There are many productivity indicators that you can use for this purpose, but here I would like to mention some of the easiest to follow on one side, and important on the other side. So, here are my top five productivity indicators related to innovation.
1. The Average Number of Tasks Performed by Each Staff Member
The meaning of this productivity indicator is clear from his name. You can calculate this productivity indicator if you divide all tasks for the specific period of time (day, week, month, or year) with the number of employees you have in your company. With this indicator, you can easily measure the overall productivity of your company based on the employees.
Simply, you can easily follow changes in the number of tasks finished. Because this indicator is influenced by the competence of your staff members and in some cases by current compensation system installed in your company, you can easily make changes in order to improve this indicator.
2. The Speed of New Products Introduction (Time to Market)
The speed of new product introduction, or also known as “time to market” as a productivity indicator can be calculated as the difference between the date of new product introduction on the market and the date of the new product development initiation.
The main goal of this productivity indicator is to increase your company’s effectiveness at converting ideas into the final products.
This indicator is important because it will measure the time that you will need to introduce the new product on the market or the effectiveness of your new product development system. In order to improve this indicator, you can permanently educate your staff members in charge of new product development, create better systems, improve suggestion systems, and so on.
3. New Products Introduced in a Specific Time
The new product introduced at a specific time is a productivity indicator that will measure your innovation capabilities. You can calculate this indicator as a number of new products introduced on the market at a specific time.
The main goal of this productivity indicator is to create a sense of urgency for more innovative activities at your company. On the other side, it will clearly tell you how your company is positioned when it comes to the innovation.
You can easily check and compare this indicator with the income, or profitability results.
4. Number of Improvements Made in a Specific Time
As you already know, you will need to implement many improvements in your current products, services, processes, or business models. This productivity indicator will tell you how your company responds to the need for improvements. It will measure the quantity of improvements projects implemented in a specific time.
The main goal of this indicator is to measure your company’s focus on improvements. Bigger the number of this productivity indicator will mean a bigger focus on improvements.
5. Average Innovation/Improvements Ideas Initiated by Your Staff Members
The meaning of this productivity indicator is clear from his name. You can calculate this indicator if you divide all innovation or improvements ideas for the specific period of time (day, week, month, or year) with the number of employees you have in your company. With this indicator, you can easily measure the ideas that your staff members generate in your company.
You can use these productivity indicators to follow, measure, and make decisions related to your innovation strategy.
