A new year is quickly rolling in and, with it, it’s time rethink the executive dashboard… particularly when it comes to what we need to measure. There’s no question that tried-and-true metrics need to continue to dominate our 2024 dashboard. KPIs surrounding things like YoY growth, profit margin, Net Promoter Score, website traffic, employee retention and so on.
But in an ever-changing business paradigm, it’s about augmenting standard KPIs with next-gen metrics frameworks.
Related Reading: Workplace KPIs of Tomorrow
We’re officially in the era of next-gen KPI-ing and that means leaning into things such as:
- Redefining what it means to be successful in core business areas
- Measuring what’s previously felt immeasurable
- Identifying new day-to-day team actions and behaviors that actually move the needle
And, perhaps most importantly…
Standing up new KPI frameworks regularly
The concept of the executive KPI dashboard has long been a cornerstone in measuring the success and efficiency of businesses for decades. But in 2024, it’s time to give it a boost of modernization. Here are 3 new KPIs to consider in 2024:
Innovation Acceleration
In a rapidly changing business environment, the ability to adapt and innovate is crucial. Just consider that in 2009, only 58% of companies planned to increase spending and almost 15% cut innovation investment. Whereas fast forward to 2023, and 79% of companies rank innovation among their top three priorities, and 66% plan to increase spending.
In 2024 we need to introduce new ways to measure innovation acceleration, tracking and calibrating the process and ease by which ideas move from conception to execution. KPIs can be introduced that not only look at how fast and regularly ideas move from seedling to realized, but also the blockers and impediments to innovation from unintended gatekeeping to miscommunication loops to manager/employee bottlenecks.
A simple way to start when it comes to thinking about how to measure pace of innovation? Assemble your departmental heads and capture the current state of innovation cycles by asking questions such as:
- How many ideas did we originate in our department last year?
- How many of those ideas moved from concept to execution?
- How many ideas stayed in the parking lot?
The answers will provide insight into the current state of innovation in your org, as well as clues as to where you need to direct attention and focus next.
Authentic Employee Engagement
There have long been standard ways to measure employee engagement — things like eNPS, pulse check-ins, retention scores, etc. But in 2024 we need to take it a step further and really examine how to measure authentic employee engagement.
At the start of this year, Gallup came out with a pretty viral article and the headline said it all: “U.S. Employee Engagement Needs a Rebound in 2023.” Workforce engagement stats continue to concern leaders, particularly with only 32% of employees engaged (a number that continues to decline year after year). What’s worse? 18% are actively disengaged and working against our companies.
What’s clear is we have a largely disengaged workforce. What hasn’t been clear? How do we start to measure TRUE and authentic engagement of our team members. Because if we aren’t careful, they can look engaged and lull us into a false sense of comfort.
2024 needs to be all about measuring authentic employee engagement. Measuring things like flight risk scores, career advancement equity, and division of labor equity, among others. If we can identify the actions and behaviors that most drive authentic employee engagement—as well as those that negatively impact it — you can start to track and measure the actions that most lead to true buy-in, belief, and loyalty.
Speed to Technological Advancement
The rise of digital technologies has no doubt altered how businesses operate. Future of Work is digitized, automated, optimized, and largely powered by innovations such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and IoT. Just consider that by 2027, the AI market size is expected to reach $407 billion.
But 2024 can’t just be about technology adoption for adoption’s sake. Rather, it needs to be about speed to advancement, with companies incorporating KPIs that reflect a company’s digital transformation efforts and efficacy of advancement. From measuring S-curve readiness to adoption rate of new technologies to data-driven decision-making cultural norms, there’s a number of ways to measure how fast, intentional and effective organizations are when it comes to integrating technological advancement into the DNA of the org.
Not only can these advancements be tracked org-wide, but also consider tracking them department-wise to get a sense of how each function relies on tech to move faster, where gaps exist in terms of advancement potential, and how to ensure tech integration is right-sized for where your business needs to be tomorrow.
Adjusting the executive KPI dashboard is not just about adding new metrics; it’s about rethinking what success looks like in a rapidly evolving business landscape. It’s about balancing financial performance with social responsibility, employee well-being, and sustainable practices. Company leaders who embrace this shift will be better positioned to succeed in the future of work.
Interested in updating your executive KPI dashboard or learning more about our methodology? Our Data and Analytics team is ready to help you get started. Click here to learn about our Metrics Finder and reach out to the team to set up a demo of additional KPIs you can start tracking immediately.