From my perspective, the best innovation measures are those long-term measures that reflect on the strategic objectives of the organization. Organizations that are good at change believe in innovation, know it’s essential and have long-term innovation objectives that support the organizational strategy. 3M is one of those organizations that merely has an innovation goal as a percentage of new business. However, most organizations that aren't fully immersed in the benefits of innovation will have lots of other measures, both short-term and long-term.
Sometimes they can even get analysis paralysis by having too many measures. Excessive innovation n measures are almost always a result of not believing in their programs. But as the organization matures and has innovation success, the need for short-term measures dwindles away so that usually only the more strategic measures remain. In my experience, mature programs tend to have less measures, which gives the innovators more time to actually innovate. Attached is a chart that illustrates my findings.
