Discouraging Innovation And Initiative

Contrary to common sense belief, attempts to measure productivity through performance metrics discourage initiative, innovation and risk-taking. 

The source of the trouble is that when people are judged by performance metrics they are incentivised to do what the metrics measure, and what the metrics measure will be some established goal. But that impedes innovation, which means doing something not yet established, indeed that hasn’t even been tried out. Innovation involves experimentation. And experimentation includes the possibility, perhaps probability, of failure.