量化考核指标

You’ll mostly hear this as a noun phrase. You can "formulate" (制定), "complete" (完成), or "adjust" (调整) these indicators. It often appears in the context of HR meetings or project planning. If you are a manager, you use it to set expectations. If you are an employee, you use it to prove your worth. You might say, "We need to 量化考核指标 so everyone knows exactly what is expected." It’s a very "adulting" phrase that signals you are serious about results and objectivity.

This is your go-to phrase for any professional setting. Use it during annual reviews, when applying for a promotion, or when discussing a new project's success metrics. It’s also becoming popular in personal development circles. If you’re serious about your fitness journey, you might tell a friend you’re setting 量化考核指标 for your weight loss, like "losing 2kg a month" instead of just "getting thin." It shows you have a structured, disciplined mindset.

Avoid using this in purely social or emotional contexts unless you’re being intentionally sarcastic. If you tell your partner you’ve set 量化考核指标 for how many times they should say "I love you" per week, you’re probably going to have a very bad time. It sounds cold, robotic, and overly transactional. Also, don't use it for artistic or spiritual pursuits where numbers don't really capture the essence—unless you want to sound like a soul-crushing bureaucrat.

In China, the rise of this phrase mirrors the country's rapid economic development and the influence of global management styles. It’s closely tied to the concept of 内卷 (nèijuǎn) or "involution," where intense competition leads people to obsess over every single decimal point of their performance. In many Chinese tech giants, these indicators are the difference between a massive bonus and being shown the door. It represents a shift from traditional relationship-based (guanxi) evaluation to a more data-driven, meritocratic (though often stressful) system.

You’ll often hear people just say KPI in English, even in the middle of a Chinese sentence. Another common variation is 硬指标 (yìng zhǐbiāo), which literally means "hard indicators"—the non-negotiable numbers you must hit. If someone mentions 绩效 (jìxiào), they are talking about the overall performance results that these indicators are meant to measure. If you want to sound extra professional, you can talk about the 科学性 (kēxuéxìng) or "scientific nature" of your 量化考核指标.