Tag Archives: rewards

Rewarding Innovation With Incentives That Work

Leave a reply

Rewarding Innovation With Incentives That Work

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

In today’s fast-paced world, fostering a culture of innovation is critical for organizations aspiring to disrupt markets and outperform competitors. But how do we spark that innovative spirit? The secret often lies in well-crafted incentive programs that motivate individuals and teams to push boundaries and explore uncharted territories.

Why Incentives Matter

Effective incentive programs align organizational goals with individual aspirations, creating a symbiotic relationship that fuels innovation. When employees believe that their efforts will be recognized and rewarded, they’re more likely to take calculated risks and unleash their creative potential. However, crafting the right incentives can be a challenging task.

Key Principles of Effective Incentive Programs

  • Clear Criteria: Ensure that the criteria for receiving incentives are clear and transparent.
  • Aligned Objectives: Align incentives with organizational goals and values to reinforce desired behaviors.
  • Scalable Recognition: Develop a system that recognizes contributions of varying scope, from small improvements to groundbreaking innovations.
  • Continuous Feedback: Maintain open lines of communication to provide feedback and acknowledge efforts promptly.

Case Studies: Incentives in Action

Case Study 1: Procter & Gamble’s Connect + Develop Program

Procter & Gamble (P&G) embraced open innovation through its “Connect + Develop” program, encouraging external collaboration to bring fresh perspectives into their innovation process. By partnering with outside experts and organizations, P&G developed products faster and more efficiently. The program incentivized innovation by making the integration of external insights and solutions a core part of its strategy, effectively increasing the number of innovative products brought to market.

This approach not only expanded the company’s innovation potential but also placed a premium on collaboration and shared success. By rewarding successful partnerships and collaborations, P&G reinforced the importance of diverse inputs in driving innovation and positioned itself as a leader in adaptive and inclusive innovation strategies.

Case Study 2: 3M’s Dual Ladder

3M, a pioneer in innovation, implemented a “Dual Career Ladder” program to reward technical and creative innovation without necessitating a move into management. This provided scientists, engineers, and other hands-on employees with an opportunity to achieve compensation and recognition equivalent to their managerial counterparts, based on their innovative contributions rather than people management skills.

This approach acknowledges that great ideas are often developed by those best at doing, not necessarily managing. 3M’s system has been instrumental in developing numerous cutting-edge products, including the famous Post-it Note, by ensuring innovators remain in roles that utilize their strengths, thus keeping their focus on developing pioneering solutions.

Designing Effective Innovation Incentives

While these case studies demonstrate a range of successful incentives, the underlying principle is that innovation thrives in environments that support and recognize creative achievements. Key factors include:

  • Autonomy: Give employees the freedom to experiment and pursue projects they are passionate about.
  • Recognition: Acknowledge both individual and team contributions publicly to enhance motivation.
  • Growth Opportunities: Offer paths like 3M’s Dual Ladder to reward technical expertise as much as managerial prowess.
  • Resource Accessibility: Provide necessary resources and time for employees to develop and test disruptive ideas.

Ultimately, choosing the right combination of incentives is crucial and involves a deep understanding of what truly drives your team’s innovative spirit. By aligning these incentives with organizational goals and employee motivations, companies can create a thriving environment where innovation is cultivated and rewarded.

Looking Forward: Designing a Next-Generation Incentive Program

As we advance into an era of even greater technological change, organizations must continuously iterate on their incentive structures to stay ahead. Consider incorporating flexible and personalized incentives that cater to diverse employee preferences and leverage technology to track contributions and reward innovations effectively.

The best incentive programs are those that not only drive innovation but also inspire a sense of purpose and commitment within employees. By understanding the unique motivators of your workforce and designing incentives that resonate, you can unlock the full innovative potential of your organization.

SPECIAL BONUS: The very best change planners use a visual, collaborative approach to create their deliverables. A methodology and tools like those in Change Planning Toolkit™ can empower anyone to become great change planners themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Next Generation Loyalty – Part One

2 Replies

Next Generation Loyalty - Part One

Loyalty Archaeology™

Excavating Sources of Next Generation Loyalty

Marketers have an overly optimistic perspective on customer loyalty and their implementations of customer loyalty programs.

The reality is that very few customers are loyal and much of what we speak of as customer loyalty is no more than repeat transaction behavior.

Customer Loyalty Programs Are Really Just Discount Programs

If we are honest as marketers, today’s typical customer loyalty program is no more than an a way of automatically gathering purchase data and distributing discounts. Today’s traditional points-based customer loyalty program is actually just a fancy and often costly discounting program because smart marketers only use discounting to capture sales that would not otherwise have occurred. As soon as you begin distributing discounts to people that would have purchased anyways, then you are cannibalizing your own profit margins.

If you want to dispute that a points-based loyalty program is nothing more than a discounting program, you have to look no further than web sites that quantify the value of points given for airline miles, hotel stays, etc.

So what is customer loyalty?

According to the Oxford Dictionaries, loyalty is a strong feeling of support or allegiance.

In a business sense, most people look at customer loyalty as a measure of how likely a customer is to do repeat business with a company or brand.

But this way of looking at customer loyalty is too easy to “achieve” and is more related to repeat purchase behavior than true loyalty. The definition of loyalty in Oxford Dictionaries is too weak as well.

True loyalty (customer or otherwise) is when someone engages in a behavior that is not in their most obvious best interest because of a higher commitment.

A United States Marine putting himself or herself in harm’s way to recover a wounded comrade from the battlefield is a demonstration of true loyalty.

A customer paying a higher price for an identical product could be a demonstration of loyalty, but could also be an example of brand value or linked to other intangible, often emotional sources of value not directly linked to the product itself (desire to support a company’s social purpose, affinity for cartoon characters used to promote the product, etc.)

A customer paying a lower price for an identical product because you’re giving them a “loyalty program” discount is not a sign of loyalty.

Focusing on the interfaces and experiences related to your products, services and solutions and their surrounding emotional components are more likely to engender loyalty than building a points-based program.

I’m not saying points-based programs are bad, but let’s be clear – they’re not loyalty programs, they’re great for gathering customer purchase data and helping to drive repeat purchase behavior. But, if your competitor offers a better points program you’re likely to lose your supposedly loyal customers.

What does a Next Generation Loyalty program look like?

A Next Generation (aka NextGen) Loyalty program has very little to do with points and promotions, but instead focuses on identifying and leveraging the variables that represent opportunities to create actual loyalty for your brands and their associated products, services and solutions.

Next Generation Loyalty programs can only be created if you understand where the value comes from for each of your products, services and solutions.

Innovation Resonance Venn Diagram

In my popular article “Innovation is All About Value” I highlighted the fact that there are three key value considerations in the pursuit of innovation:

  1. Value Creation is pretty self-explanatory. Your innovation investment must create incremental or completely new value large enough to overcome the switching costs of moving to your new solution from the old solution (including the ‘Do Nothing Solution’). New value can be created by making something more efficient, more effective, possible that wasn’t possible before, or create new psychological or emotional benefits.

  2. Value Access could also be thought of as friction reduction. How easy do you make it for customers and consumers to access the value you’ve created. How well has the product or service been designed to allow people to access the value easily? How easy is it for the solution to be created? How easy is it for people to do business with you?

  3. Value Translation is all about helping people understand the value you’ve created and how it fits into their lives. Value translation is also about understanding where on a continuum between the need for explanation and education that your solution falls. Incremental innovations can usually just be explained to people because they anchor to something they already understand, but radical or disruptive innovations inevitably require some level of education (often far in advance of the launch).

All three are defined in the article on the link above and were created in an innovation context, but there is no reason they couldn’t also be used in a marketing context to identify potential sources of customer loyalty to be leveraged or enhanced.

Another great way to work backwards to identify potential sources of customer loyalty is to leverage A Practical Model for Jobs to be Done (JTBD) from Jim Kalbach. The six components laid out in his graphic below being:

  1. Situation
  2. Motivation
  3. Desired Outcome
  4. Functional Jobs
  5. Emotional Jobs
  6. Social Jobs

Practical Model for Understanding Jobs to be Done from Jim Kalbach

Using Loyalty Archaeology™ to Uncover Sources of NextGen Loyalty

These two simple frameworks give you a great place to start your quest for Next Generation Loyalty. Using Loyalty Archaeology™ to understand potential sources of loyalty will provide the foundation for building a potential program of loyalty enhancements.

You might be sensing that there is no one size fits all when it comes to NextGen Loyalty, and you’d be right.

What insights about the sources of your customers’ loyalty do you think these frameworks can provide?

What other tools do you think would be useful in excavating sources of potential customer loyalty?

In the next article in this series we’ll look at how to take the insights on customer loyalty sources and build a program of initiatives to enhance and accelerate your sources of unique customer loyalty. We’ll also look at how to go beyond points and redemption to leverage different parameters in your program of initiatives to build Next Generation Loyalty!

Image credits: Pixabay, Braden Kelley and Jim Kalbach

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Innovative Employee Recognition Programs

Leave a reply

Going Beyond Traditional Rewards

Innovative Employee Recognition Programs

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

Employee recognition is a key component of fostering a positive workplace culture and driving employee engagement. While traditional rewards such as bonuses and gift cards are commonly used to recognize and reward employees, there is a growing trend towards more innovative and personalized recognition programs.

Companies that are truly invested in recognizing the hard work and dedication of their employees understand the importance of going beyond traditional rewards to create meaningful and lasting experiences that not only motivate employees but also foster a sense of belonging and appreciation. In this thought leadership article, we will explore two case studies of companies that have implemented innovative employee recognition programs with great success.

Case Study 1: Google’s Peer Bonus Program

Google is known for its innovative workplace culture, and its peer bonus program is no exception. Instead of relying solely on monetary rewards, Google gives employees the opportunity to nominate their peers for a bonus based on their contributions to the company. This program not only recognizes employees for their hard work but also fosters a culture of appreciation and collaboration.

Employees at Google have the opportunity to nominate their peers for a bonus of up to $1,000, which is awarded based on the impact of their work on the company. This not only incentivizes employees to go above and beyond in their roles but also creates a sense of camaraderie and support among team members.

Case Study 2: Salesforce’s Thank-You Economy

Salesforce, a leading customer relationship management company, takes employee recognition to the next level with its Thank-You Economy program. This program is centered around the idea of gratitude and appreciation, with employees encouraged to express their thanks to their colleagues in meaningful ways.

One unique aspect of Salesforce’s Thank-You Economy program is its emphasis on peer-to-peer recognition. Employees are given a platform to publicly recognize their colleagues for their contributions, whether it be a job well done on a project or going above and beyond to help a team member. This not only boosts employee morale but also reinforces a culture of appreciation and support within the company.

Conclusion

Traditional rewards are no longer enough to truly recognize and motivate employees. Companies that are committed to fostering a positive workplace culture and driving employee engagement are turning to innovative recognition programs that go beyond monetary rewards to create meaningful and personalized experiences for their employees. By implementing programs such as Google’s peer bonus program and Salesforce’s Thank-You Economy, companies can create a culture of appreciation and support that not only motivates employees but also strengthens team dynamics and drives organizational success.

Bottom line: Futurology is not fortune telling. Futurists use a scientific approach to create their deliverables, but a methodology and tools like those in FutureHacking™ can empower anyone to engage in futurology themselves.

Image credit: Pixabay

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Genius of Rewarding Customers for Eating Other People’s Pizza

Leave a reply

Genius of Rewarding Customers for Eating Other People's Pizza

Dominos is riding the creativity train yet again, with their latest creative marketing idea.

Following on the heels of Dominos Hotspots and Dominos Zero Click Ordering, they now have come up with a great idea for getting people to download their app onto their phones and to ultimately order their pizza.

When it comes to ordering pizza, the phone is on its way to being replaced by the app. But which app?

When ordering pizza by phone at least you could still use the same phone, but just dial a different number if you wanted to order a different pizza.

But if you want to order a different pizza using an app you have to download and install and configure a completely different app. NOT as easy switching to a different pizza place when ordering by phone. So, if an app helps to lock people into reordering pizza from you instead of trying the pizza from some other pie place, what do you have to do?

You HAVE to get people to not only download your app and install it, but you’ve got to get them to start using it.

A lot of places try to overcome this inertia by offering a discount on the first order made using the app, but this isn’t always a strong enough incentive.

Domino’s solution to this problem?

What if we rewarded people just for eating pizza, even if it’s not ours?

Sounds crazy, right?

Well, that’s exactly what they’ve done with their latest Points for Pies promotion. Now, if you download the Dominos Pizza app onto your phone AND join their rewards program AND take a picture of any pizza once a week for six weeks using the app you’ll earn enough points to get a free medium two-topping pizza. But, to add a sense of urgency, you must earn your 60 points before the 100 million points run out, which probably works out to about 2-3 million people participating before the points run out.

Supposedly the app uses artificial intelligence to detect pizza in the photo, but I have a sneaking suspicion it will give you points for taking a picture of just about anything. I don’t eat Dominos Pizza, so let me if you can take a picture of anything funny and still get your points. 😉

So, what do you think? Will this promotion drive app downloads, and more importantly, rewards program signups and app usage and pizza purchases?


Accelerate your change and transformation success

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

Innovation Quotes of the Day – May 29, 2012

Leave a reply

“If you get people to ‘freely’ talk about innovation, its importance, its impact and can ‘paint’ the future in broad brush strokes, they achieve a growing clarity and enthusiasm and that often missing critical component – a sense of shared identity.”

– Paul Hobcraft

“The United States leads the world in innovation because it has created the perfect storm of a risk tolerant citizenry, where failure is sometimes a badge of honor, and a government that invests in basic research, helps to commercialize it, and for the most part tends to go out of the way from a regulatory standpoint.”

– Braden Kelley

“Organizations love to run the aforementioned innovation processes through the middle of the enterprise which is designed to eliminate variation. Think about your metrics, hurdle rates and stage-gate systems and it becomes clear that these practices are designed to created stability through standards, policies and similar controls. Innovation moves from the outside of the bell curve, where risk and reward are reversed, and moves to middle over time.”

– Jeff DeGraff

What are some of your favorite innovation quotes?

Add one or more to the comments, listing the quote and who said it, and I’ll share the best of the submissions as future innovation quotes of the day!

Subscribe to Human-Centered Change & Innovation WeeklySign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.