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Creating the Creative Climate - Part 11

Other nonmonetary rewards to consider include such things as adaptations of "service awards" like lapel pins for workers who submit acceptable ideas: a bronze pin for five ideas; silver for ten; gold for twenty-five; etc. Another way would be to bring the family into the rewarding: instead of cash for ideas, give points tied in with one of the established incentive-reward mer­chandise catalogues so familiar in sales promotion.

AC Spark Plug uses a program of giving supervisory employees point credits for ideas submitted. Points range from 10 to 200 per idea. Each supervisor has a personal goal of 100 points a year. These point scores are used in considering promotions and salary increases. Non-supervisory personnel receive cash awards for their suggestions and may earn as much as $5,000 for an idea.

At Lincoln Electric Company, the creative contribution each worker makes is one of the basic factors in determining the amount of annual incentive bonus he earns. Lincoln evaluates each person's contribution in new ideas, new methods, and new think­ing. This plan, although rewards are monetary in nature, is tied in with profit-sharing, a less costly way of paying, and pays off directly to the worker who has ideas that can help the company reduce costs, increase output, improve quality, or help the com­pany in its relations with its customers and the public.

For a continuing program, you might consider a weekly or monthly award for the most original idea submitted, regardless of whether or not it can actually be used. This offers a double opportunity: it maintains worker interest in submitting ideas, and it forces management to set up a system for regular review of all submitted ideas.

Of course, any rewards made for ideas should be well pub­licized throughout the company. The best encouragement you can give any individual to break out of the rut of conformity and to explore new possibilities for the company is the knowledge that others who have done so have met with both management support and some form of reward and recognition.

It could be very possible for a company to have all the theoreti­cal requisites for a creative atmosphere and fail to get any ideas from it. This is frequently the case in smaller companies where, by virtue of favorable social and environmental factors, morale and esprit de corps are already high. But idea production is low. Creating the atmosphere is usually not enough. Workers must also be stimulated to take advantage of that atmosphere. In fact, it may be necessary to do something as basic as calling attention to the fact that the atmosphere exists. In the comfortable acceptance of established and recurring work habits, workers may forget that new ideas are really wanted. So it is necessary to repeat the attention-calling periodically until acceptance of the new creative policy itself becomes a habit.

Related terms include business management marketing and business strategic planning.