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Rewarding Creativity and Risk Taking

The document discusses rewarding creativity and risk-taking in companies. It states that innovative companies create environments where creativity can flourish by encouraging new ideas and risk-taking, even though new ideas inherently pose risks. When employees do not feel supported to take risks, companies become stagnant. The document cites Google as an example of a company that successfully encourages risk-taking by allowing employees to spend time on side projects. It recommends that companies clearly communicate that all suggestions will be taken seriously, provide public recognition for creative ideas, and support both successful and unsuccessful attempts at new ideas or changes.

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41 views2 pages

Rewarding Creativity and Risk Taking

The document discusses rewarding creativity and risk-taking in companies. It states that innovative companies create environments where creativity can flourish by encouraging new ideas and risk-taking, even though new ideas inherently pose risks. When employees do not feel supported to take risks, companies become stagnant. The document cites Google as an example of a company that successfully encourages risk-taking by allowing employees to spend time on side projects. It recommends that companies clearly communicate that all suggestions will be taken seriously, provide public recognition for creative ideas, and support both successful and unsuccessful attempts at new ideas or changes.

Uploaded by

raji
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Rewarding Creativity and Risk Taking

Innovative companies are successful not only because they create time and space to nurture
creativity but also because they encourage creativity and risk taking. Think about it, any new
idea or implementation of change creates risk. Plus, many people feel sharing their ideas is risky
because they fear being turned down, which is what happens in many corporate cultures.
So, when employees do not feel supported to take risks, the company becomes stagnant as
employees continue to do what they know works or what has always been done. However, this
can be detrimental because what works today may not work tomorrow. In a changing world,
doing things the way they’ve always been done without looking to the future can be a company’s
demise.
For example, one of the reasons Google is so notoriously successful is because they encourage
risk-taking behavior within their controlled environment. They even mandate that their
employees spend a certain percentage of their time working on their own creative side projects.
The best way to encourage employees to think outside of the box is to create an environment that
rewards that behavior. Make sure it’s clear to all levels of management that any and all
suggestions or observations for improvement are to be acknowledged and taken seriously. Too
often, managers feel threatened by employees’ suggestions for improvement and so ideas are
blown off or even reprimanded. This leads to the employee losing motivation to make creative
suggestions, as they will not feel it is ever going to go anywhere. An atmosphere of encouraging
improvement needs to be implemented at all levels within an organization.
Keep in mind that rewards do not have to be monetary. Studies show that recognition can be
more motivational than a monetary reward. Rewards should also be given publicly so that people
can see that this type of behavior is appreciated and rewarded. Simple ways you can reward
employees for creativity and risk taking include:
• Announcing the winner or idea in a newsletter, email, or meeting
• Special parking space for a time period
• An award
• Title
• Gift cards
• Special lunch
• Extra time off

What other ideas may work for your company?


You can also make it fun by gamifying the process of creativity, such as inviting employees to
come up with a way to increase efficiency, allowing them 1 week to turn in one suggestion.
Then, have the team or department vote on the best idea and award a prize to the winner.
Allowing all participants to give input on which idea is best creates buy in. Keep in mind that it
is equally as important to recognize the other ideas that may not be implemented or put into
action. The goal is for people to feel that there is a benefit to giving suggestions and thinking of
created ways to help the company.
In what ways could you gamify creativity or in another way encourage it?

It’s also important to support smart failures. Whenever risks are taken, it is natural to have
failures. Therefore, make sure that you let employees know that you support both successful and
unsuccessful attempts. More importantly, show it through actions. When a new idea doesn’t
work as hoped, ask all parties involved what can be learned from the experience and what
changes can be made to the idea to improve the outcome. In other words, unsuccessful attempts
should never be frowned upon or approach with a negative perspective.
In what way can you ensure that all contributors of ideas and creativity are honored for their
contribution, even if their ideas are not used or their attempts are unsuccessful?

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