In “Robert’s Rules of Innovation”, Net Result and Reward is about motivating your people with the right incentives. Motivation does not necessarily mean rewarding with money, and quite frankly it is about recognition for a job well done. Give your NPD team incentive to produce innovative ideas. What type of rewards can you give your team, beyond bonuses? Here are some ideas for non-financial motivation.

• You want your employees to feel a sense of loyalty to the company. Reward high performance with opportunity – to sit on a panel, a team or attend a business conference.
• Recognize a job well done with an award program. Give an award to a NPD team member who has achieved a great accomplishment.
• One of the best ways to highlight an innovation champion’s achievement is to give them exposure. Introduce them to a client, or invite them to lunch with an executive of the organization or face time with the boss.
• Simple praise will boost morale (so long as it is deserved)! People like to know that their success was noticed by the head of the company.

These non-financial rewards can benefit an organization by increasing an employee’s loyalty and commitment to the company, boosting company morale and reinforcing ideal outcomes in the future. Motivating employees to reach their top performance is a win-win situation for everyone involved and equates to Innovation ROI. Actually a November 2009 study by McKinsey concluded that recognition and these types of rewards were appreciated more than just financial rewards.

For additional tips on how to drive a successful New Product Development team, look for “Robert’s Rules of Innovation”. Robert Brands is the founder of InnovationCoach.com and the author of “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival,” with Martin Kleinman published by Wiley.

The last imperative of Robert’s Rules of Innovation is Net Results, Net Reward, meaning recognizing the people who contributed to the development of a new product. It’s important to reward actions with incentives for sustainable effort.

Rewards for a successful New Product Development process can be monetary – often the key stakeholders get a product launch reward or a percentage of sales from new products. But all members of the staff need to be rewarded, and motivation isn’t always about money. In fact, non-financial motivators can rise above other incentives. Praise from managers, the attention of leadership and the chance to lead projects are strong motivators that can top even monetary rewards. People mostly want to feel recognized and appreciated for their contributions. If those needs are met, employees stay engaged until after the new product launch and for more development processes to come. Rewards enhance an employee’s commitment to the company, boost workplace morale and motivate future efforts.

The fruits of your team’s labor benefit all. These successes must be rewarded – and in the appropriate manner. Here are some tips on why you should reward your employees and how:

• Innovation and ROI: True Innovation results in value creation for all stakeholders – in terms of financial return, increased market share and enhanced profitability; this is the ultimate goal of your sustainable Innovation program.
• The Right Rewards: Rewards and recognition systems can take many forms, from a bonus percentage based upon new product sales to peer acknowledgment and awards.
• Recognition: Pride…a thorny problem solved…the personal satisfaction of a job well-done – these are some of the intrinsic motivators that make creative people tick.

For more tips on Net Results, Net Reward and other Rules of Innovation Imperatives, see Robert’s Rules of Innovation™ by Robert F. Brands with Martin J. Kleinman published in March, 2010 by Wiley.

Does that encourage value-added thought process? In my mind, it encourages work, which should need no encouragement at all.

Now, what if that same company put a reward system in place whose reward system was based on innovation and results, not hours or labor? It aligned reward to patents granted, products launched, or sales achieved? And its reward process was integrated along side its Vision, Mission, Strategy, and Resources / Budget?

I would argue that that organization has asked itself a key question: What motivates your team to excel in innovation? The answer is Net Rewards for Net Results.

Many companies see cash as the ideal motivational perk. This might not be the case. A recent survey from McKinsey found that three non-cash motivators rise above all other forms of incentive: Praise from managers; the attention of leadership that takes place in one-on-one conversations; and the chance to lead projects, teams or task forces.

Such nods and recognition topped even cash bonuses, increased base pay, and stock or stock options – the three top-ranked financial incentives, McKinsey found.

“The survey’s top three non-financial motivators play critical roles in making employees feel that their companies value them, take their well-being seriously, and strive to create opportunities for career growth,” the McKinsey report noted. “These themes recur constantly in most studies on ways to motivate and engage employees.”

Though being discussed last in the list of the 10 Imperatives to Innovation, “Net Rewards and Net Results” arguably holds equally high a position as any other imperative. There’s a fundamental connection between the two. Rewards must be in alignment with the expectations of the organization and its people. Some organizations seek to innovate, but try rewarding people based on R&D spend. It’s is a worthy financial metric, but is no guarantee for success.

Incentives should not be about output or spend. It’s about “thought-put,” and the creativity, ideation and esprit de corps brought to the effort.

Done right, rewards the organization in search of inspiration, motivation, ideation – all the imperatives that drive innovation. It rewards the individual for performing at a high level, and the team for working effectively as a Unit of One.

For the organization that seeks results, incentive is a kind of Reward ROI. By investing in employee rewards as a carrot, think of innovation as ROI derived from the alchemy of ideas-to-money. As we’ve written before, innovation leads to improved performance, heightened sales, more black on the bottom line. This profit – whether in actual product on the street or improved organizational performance – brings benefit to all stakeholders: shareholders, executive leadership, employees, customers and consumers.

Various perks can drive incentive. Incentives must be earmarked for all participants at the table. This may include the development team itself, to the marketing, finance, R&D, sales, customer service or people from other departments who helped with ideation, market research, justification or any other process that went into creating the new initiative.

For example, in the NPD process, the team or division should be rewarded with a compensation package that includes a percentage of sales derived from new products delivered. The neat thing about NP sales is that success is rewarded and people stay engaged and involved they care post development or launch.

Simply put, the fruits of your team’s labor benefit all – and rewards must reflect that. Moreover, this type of validation acknowledges individuals’ ability to envision new concepts, help shepherd them through the R&D process (even if the individual is not part of R&D, per se), and play a key role in bringing product to market.

Rewards can enhance valued employees’ commitment to the organization, boost morale, motivate future efforts, reinforce positive outcomes, encourage repeat performances and help keep employees’ “eye on the ball” vis a vis innovation and ideation. It also strengthens the connection between strategy and results.

In sum, when Net Rewards are based on Net Returns in the innovation process, everybody – the organization, the innovators, the stakeholders and the consumers – wins.

By Robert Brands with Jeff Zbar

Robert Brands is the founder of InnovationCoach.com, and the author of “Robert’s Rules of Innovation”: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival, with Martin Kleinman and which will be published in March by Wiley (www.robertsrulesofinnovation.com).