Motivating Innovative Behavior

Innovation leaders play a crucial role in motivating their teams to innovate. They should provide a sense of purpose for their innovators, while recognizing the effort they put into becoming more innovative. Besides rewarding people for their outputs, such as patents or new product launches, leaders should also acknowledge their inputs, like the time and effort they put into innovation training. Innovation leaders should consider intrinsic and extrinsic rewards throughout the year, not just at the annual meeting. They can also motivate their teams by offering to sponsor innovation initiatives and by reminding them of the importance of innovative methods in creating future opportunities.