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** Add a dynamic presentation on innovation to your fall conference or meeting. To talk about your specific needs, staff@thinksmart.com.

** Learn what the leaders of innovation are doing at Convergence 2002: Leading Innovation, Sept 22-25 For more info: C2002@thinksmart.com

** Does your organization need a better understanding of how to create value by effectively implementing new ideas? If so, the InnovationWizard may be just what you're looking for. For more info: staff@thinksmart.com.
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The Elephant on the Table

'You can observe a lot just by watching.'
-- Yogi Berra

Sometimes there are things so big, so overwhelming, so ingrained in the way we do things, that we don't know how to change them, don't even know even if they can be changed ... so we ignore them. Sometimes we call this the elephant-on-the-table syndrome. We all know it's there, after all you can hardly ignore an elephant on the table, but we reach over and around it as if it weren't there and never mention it at all.

In the pursuit of innovation and more effective organizations, there is an elephant on the table that we never talk about. It came up recently in a conversation with a client who is trying to implement a new structure to improve innovation. The new structure means new team formation all focused on innovation around customer needs. So far, so good. However, on these teams, some people are on individual bonus plans and some aren't. When we questioned this, the response was a variation on: 'I know, I know. It doesn't make sense .. but there's no way we're going to change the compensation plan so we just have to do the best we can.'

So here we are with all these great new intentions, bringing together cross-functional teams, gaining greater insights into customer needs, encouraging people to be creative and develop new products and businesses ... but then some people on the team will get bonused for the team's activities and some won't. How long will it take before this system starts to break down? The really sad part is that at some point in the future, management will probably look at the results of the innovation effort and say, 'Well, innovation didn't work, what should we try now?'

Compensation plans shouldn't be changed lightly but if an organization wants to be truly innovative, it needs to be prepared to look at this elephant. It especially needs to look at individual incentive plans, which almost always interfere with the collaborative efforts needed to implement innovation.

People working with compensation systems should also thoroughly understand the interaction of external and internal motivation. There are hundreds of studies that prove that trying to control behaviors by offering rewards or punishments (external motivation) produces, at best, only short term results and not the deep commitment to the organization's and customers' challenges required by innovation.

Two books which are invaluable for understanding how to deal with this particular elephant (compensation systems) are featured in the InnovationNetwork website bookshelf:

'Punished by Rewards' by Alfie Kohn
http://www.thinksmart.com/mission/
workout/thoughtstimulatebooks.html

'Free, Perfect and Now' by Rob Rodin
http://www.thinksmart.com/mission/
workout/organizationalbooks.html

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Announcing:

** Innovation Comes Alive! Keynotes/workshops. If you have an event coming up and want to jump start innovation in your organization, send a brief overview of your event and objectives to staff@thinksmart.com

** Would you like your own in-house innovation intranet to help everyone in your organization think more effectively? If so, the InnovationWizard, a dynamic, fully developed innovation resource is for you. For more information, staff@thinksmart.com.