Promoting innovation from employees is ideal but possibly too ideal. Any manager would love his employees to find improvements or new solutions to problems, big or small, but is it truly possible?
First and foremost, if the employee doesn't feel motivated by reward would they really put the effort in? I know in my line of work, we are constantly asked to improve our everyday lives and products, but see little reward for substantal contributions. What seems to happen over time is the motivation to improve anything beyond your own work day is almost entirely lost.
If the reward is present, is the time and money? It takes resources to develope even the most simple innovations. My experiences have shown, corporate capital is impossible to obtain to fund even the most brilliant ideas and even if it was available, man hours would have to be dedicated. Man hours are seemingly easier to come by than capital.
I may sound pessimistic but this is what I see everyday. The challange a company needs to overcome to truely promote internal innovation is simply invest in your talent. Your employees know the product, processes and possible improvements better than anyone else. Give free time to develope ideas and give real rewards for innovation (if an innovation saves the company 3 million a year and costs $10,000, a framed certificate is NOT a reward).... soon the investment will be well worth it.
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