Page 226 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

learning agility (perhaps using relevant criteria from this
chapter); then build this measurement into the performance
management system. Once standards and measures are
established, allocate rewards for meeting those standards.
Some rewards are financial (e.g., base pay increases,
bonuses, stock options), and others are nonfinancial (e.g.,
recognition awards to managers who anticipate competency
needs or demonstrate learning strategies). As long as rewards
tie to the measures of learning agility, accountability for
learning increases. A good example of an integrated system
for innovation and learning agility is 3M’s “vitality index,”
which measures the percentage of revenue that comes
from products introduced in the last five years. This vitality
index encourages experimentation, risk taking, and sharing
of ideas. In this light, measures and rewards may also be
used to encourage cross-boundary behavior. One company
requires that 20 percent of the bonus money available to a
leader to distribute must be given to someone outside his
direct chain of command. This money pool allows leaders
to rewards boundaryless behavior.

Information Systems

Many large professional service firms have created the
position of “Director of Knowledge Management,” whose
primary responsibility is to move information across units.
Accenture (a consulting firm) excels at leveraging technol-
ogy best practices across business sites. On completing an
assignment, each Accenture consultant answers basic ques-
tions about the assignment:

• • What was the presenting problem?
• • What methods were used to deal with the problem?

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