Great companies often thrive on keeping a certain momentum. Perhaps that means, maintaining a number of sales each year to meet a quota, or keeping up with new technologies and adapting to show your company is at the forefront of your industry. But however you measure your company’s success, there is one thing that can help keep your company growing strong through good times and bad that is frequently overlooked. Turning to your employees for solutions and creative ideas that can boost your company.

An article posted to Inc.com titled, “How to Reward Great Ideas” reveals some unique suggestions on how to keep employees engaged and how to build a workplace environment where creative juices flow uncorked by offering them creative rewards. The article begins by stressing, “Your employees may never say no to a bonus, but that doesn’t mean it’s the ideal way to credit their work. Examples from Foursquare and other innovative companies show how to make your rewards as creative as the ideas they’re rewarding.” What does that mean to you? How can you reward your employees “creatively?” Read on.

“Projet Créatif, video game developer Frima Studio’s program for pitching product ideas, requires its employees to work for the company for a year before presenting an independent project. That was too long for David Moss to wait. Less than a year after joining Frima, Moss compiled a creative team to start designing Ravenmark, a mythological adventure for young boys set in fourteenth century Scotland.

Originally designing Ravenmark as a digital short, Moss and his team were inspired by the innovative nature of Projet Créatif to do more. ‘We thought, this is a creative project,’ Moss says. ‘We’re supposed to be able to pitch about anything we want so let’s make a TV show.’

So in March 2010, the Ravenmark team presented its idea to a jury of their peers. ‘Everyone was kind of confused that we were pitching a television show,’ Moss recalls. ‘But by the end of the presentation, everyone’s eyes lit up and they could see the potential.’

The jury decided Ravenmark was a smart idea; Frima’s upper management agreed. Moss and his team were given time and funds to develop Ravenmark. With Ravenmark ready to hit the market, Moss maintains ownership of his idea and will get part of its revenue throughout his career.

For plenty of creatives, Moss’s opportunity is a dream come true. Frima, like many online creative companies, understands how to foster and reward its employees’ ideas. But rewarding great ideas is vital to the success and productivity of any company. According to a study by employee motivation agency Maritz, 55 percent of employees strongly agree that the quality of their company’s recognition programs affects their performance, but only 10 percent of those polled are satisfied with these efforts.”

While employees should not be pressured to constantly come up with a new idea every day to solve a company problem (that kind of oppression typically results with the opposite effect), it’s important to hear employees out when they might have an idea, even if it seems a bit outlandish at first, and don’t forget to give credit where it’s due. The article continues to explain how to “foster” these ideas.

“Long before your company can reward the great ideas, you must first foster the creation of those ideas. According to Maritz, driving performance requires companies to focus on their No. 1 asset: their employees. ‘What drives innovation?’ Mark Barbee, COO at Maritz Loyalty and Motivation asks. ‘It’s not coming from technology or processes. It’s coming from people.’

Programs such as Frima’s Projet Créatif are an effective way to foster such innovation. Since it started last year, 10 ideas have been pitched, and six of them are in production. Ravenmark is the first to reach a marketable stage. At its core is the idea that employees judge each others’ ideas without the initial influence of senior leadership. ‘Ideas don’t just come from upper management,’ says Steve Couture, Frima’s CEO. ‘You need a channel to listen to all ideas.’”

Now that you know how to get those creative juices flowing, how exactly can you award employees?

“When great ideas emerge, bonuses are the most common solution for companies with a large enough cash flow. Although an extra check is rarely unwelcome, many more creative options exist to reward employees in a meaningful way.

While Projet Créatif stands to showcase major innovations, Frima also recognizes smaller ideas with a rewards system call Frima Points. When an employee comes forward with a fresh idea, they earn points which can later be traded for tangible gifts. Frima’s gifts, such as payment for babysitters, home repair services, and the like, emphasize work-family balance—a core value for Frima—while also fostering productivity.

‘We’ve found that if people spend more time at home with their families than doing household chores on the weekends, they come back to work on Monday ready to do better work,’ Couture says.

At RockYou, a social game developing and advertising company, great ideas are recognized monthly with their You Rock Awards. Driven by peer nominations, RockYou awards employees for solving a problem, designing a game or otherwise showing innovation. You Rock nominees spin a wheel to choose an award such as concert tickets, an extra day off, or an iPad. All You Rock recipients also receive a golden bobble-head cow trophy.

‘I don’t actually know the relevance of the cow,’ RockYou’s CFO Steve van Horne admits. ‘But it’s a source of pride for employees to have on their desk.’”

So maybe some of this seems a little strange (you know you want a cow trophy), but remember that employees aren’t mindless robots, completely void of pride or personality. The article continues to explain more aspects of creative rewards and is definitely worth a read through. For additional inspiration, check out the rest of the article.

How do you keep creative juices flowing in your workplace? How do you reward employees in the workplace? After reading this article, would you reconsider the way you reward your employees?