#18: Intrapreneurship - A prerequisite for sustainable and strategic innovation
Prakash Baskar
Partnering with high-growth companies and driven leaders to deliver big wins with Corpsulting?? and Datapreneurship | Author of “The Intrapreneur.”
Transformation, Growth, and Innovation do not happen due to relentless dreaming or action alone. Creating an environment that offers favorable conditions for consistently driving strategic innovation depends on establishing and nurturing a culture of Intrapreneurship. Innovation happens when the Intrapreneur rises.
Let's get a few definitions out of our way.
An Entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages a business with considerable initiative and takes some risks in the process. Almost in all cases, this starts with a dream, concept, or idea and is translated to creating a business to provide a service, product, process, or any offer to generate value.?
Intrapreneur and Intrapreneurship
An Intrapreneur is a person with a similar creative urge, drive, and passion that implements ideas or initiatives in their place of employment.
Most movers and shakers within organizations got to where they are by following their instincts, garnering the support of peers and managers, and moving ahead with their eyes on the goal. They did so without being?rattled by the challenges that arose.
Failures and obstacles are a part of the process, and Intrapreneurs approach every one of these barriers as a learning opportunity. They are not afraid to take risks or face setbacks.?
Intrapreneurs have a keen eye for opportunities and are always willing to do more by facing the unknown.
There is a scarcity of such individuals in organizations, which is why there exists a need to identify individuals with potential and develop them.
Companies that embrace this concept will always have candidates for succession planning. They will be able to grow innovatively, deliver results, cut costs, and enjoy a loyal customer base.
There is no better way to grow Intrapreneurial traits in employees than by embracing a culture that focuses on identifying and nurturing talent, encouraging risk-taking and innovation, coaching outstanding people-management qualities, increasing their emotional intelligence, and concentrating developing the strategic, financial, and business acumen of these potential Intrapreneurs. Educating upper management and senior-level leaders on this concept takes time and effort.?
The traditional hands-free approach to employer-employee relations focuses on hiring employees with technical or functional expertise into jobs based on the need of the hour, with a limited view of strategic growth in the talent pool.
That approach will not work anymore, especially in a time and age when garage-born start-ups are giving centuries or decades-old large companies a run for their money.?
Why is this important now?
The world of work has significantly changed in the last few decades. Even more so in the last few years.
While "Covid" may come to your mind when you read that statement, this wave of change started way back, about two decades ago, and is led mainly by the advancements in business and technology, consumer expectations, a global talent pool, and expanding marketplace for new and innovative products.
A few people are leading the process of thinking about what the masses need, will use, and pay for, and these companies and leaders come up with those products, services, and offerings.
There are three other significant shifts to be considered here:
If you are reading this and are wondering if you should jump out of your full-time employment to start on your own to pursue your luck in the gig economy, you may want to read this intrapreneurship article series, as there may be another way. Read the section for employees.
Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. There are so many things that must be handled that are outside of your core expertise. If you are after achievement, fulfillment, freedom, creativity, and significant (reasonable) compensation growth, I strongly urge you to consider Intrapreneurship before giving up a corporate job.
How does this impact companies?
The leadership/management teams across large/mid-sized companies are worried about these four shifts I mentioned above. It is getting harder and harder to retain their best talent.
The practices of the yester years will not work for them anymore, and if you are a leader, you probably see this first hand.
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Rigid hierarchical workflow, outdated talent management practices, vendor engagement, onboarding criteria, risk-reward practices for performance management, promotion decisions, team structuring, internal mobility, and many others are being reviewed.
Strategic innovation, continuous improvement, mistake-proofing, experimental initiatives, test-fast / fail-fast approaches, incubation centers, and a willingness to engage talent at higher levels independent of titles (company size and tenure, if its vendor talent) is required.
In short, most companies are moving towards embracing and promoting a culture of Intrapreneurship (corporate entrepreneurship)
But throwing money at innovation teams, transformation organizations, and hackathons will only help a little. Enabling the mindset of the employees to think and act as intrapreneurs is the first step. This should be supported by adequate help in terms of opportunities and strategic and tactical inputs to help guide the employees to make the switch.
If you are an employee, what should you do?
You have a goldmine of opportunities for career advancement and professional success if you position yourself as an Intrapreneur within the team, organization, or company.
Commit yourself to continuous learning and improvement, always give more than your job requirements expect of you, and take the people and teams you manage to the top with you.
A job description is only as good as the time it is published. It is up to you to mold your job to how you can serve the company.?There are problems, opportunities, and challenges in every company. Complaining about them is not the solution. Instead, viewing a challenge with a mindset of "what can I do about it?" is the golden key that will open new doors for you.
It takes courage, commitment, resiliency, and a deep-rooted conviction always to strive to do your best. Will you fail in your attempts? At times. Do not let that discourage you. Identify why you failed, learn from it, and move on.?
When you start working as an Intrapreneur, your dependency on your manager, team, or company to enable your growth will begin to diminish. You will rise as a leader on your terms.
If your company supports you in your initiatives and helps grow your potential and capabilities more, it is a win-win situation. If you do not find your skills appreciated, there is nothing to worry about, as many would be willing to pay more for your Intrapreneurial leadership contributions.
If you are a leader, what should you do?
You are leading in extraordinary times. You get to bridge together the level of experience and expertise of seasoned doers and the initiative, energy, and curiosity of young minds to create excellent results.
But it is a job opportunity with much responsibility too.
Enabling a team of intrapreneurs means you can help draw outstanding opportunities and unique projects into your team or function. With a driven team, your ability to go after bigger, riskier, and more complex initiatives will be much better. In short, when you plan and manage it well, you get to run a high-growth entrepreneurial venture within a larger company. All the larger company's resources are available to you and your team while you get to work on exciting and rewarding projects.
Over the next 31 days, I will write on one concept daily. These ideas have helped me work as an Intrapreneur during my corporate career and now as an Entrepreneur.
I wish you all the best.