Intrapreneurship (Friend or Foe?)
Wendy Dean
Founder & Chair at Strategi Solutions Group Limited. Public Speaker. Championing Women. Director of Women of The Year Awards
Last week I delivered a Masterclass for Staffordshire University on Intrapreneurship. When I was asked if I wanted to be involved I agreed but wasn't 100% sure on what it means. Sure, it's entrepreneurship but internal to the organisation. What I hadn't realised, is that I've been practicing this approach over the past 20 years. By developing employee champions and supporting them to create fresh thinking for their organisation.
The other thing that I've realised is that companies already have intraprenueurs, they just don't realise it. Some of the people that I met on the Masterclass had some amazing ideas and innovations. They just weren't sure how to get their managers/CEO's engaged with their thoughts.
That got me thinking... how many people are sitting on good ideas but don't know how to get their point across and how many CEO's are frustrated because their people don't come up with the new?
Clearly, it's not as straight forward as saying "who's got a good idea?". It's about having a culture where people feel that they have the freedom not to be shot down, told "it'll cost too much" or "too risky".
So, I developed a roadmap for Intrapreneurship for the Masterclass. We worked through it and looks like it works!
If you're looking for a way of doing things differently, contact me - [email protected]