Cultivating Intrapreneurs
When we think about enterprise innovation, key words like “entrepreneur” and “business start up team” come to mind. But in more established organisations, who leads the business innovation process? The answer is often the company’s “intrapreneurs” i.e. internal entrepreneurs. Richard Branson has commented that such people are required to drive new projects and in particular, to explore new and unexpected business developments.
The key to cultivating intrapreneurs seem to lie in creating the working conditions that enables such people to emerge and thrive. Most importantly, the intrapreneurial mindset thrives when it is given the space and resources it needs to develop new ideas. Google’s 70/20/10 Rule is a case in point. 70% of time is focused on the core job; 20% of time is focused on potential projects; whilst 10% of time may be used to pursue “off the wall” ideas!
The advantages of having a number of intrapreneurs in an organisation may seem obvious. But Andy Birol suggests that there are situations in which becoming a company intrapreneur may not prove effective:
- When insiders control the organisation and hence preserve the status quo
- When the pain of changing is greater than the pain of retaining the status quo
- When the motivation to change is driven by wealth protection rather than the creation of new value
There are lessons to be learned from long established organisations the world over about how to succeed and thrive over time. The role of the intrapreneur would seem to be a key component in that process.