What is intrapreneurship and why does your organisation need to embrace it?
New ideas are the lifeblood of innovative organisations – but how can you stop them from being stifled before they even get off the ground?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
It can be challenging, especially in large companies, to foster a culture that allows people to think creatively about their work and feel comfortable enough to take risks and try new things.
However, this kind of internal entrepreneurship or – you guessed it – ‘intrapreneurship’, can really pay off so long as you take steps to build a culture that embraces it.
Experts in innovation and intrapreneurship at the University of Melbourne have collaborated with Telstra’s Head of Innovation to create Intrapreneurship Fundamentals, a highly practical course that equips professionals with key skills to design and confidently pitch new ideas that align with your business objectives.
Let’s take a closer look at what your team can gain when putting intrapreneurship into practice.
What is intrapreneurship?
You may have heard of a famous example of intrapreneurship in action: Google’s ‘20% time’ initiative. In place since the company’s early days in 2004, the practice encourages employees to dedicate at least 20% of their time to exploring new ideas or side projects – even if they don’t have any immediate or guaranteed pay off.
It’s resulted in some iconic innovations – such as AdSense and Street View on Google Maps, to take one example.
In Australia, companies such as Telstra and Australia Post are known for encouraging their people to embrace creative, intrapreneurial thinking. While these are obviously huge, household-name brands, it’s possible for teams within smaller organisations to embrace this kind of mindset too.
But what makes a great intrapreneur? And can anyone be one?
Whether you use the label to describe yourself or not, adopting an intrapreneurial mindset is possible for anyone to do – though some people may be more naturally inclined that way than others.
It’s also possible for managers and leaders to actively foster a culture of intrapreneurship and creative experimentation within their teams, even if their organisation hasn’t traditionally embraced that way of working. More on that later.
Why do organisations need intrapreneurs?
Aside from the obvious benefits of uncovering new ideas for products or projects – and potentially getting them to market quickly – intrapreneurship can have significant benefits for employees as well as the organisations they work for.
The satisfaction of seeing your idea come to life is huge and research suggests that this can help boost employee motivation and retain top talent as a result.
Depending on your current organisational culture, it might take a new kind of managerial approach to encourage bold and proactive thinking within your team.
It might seem slightly scary to make these kinds of changes at first – but it is possible. A few initial success stories can do wonders to get the ball rolling and shift a company culture to be more creative and less risk averse.
Key intrapreneurship strategies for success
According to Telstra’s Head of Innovation and the University of Melbourne’s intrapreneurship experts, there are a few key aspects that underpin a successful intrapreneurship mindset.
1. Assess the strength of an idea
You might get really excited about a brilliant idea that’s never been done before at your company… but sometimes there might be a reason for that. It’s good to dream big – that’s what the spirit of innovation demands – but knowing how to assess the strength of an idea is also crucial.
Our experts suggest thinking deeply about three critical aspects of the innovation process –the desirability, feasibility, and viability of your idea before deciding whether to move forward with it or not.
2. Know how to sell the story
After you’ve thought through your concept and decided it’s a viable one, you’re inevitably going to have to get buy-in from other stakeholders to take it any further.
By learning how to skilfully socialise ideas and present a strong narrative that illustrates how your concept can help the business, you’ll increase your chances of getting your project off the ground.
There are certain techniques you can draw upon that will help you and your team become much more persuasive when pitching an idea.
3. Practise self-reflection and resilience
Sometimes, things just won’t work out. You could have taken a project from idea to pilot phase, and, for whatever reason, it stalls or doesn’t quite come together. This can be frustrating but is part of the process of innovation and intrapreneurship.
By actively building a resilient mindset and reflecting on what may have been done differently, you can take key learnings with you to your next project.
Intrapreneurship challenges within a large organisation
If you work in a big organisation, you’ll know that, while they have their strengths – more resources than a start-up, for instance – they can be much less nimble when implementing new ideas.
This can be all-too frustrating but there are ways you can encourage intrapreneurial thinking, as organisations such as Telstra have found.
If you are a leader who wants to encourage a bolder, more intrapreneurial culture within your organisation, upskilling your team is a great idea.
Our Intrapreneurship Fundamentals micro-credential is designed for teams of up to five people from a single organisation.
The course shares key insights into Telstra’s own culture of intrapreneurship and gives your team the chance to develop and pitch their own innovation ideas for your organisation, gaining vital feedback along the way.
The next Intrapreneurship Fundamentals micro-credential begins on May 20 2024 and is now open for enrolments.