Building The Right Support System For Intrapreneurs

Building internal support for intrapreneurship is a prerequisite to creating meaningful change in an organization. Employees bold enough to be intrapreneurs must recognize the challenge they are taking on from the organizational frame. Organizations have great momentum and are, in most cases, inherently resilient to change. This places a great strain on an innovative employee with an interesting idea because she is tasked not only with implementing the idea but also with communicating it to key decision-makers to gain approval.

Key Stakeholders Involved In The Support System

Intrapreneurs need to know who the key stakeholders are and how to capture their attention. For starters, upper management is often where the decision-making power lies. Having access to upper management, and understanding the strategic motivations behind their decisions, plays an integral role in building

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top-down support organizationally. Customers are also key stakeholders because their needs are the primary determinant of organizational trajectory. Recognizing what customers want and learning how to give it to them more effectively are integral to successful intrapreneurship and building system around it.

One useful way to integrate stakeholders and speak the language of upper management is to numerically demonstrate that a new idea is financially and strategically feasible. A net present value (NPV) analysis factors in the total time it will take to initiate a new project, along with costs incurred and value generated over a given timeframe. This enables intrapreneurs a tool to communicate, in today's dollars, how much a given new venture will cost compared with how much it will bring in (i.e., a profit margin).

Here are some tips for companies who want to encourage an attitude of intrapreneurship:

1. Share the equity. When you own even a small part of the company you are much more heavily invested in its success. You become less of an employee and more of an entrepreneur. Employers who share the equity are really getting enormous help from their employees.

2. Give people a green light. You've given them the time and the resources, but they need to hear you give them the go-ahead. They are often unsure of the reception they will have from others up the line. Let them know how the process works and assure them that the company supports them.

3. Have fun. A spirit of fun will help loosen those creative spirits. Some companies have suggestion boxes or creative thinking workshops and ideas classes.

4. Recognize the success of employees. It's important that they see that their ideas are valued and being acted upon.

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5. Reward them financially. While they will feel the thrill of accomplishment first, they will be encouraged to do this again when they see some tangible reward.

The bottom line says if you build the right sandbox, intrapreneurs will dive into it: create space and structure for intrapreneurship and you will keep many of your most creative people engaged in forging the future of the company.

(References: boundless.com, forbes)

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