Are you an entrepreneur or an “intrapreneur”?
Haven’t heard the term before?
As the name implies, it’s someone who is entrepreneurial by nature, but chooses to apply their innovation and leadership within a company.
Intrapreneurs aren’t to be confused with “keeners”, the ones that organize the lottery pools, echoes the boss’s declarations and walks past your desk with a permanently raised eyebrow.
No, intrapreneurs are the independent ones that always seem to be looking for something to do.
They’re the ones the boss hands over the big projects to because these “linchpins” feed on challenges like couriers feed on doughnuts. (mmmm, doughnuts!)
They not only think outside the box, they deny the box exist.
Companies aren’t always good environments for this rare species.
At meetings, they increasingly become quieter as their input gets drowned out by choruses of “that’s not the way we do things here” and “there’s no line in the budget for that.”
One day you look up from your iPhone and see their chair’s empty and the meetings have become more conducive to texting and browsing without interruption.
Managing change:
The more “social” the company, the more innovative and responsive to change they must be.
Anyone who introduced a new photocopier into an office can tell you how much fun change is.
“Intrapreneurs are most successful when management/leadership empowers and supports them and in turn the intrapreneurs represent the best interests of their organizations while earning the respect of corporate peers.”
- David Armano (Executive VP, Global Innovation & Integration for Edelman Digital)
How do we make a company more attractive to intrapreneurs?
Communicate vision and strategy.
People feel more empowered if they know where they’re going and why they’re going there.
Empower visionaries:
People won’t stick their neck out if they’re afraid of having their head cut off!
Support, coach and protect PWI’s (people with ideas).
Come out of the cubicle:
There are few phrases that I detested more in my years in management than: “It’s not my job!”
This may have been relevant in a factory setting but not in a collaborative one.
This is not to say that we don’t take responsibilities for our own projects, but companies must encourage cross discipline projects and collaboration.
Only then will the company become greater than the sum of its parts.
Encourage risk and tolerate failure:
You can’t succeed without failure.
When those trying new ideas are punished for “mistakes,” two things go wrong:
(1) people stop experimenting, and (2) mistakes are covered up.
Focus on customers:
Focusing how to better serve customers drives innovation.
Focusing on internal politics drives conservatism.
Not changing is the inequivalent of standing still on a moving treadmill.
Be Social, Environmental and Ethically Responsible:
Companies with a strong commitment to being good corporate neighbours tend to be more sensitive to external changes.
This allows them to be able to react and innovate faster.
They also tend to attract the type of employee that has a greater commitment to serving customers and improving the world.
Is innovation rewarded in your company?
[ois skin="NRCblog"]
Ray Hiltz is a Social Media Strategist with management roots in restaurant, hotel and performing arts.
A strong proponent for the power of collaborative communication and "humanized" digital networking, Ray writes about social media, social business and Google Plus.
His clients include hotels, restaurants, consulting firms, entrepreneurs, writers and individuals just trying to make sense of "social".
Ray is a popular speaker on Social Media, Social Business and Google+.
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[...] To navigate through these torrents of social data, a company needs to nurture an internal culture of collaboration and innovation. It has to encourage “intraprenurship”. [...]
[...] Is Your Company Intrapreneur Friendly? – Ray Hiltz, newraycom.com, August [...]