{"id":3574,"date":"2017-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/5-steps-to-start-an-intrapreneurship-program-2\/"},"modified":"2017-07-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T00:00:00","slug":"5-steps-to-start-an-intrapreneurship-program-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/5-steps-to-start-an-intrapreneurship-program-2\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps To Start An Intrapreneurship Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is like a trip to the moon \u2014 everyone is talking about it but probably no one you know has ever been there.<\/strong>Embracing intrapreneurship is a decision to let the most entrepreneurial people in the company take risk and use innovative potential to add value to our business (instead of letting them go, so they can build something on their own).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guys at\u00a0D-RAFT<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(a company empowering collaboration between global corporates and European startups) did a great job gathering top corporate innovation leaders to identify and solve practical challenges related to corporate entrepreneurship. Together with Jan Kennedy (AFcE) we had a pleasure to lead the workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the most important take-aways for anyone seriously interested in corporate innovation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Purpose and potential of an intrapreneurship program<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Corporates suggest that unleashing your people\u2019s potential could not only be the way to \u201cbreak the silos\u201d or \u201cread clients faster\u201d but even THE\u00a0way to survive in business<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a)<\/strong>\u00a0Business development\u00a0<\/strong>benefits include developing new business models and revenue streams, shortening time to market or becoming more client-centric by\u00a0applying lean methodology to corporate projects<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b)<\/strong>\u00a0At the\u00a0company culture<\/strong>\u00a0side intrapreneurship can lead to\u00a0becoming a more attractive workplace<\/strong>. Entrepreneurial projects can play a role of practical assessment and selection of the most promising talents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Choosing the right people and projects<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

a)<\/strong>\u00a0People:<\/strong>\u00a0It is possible to empower entrepreneurship, but it takes a lot of time and effort to develop entrepreneurial mindset. Not everyone is keen on risk-taking \u2013 the most characteristic trait of entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managers agree that one should start selecting potential intrapreneurs from\u00a0the most active volunteers<\/strong>\u00a0who are known for actively promoting their ideas and\/or are have a track record of successful projects delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

b)<\/strong>\u00a0Projects:<\/strong>\u00a0A company can prepare\u00a0a shortlist of project<\/strong>\u00a0areas for people to help with. Some team members may have great sense of ownership and passion for execution, but be less active in having their own ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if an idea seems unrelated but does not require a lot of resources, why not give it a try? Magdalena Dziewgu\u0107, Google Poland, said: \u201cIf we have 60.000 employees spending 20% of their time on pursuing their own ideas, there is\u00a0a great probability one of those projects will be a really good one<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Support for the intrapreneur (resources, decision-making)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You decided to start the intrapreneurship program. You have people ready to work. What do they need to deliver results?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Provide\u00a0the three most important resources<\/strong>:
a)<\/strong>\u00a0time \u2014 so people can work on the idea
b)<\/strong>\u00a0sponsorship from the top management \u2014 so it is easier for them to get access to internal teams
c)<\/strong>\u00a0decision-making power and (a certain level of) acceptance of failure \u2014 so they can work on the project without delays and pivot if needed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is widely discussed whether rewards and recognition work for intrapreneurs. Trevor Owens, the author of\u00a0\u201cThe Lean Enterprise<\/a>\u201d shows that recognition is a tool that works much better with average employees than those with an entrepreneurial spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. First steps to launch an intrapreneurship program<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We had an interesting discussion whether a intrapreneurship program should be started by the CEO or built bottom up by the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bulletproof\u00a0code of conduct<\/strong>:
a)<\/strong>\u00a0Deliver a small successful project on a team level without being noticed.
b)<\/strong>\u00a0Sell the results to the board.
c)<\/strong>\u00a0Use CEO support to scale the project company-wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Important notice:\u00a0a program will not work at all if the board shows no interest<\/strong>\u00a0in open innovation and entrepreneurship whatsoever. If we are not able to force it at the board level, we can\u2026 try again or go working with another board in some other company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Managing risk<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Corporates are like: I want to do it as the first company, but I need it to be safe and proven in practice. Obviously it is an oxymoron.\u00a0One cannot play safe and be a player in the area of disruptive innovation.<\/strong>\u00a0Having that said \u2014 what shall we be aware of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a)<\/strong>\u00a0Do not let people fall in love with their solution. They should\u00a0fall in love with the problem<\/strong>.
b)<\/strong>\u00a0Be aware that if you do not treat an entrepreneurial soul seriously, the soul will leave the corporate body to pursue the idea somewhere else.
c)<\/strong>\u00a0Internal political game, formal and legal bottlenecks, as well as cowardly board can be killers. Build a secure sandbox for the intrapreneurs before you start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have been thinking about becoming an intrapreneur or starting a corporate entrepreneurship program \u2014 now you can do it with more confidence. Take those 5 steps and try walking on the moon yourself. It is a fascinating journey.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is like a trip to the moon \u2014 everyone is talking about it but probably no one you know has ever been there.Embracing intrapreneurship is a decision to let the most entrepreneurial people in the company take risk and use innovative potential to add value to our business (instead of letting them go, so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bez-kategorii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albrechtpartners.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}