In its excellent article " How to Launch a Successful Intrapreneurship Program in your Organization ", Stanford University discusses the keys to a successful intrapreneurship program. The article reminds us that a company that is able to promote an entrepreneurial mindset among its employees will be better able to remain competitive in a constantly changing environment.
To better understand what intrapreneurship is, visit our dedicated article.
Why does a company need an intrapreneurship programme?
To retain their talents
After several years in the same company, employees often think about changing their horizons. But what are they looking for elsewhere? First and foremost, a new, more challenging environment, and therefore the opportunity to gain new skills.
In order not to risk losing their talent, companies are developing intrapreneurship programmes. They allow their employees totry new things without leaving the safe confines of the company.
To increase their competitiveness
As in entrepreneurship, an intrapreneurship programme aims to solve irritants. Except that rather than looking for irritants within the company or the wider business world, intrapreneurs explore new opportunities to solve irritants in the organisation. They bring a fresh perspective to processes and products, and enable companies to remain competitive.
The 5 keys to a successful intrapreneurship programme
Start by developing a culture of intrapreneurship in your organisation. The intrapreneurial spirit will follow! When you want to launch your intrapreneurship programme, here are some keys to success from Stanford University.
Intrapreneurship programme begins search for potential intrapreneurs
You want to launch an intrapreneurship programme, but you are not sure whether your employees are really up to the challenge. The easiest way to check this is to ask them - quite simply - about their propensity to become intrapreneurs. Run recruitment campaigns! Ask them if they are interested in the prospect, and if they can identify people with the right qualities. Once you have identified the right candidates, give them the means to deepen their skills and thoughts.
Launch workshops to develop soft skills
Few people are born leaders. It takes time to develop essential skills, such as project management, communication skills and a solution-oriented mindset. Some entrepreneurs have very good ideas, but lack these qualities. The company's role is to help them develop them, for example by organising workshops on soft skills.
Provide space and time for brainstorming
The best projects require patience. When launching an intrapreneurship programme, do not expect ideas to spring up immediately and be implemented with a wave of a magic wand. They need to be discussed, enriched, challenged, to give rise to relevant and effective projects.
Provide the necessary tools for prototyping
When a good idea emerges in your intrapreneurship programme, it is essential to move it into the prototyping phase. Give the project team the tools and resources to bring the idea to life on a small scale. Once this experimentation is deemed successful, it is time to give the entrepreneurs more means to scale up.
An intrapreneurship programme must be motivating
Financial endowments are often a good source of motivation - let's face it. But there are other sources of motivation. Recognition is an area to work on, whether it is recognition by peers or by management. Show your intrapreneurs that they are recognised for their work, and take the time to value that work.
