How to Successfully Create an Intrapreneurial Culture

In an influential 1985 book, still relevant today, Gifford Pinchot III coined the phrase intrapreneurship to describe the marriage of an entrepreneurial spirit complete with its fierce independence and lack of deference to established views and the strictures of conventional wisdom with the resources of a large corporation. While these two spirits may seem in conflict, they actually thrive in many of the worlds best-run companies. Intrapreneurship is a strategy for stimulating innovation by making better use of entrepreneurial talent. When effectively promoted and channeled, intrapreneurship not only fosters innovation, it also helps employees with good ideas to better channel the resources of a corporation to develop more successful products. Some of the greatest business leaders of the past century made their early mark in business as intrapreneurs. Former General Electric chairman Jack Welch made a name for himself by building GEs engineering plastics business as if he were starting his own company. Lew Lehr, former chairman of 3M, similarly built his career on his intrapreneurial pursuit of 3Ms expansion into the healthcare industry. By fostering an intrapreneur ethic within a company, employees can be empowered and enabled to become company change agents who are comfortable bringing new ideas forward and promoting their execution. It is essential to create an elevating and encouraging environment that provides talented and entrepreneurial minded people the freedom to innovate, whilst at the same time supporting them with the resources to quickly bring their innovations to market. For small-to-midsize firms, innovation and speed-to-market are two ways to compete successfully against dominant and well-entrenched companies. Creating, fostering, and sustaining the right environment really are intrapreneurial imperatives. As someone who founded my company, Cincom with $600 and a card table, I will always be at heart an entrepreneur. So, I could never even imagine allowing us to become a company that doesnt support creative free spirits who also seek to pursue good opportunities, and in the process, build new businesses within the company, which will provide new and different ways to better satisfy customer wants and needs. However, Cincom is in many respects also a conservative company. We dont take reckless risks, and all initiatives require a solid business case. For intrapreneurship to work effectively, several important considerations should be taken into account that balances risk with reward, and opportunity with difficulty. Listen, Always Listen Intrapreneurs above all else thrive on the freedom that fuels their innate desire to innovate. This can be a handful for a manager who Does not understand or respect the entrepreneurial nature. For intrapreneurship to flourish in an organization, leadership has to be willing to listen to and recognize good ideas whenever and from whomever they arise. This message must be constantly reinforced from the highest levels of the organization.
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The key is creating an environment where an employees ideas, when properly presented, are taken seriously and then be properly supported and recognized. One never knows where good ideas will come from, especially in a corporate culture that supports intrapreneurship. An account representative could become the catalyst for revolutionizing a companys entire business strategy when presented with the ongoing opportunity to approach company leadership with a proposal. Beyond listening, it is critical to enable people to see their own ideas through, even if they must cross over into a new functional area and push themselves past any previous company achievements or organizational structure. Cut the Red Tape It is important to create an environment where anyone can come forward with an idea on how to improve any aspect of the business. It should not matter where that person fits on the organizational chart. If the idea is good, and the benefits and risks are clearly stated, that idea should get the green light - and the support it merits. There must still be a business approval process, but it should be efficient. Projects that deserve support should be quickly expedited. Then it may be better to avoid wading through a cumbersome and lengthy buy-in process than to miss a window of opportunity. Need for Speed Companies can foster and encourage potential intrapreneurs by sending the message throughout the organization that a case properly presented, which thinks through the issues, identifies and explains what can go wrong and what can go right, and how to put contingencies in place, is welcome. But, the process must be simple and flexible enough to initially move quickly - and then to later scale up as rapidly as possible when success develops. Many entrepreneurial careers are built on a succession of minor failures, with the accumulated lessons learned from each leading to ultimate success. There is an imperative need to first experience something in order to be able to well understand it. And, as we learn forward but only understand backward, there will always be mistakes made. It is important for companies to allow for a degree of inevitable failure around new projects and initiatives without sending the message that failure is not tolerated. Companies must strive to provide a freedom to fail culture and environment. Although failure resulting from poor planning and execution is not accepted, there should be no penalty for those who come forward with good ideas, assuming theyve been well presented and competently executed. An intrapreneurial culture must embrace constructive failure to score big victories. There is a certain intangible something that all high achievers have; this is a willingness to put themselves out there where all can see, and to expose themselves to the risk of failure and the criticism that is sure to follow. Organizations must support those who have such courage and confidence that they are willing to fail in order to succeed.
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Many companies are filled with reliable singles hitters who play it safe and never really aspire to greatness. Intrapreneurs, on the other hand, swing for the fences. Sometimes they strike out, but when they connect, they like to hit it big. Share Credit Harry Truman once said, It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. It doesnt do any good to encourage team members at all levels to bring innovative ideas to company leadership if the leaders then take those ideas and make them their own. Recognition is a key driver for us all. Leaders who seek to steal the recognition rightfully deserved by others find few followers. So, one needs to make sure credit goes where it is due, and to share it widely. It costs nothing to admit that the $10 million idea came from the receptionist. No one is diminished as a result, and the company is $10 million richer for it. The receptionist becomes then even more eager to offer better future ideas. And, everyone else in the organization is encouraged to follow the lead of that receptionist, and to help to improve the organization. Leaders deal in hope, as Napoleon, noted. But in top-performing organizations Leadership is always plural. No one ever succeeds alone. Look Forward to Breaking Precedent Every organization must have processes and rules of procedure and behavior. But when we catch ourselves saying, Weve never done it that way before, or thats not how we do things, we should stop and reflect on whether we are saying this out of habit or for good reason. Chances are we may be citing a rule that may no longer be appropriate for the new conditions and situations we are now trying to intrapreneurially develop. Maybe its best, and even necessary, to sometimes break with past traditions and establish new precedents to respond to new opportunities. This is especially so in those industries where the pace of innovation is great, and obsolescence is just as speedy. The ability to differentiate between rules needed to guide and perform within the current business and rules that may restrict success in building a new business is what discernment and opportunity awareness are all about. Going forward is always a journey. And as journeys progress, we need new signposts along the way that point the way forward on the next leg of our trip. These signposts are the rules and regulations for building new businesses within existing businesses. The trailblazing intrapreneurs are the ones who set up those signposts for others to follow. Journeys require maps and itineraries; but sometimes we also need to take detours and alternative routes when unusual or unexpected opportunities and situations develop, as almost always happens. Ignite Intrapreneurs To start a revolution of initiative and innovation, ignite the intrapreneurs and then get out of the way! Lift off generates a lot of heat. And a lot of fun, too!