Intrapreneurship, A Way to Create Innovation by Employee

What Intrapreneurship really is? Why should I know about it? Is there a different with entrepreneurship?

Introduction

Intrapreneurship refers to an environment that supports the employee with freedom for experimenting and growing within an organization. 

Through intrapreneurship, an employee could develop autonomy, independence, and give the best solutions for problems in the company. These are the ingredients for innovation and creativity in the company.

Thus, an organization that fails to recognize this in its employees or doesn’t support them with such an environment will hindrance the growth and reduce its competitive advantage. 

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As you can see, the relation between intrapreneurs and organizations where they work is strengthening and benefiting each other. The employee adds competitive value to the company using the company’s access to resources, while he improves or creates value for his own business. 

What Is An Intrapreneur?

An intrapreneur is an employee who does innovation and creates growth for the company and themselves. They make a big impact on the company and also on their own business. It is typically because they can turn dreams and ideas into a profitable product or service of a business. 

The term was coined first by Pinchot and used for the first time by Time Magazine in 1985. Though the concept has existed long, it has been used by CEOs and businessmen to increase organizational performance and revenue.  

What Are The Core Characteristics of Intrapreneurship?

Let’s now see in detail what makes up an intrapreneur. 

#1 Strong leadership skill

Intrapreneurs have strong leadership skills. They are persuasive and could influence their team to take action. Besides, their leadership helps to make decisions quickly in uncertainties. 

#2 Self-starter

Intrapreneurs are proactive in their tasks. They are willing to take initiative to improve the condition of the business.

Being ambitious and goal-oriented makes them self-starters and solving problems creatively on their own using the resources provided by the company.  

#3 Problem solver 

They are known as problem solvers who have a high skill in leading and think outside the box. This is because they can transform creative ideas into profitable products. They are quick to identify issues and are able to generate solutions on their own. 

#4 Risk taker 

They are not afraid of taking risks that contribute to the improvement of the business. Intrapreneurs are courageous people who aren’t afraid of failing and willing to try until they succeed.

They could quickly detect an opportunity and change it into innovation through teamwork and resources of the organization.  

That’s why intrapreneurs are persistent and have a strong determination to achieve goals within the business. When you put them in the production position, they will focus on creating value that contributes significantly to the company’s competitive value. 

#5 Think outside the box

An intrapreneur dares to do an experiment. Because they are courageous and very flexible, they can think outside the box. They can create value out of limited resources. 

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That’s why their input to business models lead to a strategic direction that causes radical change. Examples of this are Zappos and Wipro which develop their small business into a big successful company. 

#6 A good forecaster 

They are able to identify the market trend and picture a proper model of business. An intrapreneur is able to predict competitor strategies and provide actionable solutions to face competition. This ability keeps the company ahead of its competitors and adapts quickly to changes. 

What is The Difference Between an Entrepreneur and an Intrapreneur? 

Well, probably you would think of them as the same, though they share some traits, they are different in some ways. Let’s take a look.

#1 Different Start

Entrepreneurs work on inventing new value, new ways of doing business, with assets that they control.

While intrapreneurs are not starting things from scratch, they start from what’s already there within the organization and from there create a new thing or do the business in a new way. 

#2 Position

Entrepreneur is the leader in the organization, while intrapreneur is the employee. Entrepreneurs are self-employed and own assets.

In contrast, intrapreneurs work by using assets from the organization to create new ventures within the organization or for their business. 

#3 Goals

Entrepreneurs aimed at innovating new things that are valuable to the market. While intrapreneur’s main goals are to increase competitive advantage and maintain sustainable growth for the organization. 

#4 Motives

Intrapreneurs core motive in the organization is to gain rewards such as promotion and time freedom as employees.

Entrepreneurs’ motives are obtaining financial gain, innovation, and independence. 

#5 Participation

Intrapreneurs are involved directly in his task, innovation, and problem-solving process. In contrast, entrepreneurs totally and directly participate in the whole business process. 

#6 Risks

Intrapreneurs bear several risks within their authority in an organization, while entrepreneurs bear all the risks in the business. 

#7 Authority

Intrapreneurs involve other departments to make decisions. Their decision sometimes is limited within the authority of the company. While entrepreneurs make decisions by themselves or independently. 

What Are the Benefits of Being an Intrapreneur? 

Being an intrapreneur brings benefits for you as an employee. Let’s see some of them. 

Getting rewards and promotion.

This is the effect of contributing to the significant growth of productivity in the organization. 

Generating more freedom when working in the company.

The reason is that intrapreneurs were able to work effectively and efficiently. 

Building a strong profile of his job in the company because of his achievements. 

Improving professionalism and skills as an employee.

This gives an intrapreneur a competitive value as an employee. 

Some Examples of Intrapreneurship

Some leading companies in technology have applied the principles of intrapreneurship to generate and maintain growth and innovation. 

Here are some experiences of big companies that use intrapreneurship to make them successful. 

#1 Google

This leading company in technology has been creating an environment that supports its employees to improve innovation by creating their own projects. The result of this approach is Gmail that we use today. It was derived because Google policy allows 20% of its employee time to make a side project.  

Google Maps, Twitter, Slack, and Groupon all grew out of a side project. 

#2 Facebook

If you are a Facebook user, you must be familiar with the Like button. It is the result of the competition among coders and engineers to make prototypes from their ideas. 

#3 Intel

Under the policy of New Business Initiatives established in 1998, Intel invested in the creation of ideas from its employees. One of the results was Vivonic Fitness Planner founded by Paul Scagnetti, that functioned to control the body’s health through nutrition and exercise. 

#4 Dreamworks

It encouraged all its employees to give ideas on the film making process. It gave access for the staff to take courses such as artist development to increase their skill and knowledge in film production.

#5 Sony

Sony’s Playstation was invented by Ken Kutaragi. It was the result of trying to fix his daughter’s Nintendo game consoles. Later, he spent hours figuring out a more user-friendly games console that made Sony’s Playstation exist today. 

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Intrapreneurship has been proven to raise the competitive value and accelerate innovation in many businesses and industries. It is because of its approach that focuses on inventing ideas that bring a huge impact on the organization. 

What about the company you are working at? Do they encourage intrapreneurship for the staff? 

Conclusion

Intrapreneurship is an approach used in business to create sustainable growth and innovation. It is done by creating an environment that supports creativity, proactiveness, and innovation from its employees.

An intrapreneur is an entrepreneur who works as an employee in the company. While benefiting the company, he also gained an advantage for his career and his own business. 

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Though intrapreneurs have several limitations in executing their ideas, their competitive advantage as an employee can bring a significant impact to the organization as well as their personal life. 

As a good intrapreneur, you should manage your financial well. Finansialku application helps you manage your monthly budget. You can download Finansialku application right now in Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

If you are one of the intrapreneurs out there, don’t hesitate to share your experience of innovation you’ve made or environment in your organization that supports intrapreneurship. 

If you find this article helpful, please share it with other people who want to do innovation in their company.

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References:

• Will Kenton. January 29^th, 2020. Intrapreneurship. Investopedia.com – https://bit.ly/38Az1lL
• Meredith Somers. June 21^st, 2018. Intrapreneurship, Explained. Mitsloan.mit.edu – https://bit.ly/2vDqZLT
• Admin. Differences Among Intrapreneurship, Entrepreneurship, And Managers. Iedunote.com – https://bit.ly/38vWi8v 
• Adam Robinson. March 12^th, 2018. Want to Boost Your Bottom Line? Encourage Your Employees to Work on A Side Project. Inc.com – https://bit.ly/38wEmdO
• Blayne Pereira. August 13^th, 205. High Five: The Best Example of Intrapreneurship in Action. Managers.org.uk – https://bit.ly/2ItyDLm