TED Talks have become well-known for smart, innovative people sharing deep thoughts and transformative ideas. The talks are some of the most watched videos on YouTube: speakers draw audiences by encouraging new ways of thinking and inspiring action.
But it’s not just high-profile speakers who can stir inspiration. When I recently attended a TED Conference to learn more about TED, my newest client at Tote + Pears, I was struck by the caliber of the audience as well. Many of the attendees weren't starting new ventures, but they're making waves within their current organizations, helping their companies drive revenue, save money, and increase customer satisfaction. They're what's known as intrapreneurs. After the conference, I started thinking about my company and our own invaluable intrapreneurs.
Understanding Intrapreneurship
Intrapreneurs are employees who think and act like entrepreneurs but operate within a company's ecosystem. They can turn innovative ideas into profit-making realities without leaving the corporate structure. Typically, intrapreneurs fall into three categories:
Visionaries who dream up the big, sometimes disruptive, ideas that can redirect a company's future
Process improvers who focus on making things run smoother, faster, and more economically
Customer advocates who ensure the company’s products and services evolve to meet customer needs, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty
These individuals can present revolutionary ideas and processes that can directly contribute to a business's bottom line.
Empowering Intrapreneurs on Your Team
Fostering intrapreneurship within your organization by nurturing and developing intrapreneurial talent can lead to significant cost savings and revenue opportunities. These employees, when given the space to innovate, can streamline business processes, improve efficiencies, reduce waste within the organization, and directly impact a company's finances. For instance, automating repetitive tasks or identifying more cost-effective ways to operate can help avoid unnecessary expenses and provide funds that can be directed elsewhere.
In addition, intrapreneurs can identify new market opportunities or more sustainable materials and practices, which can reduce costs in the long run and enhance the company's market position. Their knowledge of the company's inner workings, combined with an entrepreneurial mindset, can enable them to recognize and act on opportunities for savings that may be overlooked by other employees or external consultants.
Identifying Your intrapreneurs
To find the intrapreneurs on your team, you can start by identifying the risk-takers, forward-thinkers, and problem-solvers. These individuals are proactive, independent, and constantly seeking feedback to refine their innovative ideas. Nurturing these individuals isn't just about allowing them space to ideate, but also providing them with tools and platforms to bring these ideas to life.
For small-business owners, identifying a visionary intrapreneur may be as straightforward as recognizing someone like Jessica, your content specialist, who suggests a Virtual Reality (VR) program to enhance your online customer experience. A process improver may look like Michael, your quiet IT support guy, who automates tedious data entry tasks, freeing up hours of manual labor. A customer advocate could be Miriam on your sales team, who spent extra time listening to customer feedback and now leads a small team focused on personalized after-sales support, which has significantly improved customer retention rates.
Supporting Your Intrapreneurs
Allocating funds for training and development can help motivate and support your intrapreneurial employees. This can involve enrolling employees in classes at a local university or college, encouraging them to participate in workshops within their field, or sponsoring their attendance at conferences.
At Tote + Pears, we provide each employee with a development budget and allow them the freedom to decide how they wish to spend it. We review the budget and the team's usage and ideas in our quarterly leadership meetings to ensure the investments lead to innovation and business growth.
Creating an environment where intrapreneurs thrive can be key. You can give them the freedom (permission as well as the time) to explore new projects, pair them with mentors, and responsibly allocate resources to their initiatives. Recognizing their achievements and tying rewards to project success can significantly boost morale.
You can give intrapreneurs the freedom to explore new projects, pair them with mentors, and responsibly allocate resources to their initiatives.
At Tote + Pears, we give our intrapreneurs one day per week to “own” their schedule. During this time, they’re encouraged to think about ways they can improve their divisions within the business, offering them an opportunity to think creatively and convert their ideas into projects, plans, or processes that increase revenue, reduce costs, or move the company closer to our business goals.
The benefits of empowering intrapreneurs can be multifold: they can speed up process efficiency, shed new light on customer needs, and potentially open new revenue streams. At the conference, there were CEOs looking for new ideas for profit centers, product managers seeking inspiration for evolving and redesigning their company’s core offerings, and researchers seeking inspiration before going back into the field.
The Takeaway
As small-business owners, the future of our success can hinge on our ability to empower the intrapreneurs among us as they help prepare our businesses not just to adapt to the changing landscape but to shape it. The greatest opportunity can lie in embracing the intrapreneurs in your company.
