By Rachel Adrian
Intrapreneurs
Intrapreneurs: People working within large companies that spend their time innovating, improving business and thinking like entrepreneurs. They are infectiously creative, passionate about their work and have a strong internal desire to bring corporations along with them. By trying to move away from ‘business as usual’ they can allow corporations to become much more efficient and progressive machines.
Social Intrapreneurs are incredibly useful people to have around the office. Here are a few ways you can use their strategies to strengthen your day-to-day work!
1. Know the Company
: Every company has a list of unwritten rules regarding their business, their people and their strategy. Make sure you know these rules, and know them well in order to ensure your innovative ideas will align with business goals. Otherwise, your ideas will get shut down no matter how great they ultimately are.
2. Know the People
: it is critical that you take some time to get to know the people around you. Intrapreneurs are typically people-people so they spend a lot of their time networking and learning about their coworkers’ values. Also get to know the key corporate decision makers so you will know how to best frame your idea in order to align with their point of view. Targeted presentation is the key to ensuring that your idea takes flight.
4 tips to become a social intrapreneur
3. Continual Learning is Key
: No matter what you’re doing, always try to make it an opportunity to learn. By taking advantage of every opportunity, intrapreneurs expand their networks, have higher levels of patience and remain motivated.
4. Keep Sight of the Bigger Picture
: Intrapreneurs should act as greenhouses for great ideas. Give yourself time to develop a really great idea and watch it blossom. This time will ensure that your idea aligns with the bigger picture and fits the needs of the organization.Millennials tend to identify as intrapreneurs more than any other segment and it is incredibly important that we practice using their talents and abilities now as more and more millennials emerge into the workforce.
Take advantage of budding intrapreneurs in your office and allow them to thrive. These are the people who will bring your business to the next level and allow for true impact creation. If you think you may be an intrapreneur yourself, or you are just interested in learning about the role of intrapreneurs in the workplace, please check resources available on the League on Intrapreneurs website.