In the pandemic world in which we live, there are sectors in companies that are being transformed, others that will no longer be the same as before and some of them are about to change. Such is the case of the management of the administration of processes, finances and human resources. In fact, this last element is positioned as one of the most vital, when attracting the best talent is not an easy task.
Just look at the figures from the Global Leader Forecast 2021 report, from the DDI firm, which reveals that 55% of companies globally are struggling to find their next generation of leaders.
Currently, company employees are looking for greater labor flexibility, and on many occasions, not finding it, they find themselves in the need to undertake independently because they want to start their own projects and not depend on more rigid schemes to self-actualize. But, if we retain them as leaders, they can become an agent of change that challenges the status quo within the company, now known as intrapreneurs .
What is an intrapreneur?
According to the American Heritage Dictionary , an intrapreneur is “a person within a company who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable end product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.”
This profile is independent of the area in which they are, since they can work in the marketing , finance, systems or human resources departments. In the end, these types of collaborators tend to find themselves heading one of these areas or developing new processes to improve. In other words, they maintain a commitment to the ecosystem, to the people, and they seek to raise the level of the group. In doing so, they try things outside of the traditional playbook and can set the new standard to follow in the industry.
For this reason, taking into account our experience , we give the following recommendations to promote the intrapreneur spirit in our collaborators:
Train scholars
Sometimes, due to day-to-day activities, it can be challenging to understand the entire offer of products and services of any company, or the simple establishment of processes. Consequently, employees must be continuously trained to have a deep understanding of the challenges and the direction their companies face, since with that knowledge it will be a matter of time before they can innovate with an idea that allows business processes to evolve. . Skills such as financial or administrative management are some of the most valuable lessons that you can contribute to this internal talent, so that any action they take can generate a positive impact on your company.
Freedom to experiment
It will be essential to have a series of initiatives that allow openness and development for intrapreneurs to explore new paths that lead to innovative advances. It is about permeating an organizational culture that allows intrapreneurs to succeed. In addition, we must not lose sight of the fact that failure could regularly be the first result of this experiment, however, it is important to continue promoting this talent and its attempts as they can lead to important innovations.
Encourage and plan
A very common situation is that team members often have very smart ideas about how to improve processes, adapt new technologies and innovate. However, most get stuck in the collaborator’s mind. According to the report ” 6 Lessons on Intrapreneurship “, by Studio Zao, a practice to unlock this is to encourage teams to present innovative proposals aligned with the general strategic vision of the organization, and that these are clear in terms of time and means. Based on this, responsibilities, roadmaps, objectives and deadlines can be assigned to bring to fruition that great idea that can substantially change some area of the company.
Needs to be covered
While employees have to modify certain behaviors, corporations must also ask themselves if there are complaints, what opportunities they have or have missed, as well as what could be done for employees and end consumers. With all this information in the pipeline, if you have an innovative person with the profile of an entrepreneur, there is no need to wait for new opportunities to come into your life. You have to channel that energy into the organization and wait for the show to start.
