How much is it costing you NOT having intrapreneurs?

Most people may not realize that having intrapreneurs on their team is the most cost efficient way of adding the most value to your business- how you can really get the bang for your buck. Intrapreneurs are aware of the bigger picture- including being mindful of tactical goals, consumer wants and needs, competitive advantages and disadvantages, and the importance of unceasing development for their company. Intrapreneurs, in turn, show leadership that adds a surprisingly high amount of value through cost-reducing and revenue-increasing innovations.

Having one intrapreneur is worth hundreds of employees who are simply effective at their job.

Engaged vs Disengaged Employees

A study done by Gallup, Inc- an American research-based management consulting company that has become known worldwide for its public opinion polls- has determined that the employee engagement rate in the United States is only at 30%. This means that 70% of employees working in the United States are disengaged which results in a decline of value for their company and damages any type of structure that has been set in place. Because of this, companies are finding themselves investing (and wasting) a lot of time, energy, and money to try and change this group of disengaged employees into the engaged group. With this migration technique failing time and time again, a simple solution can be formulated:

FOCUS ON THE ENGAGED EMPLOYEE

By focusing on even a single engaged employee who has intrapreneurial potential and working with them to get into more of an intrapreneurial mindset, you can create much more value than trying to invest in migrating a large group of disengaged employees into the engaged group.

Driving engaged employees to become intrapreneurs

Not everyone has the right mindset and skillset to become an intrapreneur so it is important to be able to point out certain attributes of employees that have the potential to transform into intrapreneurs that will benefit your business.

Identifying the core skills of the intrapreneur

1. Sense of Curiosity – Intrapreneurs, being innovative people, are always thinking of ways they can improve a product, a structure, a workflow, a blueprint, an idea, etc. With this comes curiosity about the inner workings of whatever is put in front of them. This sense of curiosity drives them to keep working.
2. Proactivity – Intrapreneurs don’t wait to get started, but are rather proactive. If they see a way to get involved that seems interesting, they follow that instinct. If they run into the same problem again and again, they make a process to fix it and then share that knowledge, this benefiting everyone around them as well.
3. Sense of Responsibility – Intrapreneurs are constantly looking for ways to serve the organization and the greater good including coworkers, clients, society, etc. To them it is about taking 100% responsibility for the quality and ultimate effects of the work they do for their company.
4. Willingness to Learn – Intrapreneurs are all about innovating. Without continuous learning and improvement, there is no growth. Intrapreneurs stay sharp by always studying something new (work related or not), asking questions, doing research, and are willing to take in new ideas and help develop them into their fullest potential.
5. Fearless of Failure– Intrapreneurs are not afraid to change course or even fail a few times if it means getting where they want to be. With innovation comes a lot of trial and error, but true intrapreneurs do not give up when they truly see potential in something and they will work at it until they get it right.

Implementing and retention

Encouraging your employees to go from being simply engaged in their roles to becoming more intrapreneurial requires working with them to increase their skillset and their intrapreneurial capacity, and through altering specific aspects in the organization itself to create an environment that encourages innovation. Each company has its own unique organization structure so it’s important to analyze each aspect and how it could best be altered to support intrapreneurship.