How an IT Intrapreneur Fosters
During these volatile times, companies need to take on new challenges with an agile mindset. One of the best ways to do this is by fostering intrapreneurship. Intrapreneurs are employees that act like entrepreneurs and use their creativity and problem-solving skills to bring innovative ideas to the table. They can help your company remain competitive and thrive in these testing times.
IT intrapreneur can work in nearly any industry. Depending on your skill set and experience, you might find that your job has room for intrapreneurship or you might be able to create a side business that leverages your expertise. For example, if you are skilled in software development, you might be able to develop an application that helps your employer streamline their current process. This could save the company money, improve the customer experience, or both.
Some companies encourage intrapreneurship through dedicated time and space to work on passion projects. For instance, Google allows its engineers to devote 20% of their workday to passion projects that they want to pursue. The result has been household names like AdSense, Gmail, and Google Earth. This type of encouragement can allow your intrapreneur to explore a variety of ideas and create a successful outcome that benefits your organization.
How an IT Intrapreneur Fosters an Agile and Adaptable Mindset
To foster an intrapreneurial mindset, it is necessary to build a culture that supports innovation. This starts with establishing a clear vision and honest company values that allow team members to be fearless. It also requires a leader who is willing to maximize existing profits through continuous improvement while also exploring the future of the company.
Lean-Agile and SAFe are two of the most popular methodologies to foster an intrapreneurial culture. Both methodologies provide teams with the tools to solve problems and improve processes through daily collaboration, Inspect and Adapt events, and learning from failure through System Thinking. Moreover, SAFe provides consistent, dedicated time each PI to work on innovation activities during the Innovation and Planning iteration.
Creating a culture that encourages intrapreneurship can be difficult, especially during these uncertain times. However, by establishing solid foundations for the intrapreneurial mindset and providing teams with the tools to innovate, your company can remain resilient.
A strong intrapreneur is more than someone who can think of ideas on the fly – they are a creative individual that has the courage to push their limits and challenge the status quo. Whether or not you are an intrapreneur yourself, it is important to recognize your coworkers that have this talent and support them as much as possible. You might even encourage intrapreneurs to form an innovation council or other informal groups that can serve as a resource for the entire team. Lastly, make sure to celebrate and reward any successes in order to encourage more creativity. In addition to these steps, it is also important to promote the value of a risk-taking culture and avoid stigmatizing failed innovations. After all, every unsuccessful endeavor is a lesson learned that can help your team improve their next attempt.