How to build “Intrepreneurs”

Success

We always read about entrepreneurs and innovators, generally leading change and introducing new products and ideas to the market. How to large corporate organizations develop the same skill internally – thus an “intrepreneur”?

A six-year study into how innovative executives think was synopsized as an innate “inquisitiveness” – making associations and questioning. The kind of thinking that comes naturally to us as children. Throughout school and life however, we are taught that the right answer is valued, not the provocative questions.   However, organizations are realizing that, to be competitive and continue to grow, innovative thinking is required. Human Resource professionals are then called on the find, nurture or train the necessary skills to develop more innovative thinking in the organisation.

Not an easy task and one which most large organizations fail at – not because they don’t value innovation or because they don’t want to be innovative but because the things that make big organizations profitable and the culture required to make it work smoothly tend to be in opposition to true creative thinking.

General Electric has found that, in pursuing higher growth in developing markets and utilizing products developed there and bringing them into established markets, they may actually destroy their own core business. However, the growth potential and the low-cost solutions coming from developing markets is where General Electric is pinning its future growth on, even if it destroys the current high-cost, high-value products they already market in the developed countries. After all, disruptive innovation theory shows that low-cost solutions are likely to displace the high-cost solutions in the long run as they become more and more effective. Normally, it is the small company or start-up businesses that pursue these low-cost options and eventually disrupt the business of the large competitors. General Electric has chosen to rather be their own disruptor and have thus taken a new path.

It is clear that, as with most change and transformation initiatives, leadership is the key to making it happen. Leadership truly has to believe in innovation and be willing to follow it through, even if it means taking decisions that seem destructive.

The next hurdle, as with any change initiative, is the culture and values of the organisation. I don’t mean the clever slogans pasted on the website and odd notice board. I mean the real behaviour and decision-making that defines the company. An innovation strategy and process for dealing with the new ideas and products that may result is a good starting point. It’s pointless saying we want innovation without defining how innovative ideas will be assessed, what funding will be made available, how much time can be spent on these projects and what will be done with projects that don’t “fit” with the current mould.

Communication about what the company is doing and what it expects to achieve is vital. See the move to innovation and intrepreneurship as transformation and deal with it accordingly.   Once the framework is in place, finding and nurturing intrepreneurs becomes easier.

As with any skill or competency, innovative thinking can be identified and tested for. It is more difficult to train people to think differently or ask questions. However, the six-year study did find that more people think innovatively than we realize but are scared to look stupid or believe that the company won’t value their ideas. Human Resource professionals need to become astute at recognizing discovery-driven people and those who could become the intrepreneurs companies are so desperate to find – it doesn’t mean going outside again but simply looking more carefully at the talent you already have.

Just as we recruit for diversity in race and gender, we need to start actively looking for people who think differently from the standard mould in the organisation, people with different backgrounds, different qualifications and different ideals and values. Although the ensuing conflict and chaos may be uncomfortable for a while, it is the necessary process we undergo in order to change and transform. Be ready for it … “nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm” (Samuel Coleridge).

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