Intrapreneurs are employees who take the initiative to innovate a new product or service within an organization. They are essentially workplace entrepreneurs! In this article, we are exploring the benefits of intrapreneurship.
A great example of intrapreneurship is a little tool everyone has used for brainstorming or reminders. The humble Post-It Note. A product that was invented by two 3M employees, one of whom had created a weak adhesive that he didn’t know how to use, so he presented his idea to people throughout the organization, looking for suggestions.
His colleague hit upon the idea of using the new glue to keep his bookmark in place and the idea for the sticky notes was born! This is just one example of the importance of intrapreneurship, and how two employees came together to innovate a product that has stood the test of time.
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Businesses in every corner of the world are reaping the benefits of intrapreneurship by simply putting employees first. Yes. You read that right! Intrapreneurs need support from their organization to flourish.
Luckily for you, you’re in the right place. Below, we’ll discover seven of the most incredible benefits of intrapreneurship. But before you do, don’t forget to check out our Intrapreneurship Toolkit. A free resource packed with six strategies to help you accelerate ideation and build a world-class team of innovators.
The importance of Intrapreneurship
Intrapreneurship is vital for fostering qualities like creativity, vision, adaptability and initiative in your workforce. It’s an empowering approach to help your employees think like an entrepreneur. But that’s not all, intrapreneurship encourages employees to confidently take the lead on new opportunities too, from ideation to implementation.
It’s as much about developing the skills, qualities and characteristics of your people, as it is about being innovative as an organization. Not to mention they both go hand-in-hand. Think about it, as your workforce matures into a team of innovation experts, a couple of other benefits follow along.
Your organization improves its competitiveness, prioritizes business growth ,and starts playing the long game. “Why?” I hear you ask. Well, these are the ways of thinking and doing of an entrepreneur, and with intrapreneurship, everyone on your team is likely to develop these things.
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That’s the importance of intrapreneurship. It’s far deeper than churning out idea after idea, no matter how successful they are. It’s about shifting the way people think and work long-term. Now that we’ve covered the importance of intrapreneurship, let’s dive into the key benefits of intrapreneurship.
Benefits of Intrapreneurship Overview (Table)
Below, we’ve put together an overview table of the benefits of intrapreneurship, making it easier for you to understand what it is you will learn about in this guide! Hopefully, this gives you a eye-opening its importance, and why it’s no surprise companies are leveraging intrapreneurship in 2024.
Benefits of Intrapreneurship | Benefit Description |
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Increased employee morale and productivity | With deeper purpose, employee morale and productivity increases as employees look to innovate, problem-solve and grow, individually. |
Ability to hire the very best talent | The opportunity to innovate and make an impact in the workplace is an appealing benefit of any job, hence the ability to hire top talent. |
Improved employee retention | Employees who have a voice, who have a say on new opportunities and ideas are likely more engaged, happier and less likely to leave! |
Better organizational revenue and growth | New ideas don’t come without their obstacles and failures, but enough ideas will help organizations grow, expand into new industries and win big! |
Company-wide focus on being innovative | A culture of intrapreneurship will see a more encouraging environment overall. Employees will feel they have the backing of leadership to be bold! |
Heightened agility with intrapreneurship | The world moves fast. Agility is a powerful quality that intrapreneurship can offer, as your team think ahead, build the future and think outside the box. |
Better use of in-house talent and knowledge | Intrapreneurship leverages the qualities, skills and knowledge of your existing workforce. Who knows? You might create top innovators! |
Improved employee morale and productivity
When talking about the benefits of intrapreneurship, we can’t ignore the vast improvement of employee morale and productivity. Accordig to research from Gallup, employees who are more engaged are less likely to leave the business and are also more productive.
However, a staggering 65% of the US workforce are not engaged with their jobs, and represent a group of employees who want a reason to be inspired. This tells us that employee retention hangs on by a thread. That thread is engagement, which many organizations are struggling with.
Luckily, the importance of intrapreneurship in this case is that feeds that employee need for inspiration. Intrapreneurship is a pretty inspiring thing. When an employer encourages new ideas; encourages employees to think outside the box and be creative, you can be sure they’re inspired!
What’s more, it encourages individuals to fully engage with the business’ goals and take control of their work. This also makes their job more meaningful and provides greater autonomy, which research has found will further improve engagement, as well as improve productivity and wellbeing.
It’s should come as no surprise why employee morale and productivity makes this list of benefits of intrapreneurship. Without morale and productivity, without engaging workplaces, employees don’t just stop working, they stop showing up all together.
Attract top talent with intrapreneurship
Companies that encourage intrapreneurship will be seen as more innovative and creative, which are desirable qualities for many people currently looking for work, particularly Millennials. It’s no secret that workers from the Millennial generation represent one of the biggest shifts in entrepreneurial spirit in recent decades.
In fact, in one study from 2021, 39% of Millennials were ranked as having a very high entrepreneurial spirit, whereas only 29% of Gen Z made the cut. These findings suggest that there’s an opportunity for organizations to leverage intrapreneurship.
By 2025 Millennials will also represent nearly 40% of the overall workforce. So, if organizations want to reap the benefits of intrapreneurship, now is the time to build that foundation!
Intrapreneurship also shows that you listen to your employees, which will help to create a more favourable impression of your business. Being a good listener is one of the most appealing traits of an employer. Employees, people, want to be heard, whether it’s new ideas, their thoughts or feelings.
Finally, hiring top talent is at the most competitive it has ever been. Being an employer that highlights the importance of intrapreneurship will see you outshine your competitors in hiring the very best!
Better employee retention
Employees who are enjoying their work are obviously less likely to want to leave your company. It’s as simple as that! But why does that matter when discussing the benefits of intrapreneurship? Well, the importance of intrapreneurship can not be stressed enough here!
Through this approach, employees are empowered to focus on areas that they feel most passionate about in their careers, creating more meaning in their jobs. It also enables more opportunities for career progression as they develop key skills such as leadership, creativity and problem-solving.
Employee retention is the result of great business. Without a solid workforce, your goals, your projects and general progress are up in the air. In a report published on LinkedIn, a survey in November 2023 found that 53% of employees were ‘likely to leave their current job’.
Employee turnover is a real challenge for many organizations, and intrapreneurship may be the saviour you’re lucking for as we navigate 2024. It not only encourages employees to find more meaning in their daily working lives, but actively improves your employee experience.
And that is enough to retain the very best of your talent. If you can take one thing from this guide to the benefits of intrapreneurship, let it be this one!
Boost company revenue and growth
Another of the benefits of intrapreneurship is it helps to facilitate innovation, which in turn can reveal new ways to improve efficiency as well as opportunities for creating new products and services. This undoubtedly helps your organization to identify new gaps in the market.
By doing so, you’re able to rally your team and pursue them quickly and agilely. An extremely powerful approach, given how much competition there is in the modern world of business. If you want to be first to the latest and greatest ideas, intrapreneurship will take you there.
Now, when organizations are first-to-market with a brand new opportunity, product or service, they often become industry leaders. Apple, for example, have seen immeasurable success due to their innovative spirit over the past few decades.
This has led to them being one of the most successful businesses ever, and their revenue and growth has been phenomenal. And that is why this point makes it in our list of benefits of intrapreneurship.
Encourage widespread innovation
Although innovation starts with just a handful of intrapreneurs, it’s these individuals who can help influence your wider workforce. To Embrace the importance of intrapreneurship in the workplace, these employees should encourage others to get involved and have their say.
For your innovation efforts to work, you need people who are passionate about finding new ways of working and ensuring that transformation takes place. It’s your intrapreneurs are perfectly poised to take on this role.
So how can you reap the benefits of intrapreneurship through these select few? Firstly, it’s key to showcase the success both your intrapreneurs and the business has had as a result of their ideas. This demonstrates just valuable innovation is to your organization.
When you highlight success stories, the credibility of your intrapreneurs grows. You’re then able to consider mentorship programmes. Take some of your best thinkers and creatives, and pair them up with more junior members of staff.
Providing guidance, and helping employees grow into intrapreneurs themselves is the key to unlocking a workforce of innovation experts. It’s only once your employees move collectively will you see the benefits of intrapreneurship come to life.
Below are few other key reasons why intrapreneurs can encourage widespread innovation:
- Create collaborative challenges to tackle innovation goals
- Host workshops and training sessions with your best intrapreneurs
- Have your intrapreneurs be at the forefront of celebrating innovation from others
Increase agility with intrapreneurship
In a rapidly changing world, your business needs to be able to transform to meet upcoming challenges. Having individuals who are completely focused on ensuring that change takes place will help your business to transform effectively and at an accelerated pace.
To combat resistance to change within your organization it’s important to have a trailblazer who will champion those changes – enter your intrapreneurs.
Make the most of in-house knowledge and talent
Your intrapreneurs know your business inside-out and each will have their own unique experiences and knowledge that they can bring to the table. They will be able to make suggestions based on their knowledge of how your business works, the industry, and the competition. Putting innovation management software in place could help you capture their ideas.
Final Thoughts on the Benefits of Intrapreneurship
If you want to embed an innovation culture within your business, it’s important to cultivate intrapreneurial leaders who are passionate about change and will help your organization to transform. Each and every one of your team are capable of greatness; capable of uncovering new avenues, new opportunities and ground-breaking ideas.
It’s not about ignore those who don’t meet the criteria of an intrapreneur, it’s about building a workforce of intrapreneurs. The benefits of intrapreneurship take time to materialize. And it’s only once you foster the right attitudes, culture and leadership will you see positive shift in the right direction.
All-in-all, the benefits of intrapreneurship are vast. They can also be long-lasting. By now, we hope you’ve learned just how impactful this strategy can be, and what the results could look like. We believe the future of business is built, not by a single innovator, but by teams of innovators.
Organizations that push the boundaries, and develop a holistic approach with their innovation management. Whilst certain qualities will take you so far, the support of robust innovation management software can’t be ignored too.
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Benefits of Intrapreneurship FAQs
What is intrapreneurship?
Intrapreneurship is when individuals take the initiative to carry out innovation within their existing organization. They effectively act like entrepreneurs but within a company.
What is the difference between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship?
An intrapreneur innovates within their existing organization, while an entrepreneur is someone who runs their own business.
Which companies use intrapreneurship?
Companies that reap the benefits of intrapreneurship include:
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- 3M
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- Airbus
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- Amazon
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- Meta (Facebook)
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- Sky.