At the end of this module you will be able to:

• Learn about digital intrapreneurship and how it works
• How to promote intrapreneurship in your company
• How to be a successful intrapreneur

Digital transformation can be seen as a new approach to doing business. Besides implementing new technologies, this type of transformation also requires a change in corporate culture.

This type of process brings with it innovation, which itself leads to more innovation. Transformation and innovation are the keywords in today's market.

To live up to these changes, companies must develop a culture that stimulates employee proactivity and supports intrapreneurship.

The term intrapreneurship refers to that set of skills and competencies (which are a feature of entrepreneurship) that are harnessed to discover and exploit new business opportunities with profitable potential and to create innovation within an existing company.

While the entrepreneur is the one who creates innovation by starting a new business, the intrapreneur acts within the company in which he or she works and does not personally take financial risks.

Therefore, intrapreneurship is a way of thinking and working that blends personal initiative and employment in a virtuous way.

An intrapreneur is a person within a company who takes direct responsibility for translating a business idea into a marketable product.

There is no particular prototype that describes the entrepreneurial mindset. It is a combination of different elements (attitudes and skills) that well represent the multidisciplinary nature of the intrapreneur.

In Grow from within, Robert C. Wolcott and Michael J. Lippitz (2007) proposed 4 reference models of corporate entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) organized along two dimensions:

The first step is to find intrapreneurs within the company to support them and give them the space they need to grow, develop their potential and bring innovation to the company.

To identify them, you can first look for employees with traits such as:

• Commitment to the job and company
• Adaptability
• Internal motivation (not driven by profit)
• Confidence
• Proactivity

Managers behave differently when facing potentially intrapreneurial employees: they can block their way or support them. Managers who guide and support their employees in the creation and realisation of an idea are called sponsors. Sponsors are at least as important as the type of corporate culture to promote digital intrapreneurship in your company.

From a practical point of view, sponsors help their employees both by guiding them during the realisation of the idea and by advocating, praising and actively seeking resources for their intrapreneurs to access.

To promote sponsorship, the company can organise training courses for managers on how to be effective sponsors and explicitly give them the authorization to act as mentors.

Well done! Now you know more about:

• Intrapreneurship and digital transformation
• How to promote an intrapreneurial culture and sponsorship
• The characteristics of an intrapreneur and how to be a successful one