Innovators Magazine has been a long-time supporter of the importance of intrapreneurship as a vehicle for developing a culture of innovation.
We reported last November that Daimler is doing it by harnessing ‘professional startup methods’ to support its workforce advance their innovative ideas in-house.
And to get more of an insight on its growing role, we asked Katherine Manuel SVP Innovation at Thomson Reuters, what level of importance she gives to nurturing intrapreneurship, for an article we published last year.
She told us: “I’m laughing a bit to myself because cultivating our intrapreneurs is pretty much my whole job so I’d say I consider it extremely important. We are a workforce of 45,000 people in over 100 countries around the world. Our employees know their professional markets inside and out. Not only do they provide our customers with the tools and information they need to do their jobs well; they are a trusted resource and partner for customers and they know the challenges and opportunities that are the most significant.
Katherine added: “Allowing our employees to experiment and try new approaches that they think will delight customers, streamline processes or improve methods is extremely important. We conduct and sponsor lean experimentation and design thinking workshops across the globe that give people the tools and grant people permission to experiment constructively. We have woven innovation into our company-wide training programs to ensure that employees know it matters and they feel invited to participate. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, we’ve created a seed fund, called the Catalyst Fund, to provide financial support and mentorship to our intraprenuers. The oversight committee meets once a month and our CEO attends every meeting to hear the progress of each of the teams. We understand that our employees are our most valuable asset and we want them to feel empowered in their roles.”
And Global Game Changers 2018 – which we launched this week with Newsquest International – again has a category for intrapreneurship – sponsored by the City of Glasgow College, an institution with an international reputation for all things innovation. The annual cross-sector awards recognising impact towards the UN Global Goals has 10 categories – and this one asks…
Are you a business, organisation or institution that is actively promoting intrapreneurship – as companies like Google and Intel are doing? Then this award is for you. It recognizes efforts to change culture, processes and facilities, in order to support change-makers within the workplace.
Apply now for a chance to receive the ‘Empowering Intrapreneurship’ award at the ceremony on 12 September at Glasgow’s iconic Grand Central Hotel, which will have a keynote from UN SDG advocate and food reformist, Marc Buckley.
