Intrapreneurs: Employee Agitators

Intrapreneurs, employees who shake things up

INNOVATION They are given the mission of improving processes within their own company. Intrapreneurs are in vogue, even if their remit, which varies widely, is still often unclear

JULIE EIGENMANN

We all know Google Maps, PlayStation, Post-it notes or Gmail. What is less well known, however, is that these essentials, diverse though they are, share a common origin: they emerged from intrapreneurs’ projects, those entrepreneurs who operate within a company. Their mission: to innovate or challenge old habits. It is also a way for employees to show creativity, but without the risks, especially financial ones, of going it alone as an entrepreneur.

For companies, the strategy makes sense, notes Nadine Reichenthal, director of the project accelerator at the University of Lausanne and lecturer in entrepreneurship at HEC. “Backing intrapreneurship represents a moderate investment, but one that can pay off handsomely. It is a way of giving yourself a chance to attract the best talent to your company and to develop better products. But in Switzerland, companies are still a little timid in this area.”

Projects at CHUV and BCV

As intrapreneurship is not yet very widespread, the intrapreneur’s job description sometimes proves unclear: all kinds of profiles are to be found, ranging from (almost) traditional employees to free spirits. “Some work on their ideas in their spare time, with the possibility of using company equipment; others have one day a week to develop their project; others end up devoting all their time to it, as if it were a new position,” says Nadine Reichenthal. “There is no rule.”

There is no rule either as to the types of structures in which these projects take shape. Jacques Baudat, an associate physician in the psychiatry department at CHUV, took part in an intrapreneurial project. He completed a Micro-MBA in entrepreneurial management designed by Raphaël Cohen, entrepreneur and specialist in intrapreneurship. The course led him to reflect with colleagues on the treatment of people with mental disabilities who arrive at hospital, cases that had long seemed problematic to him. “Care staff are poorly equipped when faced with these patients, who do not understand the questions or cannot say where they are in pain. So we set up training using an actor to simulate situations.”

The doctor prepared this training during his working hours. “But it was linked to my job, since I was looking after patients with mental disabilities.” For Jacques Baudat, it was therefore “a source of satisfaction to have brought about a solution that meets a need”.

At Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV), intrapreneurship is also supported. Anne Gaudard, specialist editor, Luca Iannelli, head of property expertise, Yann Chammartin, Private Banking adviser, and Jean-Henri Bouland, deputy divisional manager, got involved through the Micro-MBA in entrepreneurial management. “We developed tools to better tailor our advice to clients’ needs, meeting several times a week for around a year. It represented a personal investment, alongside our everyday professional activities,” summarises Jean-Henri Bouland.

“An injunction to work more”

For these intrapreneurial projects often represent a significant workload, confirms Nadine Reichenthal. “Intrapreneurship gives the company a cool image, but there is a kind of injunction to work more than ‘ordinary’ employees do. The company is not being philanthropic.”

When it comes to innovation, some firms, threatened by bureaucratisation, have taken things much further, like Google, which allows its employees to devote 20% of their time to their own projects. In Switzerland, one can notably mention Swiss Post or the Bühler company, which encourage innovation through intrapreneurship.

Allowing employees to become intrapreneurs is also what the American IT company Cisco offers, with offices in Rolle, Ecublens, Bern and Zurich. Mathilde Durvy is in charge there of the “My Innovation” programme. She explains the concept behind the “Innovate Everywhere Challenge”, an annual competition launched a little over three years ago. “We reproduce what happens in a start-up: our employees can form teams, of around five people, to come up with and work on ideas that motivate them.”

It takes some “magic time”, as Mathilde Durvy calls it, during this first phase: time found outside working hours. Then the framework becomes clearer: the 20 semi-finalists can devote 20% of their working time to refining their inventions for three months, with coaching support. The six finalists travel to Silicon Valley to present their concept to Cisco executives. Finally, the winners spend three months working full-time on the project. In the end, they may be given an entirely new position, if both the desire and success are there. “But that scenario has only applied to around ten people,” Mathilde Durvy points out.

There are also financial rewards at stake: 5,000 dollars per team for the 20 semi-finalists, and additional dollars for the finalists. And for the three winning teams, 25,000 dollars to invest in the project, and the same amount as a reward. The competition is clearly motivating, since 45% of Cisco employees have already taken part, innovating on topics as varied as integrating disabled people into the workplace or preventing IT network outages.

Does the competition not create complications in the name of innovation? “It can be difficult to combine day-to-day work and a new project,” concedes Mathilde Durvy. “We sometimes have to hire new people, because some winners continue to work part-time on their concept, or other departments take it up.”

And being an intrapreneur, whether temporarily or regularly, involves a risk that does not suit everyone, Nadine Reichenthal reminds us. “It is fashionable today because the search for meaning at work can matter more than money. But while everyone may have an entrepreneurial spirit, taking the plunge comes with financial security: you do not do it if you are afraid of losing your job.”