How To Navigate Innovating In A Larger Organisation
by Christy Davis and Jaya Myler
What is innovation? Innovation can be a fluffy concept. In practice, when done right, innovation can mean lives changed, through practical innovation at the base of the pyramid (BoP) or where the community members need it the most, converting into real impact. We think of innovation as: a new process, methodology, product or service that improves the status quo and delivers value. The focus must be on improvement and value creation. Without this, it’s not an innovation — it’s just a novelty.
In his article ‘How big companies squander good ideas’, Tim Harford suggests that ‘intrapreneurs’ or innovative individuals and ideas are often ignored, quashed or dismissed within large organisations due to organisational architecture and politics getting in the way.
Big companies sometimes lack the necessary organisational architecture to support them, or they’re afraid of what it will mean to radically change the way they do things, afraid of ‘organisationally disruptive innovation’.
What’s an Intrapreneur?
Intrapreneurs are essentially entrepreneurs operating within existing organisations. They apply the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovate within the companies they work for, rather than starting their own company or venture.
An intrapreneur can be an individual that is innovating or trying to bring about change within an organisation, or an innovative team or new department run by intrapreneurs that operates like a startup within a larger organisation. Asia P3 Hub was set up in an ‘intrapreneurial context’. Our organisation was formed as an innovative startup within a large organisation — we were incubated by World Vision International.
This was a new way of thinking and a new type of operating model for a large international non-governmental organisation (NGO): a dedicated venture to bring the different sectors together to co-create market-driven solutions to development and humanitarian problems. We were fortunate to have a visionary senior leadership team (both past and present) willing to invest in the pilot of a new operating model for the organisation.
So what have we learned in the 3 years since becoming operational about navigating innovating within a large, well established and successful organisation?
Six Tips for Innovating Within A Large Organisation
1. Get Buy-in And Validated Commitment Early
Having a good idea is just a start. The success of any innovation within an organisation is largely dependent on its acceptance rate within the organisation. Without the right buy-in and support from the right executive sponsors, there would be a limit to how far an innovation can go.
2. Power Mapping: Identify Your Champions
Undertaking a power mapping exercise allows you to identify who the internal stakeholders are that you need to engage with, whose buy-in you need, and who your champions are.
3. Ensure Your Strategy And Language Are Aligned
We found it was extremely important to align our strategy, and even the language we used to that of our parent organisation. You need to have a clear understanding how you are creating value for your parent organisation (through an aligned strategy), and to be able to clearly and consistently communicate this value using common language.
4. Tap Into The Resources Of Your Parent Organisation
It’s important to understand, and tap into the existing resources of your parent organisation. For our Hub, being hosted by World Vision meant we were able to tap into the various support units of our host organisation — in particular HR, Finance, Communications and Strategy.
5. Get To Know Other Innovators/Intrapreneurs
Identify other teams that are working on various innovative projects (if relevant). We found that having an open dialogue with other teams in the organisation working on innovative projects was valuable and helped us validate our assumptions and thought processes, as well as providing encouragement — it’s good to know there are others trying to push the envelope on innovation. Develop a coalition of the willing and passionate.
6. Pick Your Battles And Know Your Hard Boundaries
Intrapreneurs do not have the luxury of going it alone and operating in an autonomous fashion. You must be sensitive to the pace and organisational ability of your ‘parent’ organisation to absorb new ways of working. The old adage “win the battle but lose the war” can apply: it may not be worth winning some battles if it causes relational or political issues internally, and longer term opportunities are compromised, so pick your battles. Remember that what you believe are moderate risks may be seen as significant risks for your internal stakeholders. Take time to discern the boundaries within which you can innovate and take risks. Innovation is often seen as ‘extra work’ within large organisations, so empathy, business savvy and discernment on what initiatives and internal partners to choose goes a long way.
Asia P3 Hub has open-sourced 3 years of experience and experimentation with Hub-In-A-Box, a new, interactive knowledge sharing platform that shares how to harness the power of collaboration for greater impact and build an innovative multi-sector partnering hub.
The new platform shares what we’ve done and what we’ve learned along the way, what worked and what didn’t, so that you can learn from our journey. Visit Hub-in-a-Box and read more about how we approached innovating within a large organisation in our module on Innovation and Intrapreneurship.
