by John Brooker | Mar 11, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
Creative Gorilla #71 Rather than quashing ideas it would be great if organisations could have an intrapreneur fund that encourages employees to develop their ideas into fledgling companies… “It is awfully hard to be b-b-brave,” said Piglet, “when you are only a Very Small Animal.” A. A. Milne in Winnie the Pooh Is your organisation losing great ideas because they don’t fit your business model? I was watching a rerun of the TV programme Dragon’s Den recently. This is a programme in which budding entrepreneurs and inventors get to pitch their idea or invention to a group of successful entrepreneurs who might invest in it. The programme I watched featured a review of how some of the budding business ideas were flourishing. One that caught my attention was a young 19 year old who had invented a new type of portfolio case for artists. One entrepreneur liked the idea so much he effectively bought the company and installed the young man in the office next to his, to develop the idea. This set me thinking about those employee ideas that organisations reject because they don’t fit the strategy or business model or because managers don’t have the vision or the time to address it. I know that when I worked in organisations I met a few very frustrated people who had a great idea but couldn’t get attention for it. Most left. So pondering a little more, the concept struck me of an Intrapreneur Fund. So The concept is this: A senior manager (with entrepreneurial instincts we shall call the Intrapreneur Development Director or IDD) is responsible...
