In our last blog post we listed out extraordinary intrapreneurs who created extraordinary products inside of organisations. So the next question is really, how does one become an intrapreneur? What kinds of skills, tools or things does an intrapreneur need? And where do I get them?!
Luckily for you, you’re in the right place. We’ve written Handbooks to get you started on these four key skills:
- What’s the problem?! Here’s a little truthbomb for you: there’s ultimately no point in developing an idea if it doesn’t address a problem that needs to be solved. Does that sound obvious? Well maybe you’re already ahead of the pack on this, but we see ideas day in and out that don’t address a problem that’s really material for customers or your organisation to care about. That’s often why they don’t succeed. Avoid this by spending lots of time with the problem before any solution. This Problem Worth Solving Handbook to delve into what the problem is, how to prioritise and make sure it’s one worth solving.
- Creative and design thinking. We all know how frustrating a mental block can be, especially when it comes to coming up with ‘creative’ ideas under pressure. How do you get ideas free flowing? How do you get stuck on the first idea? How do you get all the not quite right ideas, so that you can get to the great ones? We’ve pulled together some of the great techniques for this in the Creative and Design Thinking Handbook. Get your creative juices going here.
- Business Plan on a Page. Having an idea in your mind is easy, making it happen in reality is the hard work to get to. All organisations have finite time and money to spend on new things, so you’ll have to ensure your idea makes sense as a business opportunity, with real stakeholders, costs and revenue streams. This is your business plan or case, and by using this Canvas it forces you to see the links between all the elements and be succinct and focused. As you get on the road with the idea and start gathering insights, you might need to adjust things, so going back to the canvas is a good test that everything still stacks up.
- Pitch Fever. Especially inside an organisation, you’ll need to be able to pitch, describe, talk about your idea to the various stakeholders. This is extra important for you to understand that different teams will be focused on different things, so be prepared to have several pitch presentations depending on who you’re talking to. Start with the Universal Pitch Deck which is a structure to organise the story of your idea.
We’d love to hear from you and how your intrapreneurship journey is going. Email us with your ideas, feedback or register your interest to attend our upcoming event in June. hello@disruptorshandbook.com
