Combatting Industry Change Through Intrapreneurship

Understanding Industry Change

Leaders cannot make intelligent investments in their own businesses without understanding how the industry their organization operates in is changing. This is because the type of change an industry is experiencing will determine the required response an organization orchestrates.

To understand the type of change your industry is going through, it's important to distinguish if your core assets (durable resources) or activities (recurring actions) or both are under threat.

When core activities and core assets are at threat, the industry is seeing radical change taking place. Radical change in an industry doesn't happen overnight, but it does lead to complete transformation over time.

At this point, companies in the industry need to start looking into new fields of business models and need to find the untapped needs of their target market. This requires new and imaginative plans to address needs that the target market may not be aware of.

Harnessing Employee Creativity

This is also where company employees can play an important role and become innovators for an organization. Employees can add great value when given the right tools and the freedom to innovate and explore as part of their daily responsibilities. They essentially know the products and services your organization offers better than anyone else and are thus able offer their expertise to ensure out-of-the-box thinking, leading to diverse and valuable ideas.

To encourage creativity at work, it's important to foster a culture and mindset that values innovation and create a conducive environment. In history, many important inventions and innovations came from brave and open-minded people.

Consider Thales the Greek mathematician, or Galilei, the Italian astronomer. Would we really have observed such major achievements if it wasn’t for these modest individuals dreaming and reaching far beyond the horizon?

Whilst their innovations and breakthroughs were also met with strong resistance and opposition by society, it highlights the importance of granting innovators the freedom to be creative and take initiative, even if this means making mistakes along the way. In the context of an organization, this means giving employees free reign to let their ideas flourish instead of binding them down with strict rules, a no-mistake culture and little to no encouragement to openly share their ideas and input.

Furthermore, where there is also a lack of access to the right tooling, such as comprehensive innovation management tools, employees will also not feel empowered or motivated to submit their ideas.

The KICKBOX Intrapreneurship Program

Accessible, gamified and easy to use tooling such as is part of the KICKBOX Intrapreneurship program, is crucial to help intrapreneurs take those first steps and kickstart their journey into innovation. For companies to survive industry changes and tackle them head on, it is important to react quickly and showcase agility, with few if not no gates to innovation, allowing everyone to become involved in the process.

The KICKBOX program is based on the Kickbox Methodology designed by Adobe and further developed by rready. Through three different stages, intrapreneurs are encouraged to validate, execute and implement their ideas. Following a stage-gate approach, each phase presents the innovators the opportunity to present their idea before an internal jury that will determine whether the ideas will progress to the next stage of the process or not.

KICKBOX is not just another innovation management program. Instead, it gives each employee the opportunity to take ownership of their idea and helps to establish a culture of innovation across the company by actively engaging the individual intrapreneur. When used in combination with rready Idea Management to source and manage employee ideas, managing an entire innovation portfolio becomes effortless.

In an industry that is marked by change or in which change is imminent, having input from all directions and allowing each employee to voice and execute their idea is crucial. After all, employees are the ones who know your company the best and can give authentic and valuable input to respond to change.

A Real-life Example: The Automotive Industry

The automotive industry is currently experiencing significant changes that necessitate immediate action. Structural shifts, digitalization, electrification, geopolitical events like the Ukraine war, and environmental concerns are reshaping the landscape. To remain relevant in the future, the industry must innovate and explore new business lines.

One example of these changes is the emerging field of new mobility. This sector offers numerous opportunities for diversification, while also presenting challenges. Companies in the automotive industry need to reinvest in their existing businesses and adapt to the evolving market.

It's crucial for every player in the supply chain, from suppliers to car manufacturers, to redefine their role and find their new right to exist.

For example, where Tier 1 suppliers (supplier who provides the car manufacturer with prefabricated components for its product) would traditionally respond to requests for proposals from car manufacturers, the future demands a shift from this classical approach. Instead of waiting for proposals, Tier 1 suppliers must proactively understand end customer needs and create innovative offers that align with market demands, ensuring their continued success in a rapidly changing industry.

This is where ZF Friedrichshafen implemented the KICKBOX Intrapreneurship program to remain customer-focused in a highly competitive and disrupted industry. Through simple, gamified, and fun approaches, employees were given the chance to practice methodologies like Human Centred Design, Lean Start-up, and Design Thinking, enabling them to better understand problems from the view of the end-user. With a community of innovators that includes more than 800 employees, the company has shown a promising trajectory when it comes to implementing intrapreneurial initiatives like KICKBOX.

Industries are constantly evolving, and organizations that fall behind often do so because they fail to recognize these changes, resist acknowledging them, or are simply too slow to adapt. The key to staying ahead however, remains the same: It involves looking internally and utilising the invaluable know-how and expertise of your greatest resource – your employees. They know your challenges and can ultimately provide the best solutions to solve them.