How intrapreneurs can make a difference in sustainability

Intrapreneurs are critical to the drive for greater sustainability. “It's always been those that are willing to step out of line that are able to have impact,” said Josh Valman, an innovation adviser and CEO of engineering consultants RPDK. Valman said this when hosting the fourth and final webinar in The Open University’s (OU) recent series The Intrapreneurship series: Driving innovation from within.

This last webinar, Making a difference – sustainability, looked at how intrapreneurial thinking can help organisations address sustainability challenges. Dr Victoria Hands, Director of Sustainability at the OU, was one of three panellists on the webinar, and she said: “If you work in sustainability, you have to be an intrapreneur.”

Skills for sustainability

Intrapreneurial skills power sustainability initiatives – innovation, creativity, problem-solving, horizon scanning, critical thinking and collaboration, for example, are all skills that help people find solutions to challenges and new ways of working. Sustainability skills are now embedded in all the OU’s courses and the OpenLearn platform has a Sustainability Hub, which has a range of free courses on topics such as business ethics and climate psychology.

In 2022, the OU also introduced its Open Societal Challenges (OSC), a programme that encourages research that is tackling societal problems. Milton Keynes-based green roof specialists Bridgman & Bridgman received OSC funding for its ‘Living Roof Live Lab’, enabling it to collect data on the benefits of green roofing technologies. Speaking at the webinar, Chris Bridgman, Managing Partner at Bridgman & Bridgman, said this data will be invaluable and will be used to lobby government. “It is groundbreaking for our industry that we are working with a world-renowned university to produce data for the UK.”

Bringing innovation to the surface

The third panellist - Alex Cole, CEO at social innovation and venture business Tin Ventures, and Entrepreneur in Residence at the OU - also thinks intrapreneurship is at the heart of any sustainable business. He said that if organisations create the right conditions and culture, intrapreneurship grows. When he worked for the technology services provider Capgemini, he created an incubator function, to surface ideas and innovation. What he discovered was that innovation was everywhere, in every department – he just had to look.

I would urge every organisation to find these hidden heroes.

Alex Cole, Tin Ventures

Alex said it’s also vital that managers role model the behaviour they want others to display so that people feel comfortable about sharing their ideas. Not everyone will be an intrapreneur, but organisations need to make the space for creative thinkers to step forward and give voice to any ideas.

At the end of the webinar, Josh asked the three panellists to share their tips for any aspiring intrapreneurs. Their advice was:

• Build the business case, linked to your organisation’s existing strategy and direction of travel
• Build a coalition of allies
• Think about risk – the risk of not taking action
• Create something quickly, something tangible that helps people understand your thinking
• Start small
• Build awareness through conversations
• Collect your evidence

Watch webinar

Further information