Treat your innovators to a dose of dopamine.

Innovator Insights Part I

Today we are here to discuss your innovators’ motivation. Let us begin with the basics.

What is an intrapreneur?

You may be thinking this is elementary, but it is the key to understanding your innovator’s motivators. Coined by Gifford Pinchot, the term intrapreneur was first officially recognized in 1992 by the American Heritage Dictionary and defined as, “A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.” Take special note of “turning an idea into a profitable finished product”, who takes ideas and turns them into profit? Entrepreneurs!

This is the secret.

What makes entrepreneurs so special?

Your intrapreneurs are simply entrepreneurs inside of an organization; therefore, their needs are different from your other employees. An entrepreneur is passionate, driven, and fast-moving; so, your intrapreneurs will be motivated by the autonomy to explore ideas, to collaborate with others, and to learn from their competitors.

Your intrapreneurs will be pragmatic in their efforts to create profitable new ideas and products for your company, but they may sometimes fail. As long as you don’t view failing as a setback, they won’t either. A real entrepreneur always perceives failure as progress.

Your company can facilitate the success of its intrapreneurs by applying less structure than a typical business model might have, discarding rigid deadlines and expectations, and instead supplying them with the power of exploration.

The Science of Motivation

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation in the brain. Sure, this is a fun fact, but really understanding how that chemical acts according to certain stimuli is where you can begin to truly understand how to motivate your innovators.

Dopamine activates in the brain before a reward is given, but after an opportunity for a reward is presented. So, once the brain realizes there is hope for a reward, the motivation chemical kicks in. By now you should be thinking, “I get it. Incentives, we need incentives!”

And you are exactly right.

The Magic of Rewards

As mentioned, intrapreneurs are passionate, driven, and competitive, so they get enough reward from being themselves, right? Wrong.

Putting systems in place that allow your intrapreneurs to celebrate little victories, share successes, and accomplish milestones will inevitably increase dopamine release as you quite literally break their motivation down to a science.

Here are some ways you can do this:

• Encourage your intrapreneurs to record their accomplishments.

As your employees are able to visualize each achievement they make, they will be continually motivated to work ahead to attain the next small triumph.

• Allocate a time each week for your intrapreneurs to present their successes from that week to their colleagues. Here, they are met with positive and constructive feedback, as well as a sense of community.

Your intrapreneurs are competitive, and eager to succeed. By facilitating an environment where they are rewarded with positive feedback and team recognition for the achievements, their desire to accomplish escalates.

• Organize weekly (or bi-weekly) meetings where the team will set small attainable goals as a group.

Checking off these little to-do’s as a team will lead to a community with shared mutual goals and rewards. Each time the team gets to mark the completion of a task with a “check”, they will be motivated to complete the next one.

• Plan a celebratory event which will be held to commemorate the completion of a successful larger-scale project.

This may manifest as a company field trip, a week of catered lunches, or an added amenity to the workspace.

Thank you for reading!

Sources:

https://www.intrapreneur.com/MainPages/History/Dictionary.html

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237547#

http://blog.idonethis.com/the-science-of-motivation-your-brain-on-dopamine/

All artwork is original.