Many
organizations are now realizing the value of Shared Services and are rapidly deploying
the Shared Services Framework to reap benefits of scale, efficiency and speed.
However, implementing and operating a Shared Services is easier said than done,
especially in larger organizations across different countries.
One of the
biggest threats to Shared Services is the bureaucracy that it brings with it,
as all stakeholders refer to the “Defined Process” and are reluctant to make
any changes to it even when it seems illogical. They even avoid making changes when
they know that there are easier ways to do the same with a lower cost.
Companies get into bureaucratic discussions rather than implementing simple
solutions. On the other hand, making too many changes to your processes based
on local needs can also undo the benefits of scale that forms the crux of the
Shared Services business case.
So, how do you
bring controlled changes to your Shared Services to ensure that effectiveness
is delivered in a swift manner without going through the red-tapism. The
easiest and effective way of bringing such changes is to build a culture of
Intrapreneurship within the organization which will bring about rapid changes
with a high degree of agility and profitability to the organization.
Who
are “Intrapreneurs”? Intrapreneurs are employees within
large organizations who behave like Entrepreneurs focusing their energy to innovate
and implement great ideas without being asked to. They pierce through the thick
sheet of bureaucracy to realize and implement projects which hitherto were
thought of impossible to achieve. They help the organization be agile and
effective in their operations. Organizations, especially Shared Services
Centers, need to leverage such professionals to ensure that organizations are
always agile and devoid of archaic process methods that slow down the Shared
Services Center. Many employees join organizations and bring with them a lot of new ideas and energy. It is essential
that organizations provide platforms to record and socialize such initiatives
across the organization. What is required are technology platforms that are not
just easy to operate but are also powerful to capture knowledge and link them
to various strategies and ultimately the goal of the organizations. With Intrapreneurs
around, it may be very easy to deviate from the organization’s goals, as such
individuals can very easily deviate from the company’s goal given that they are
high energy professionals. Hence such Intrapreneurs should be provided
platforms which do not restrict their ability to maneuver in the organizations,
all the while helping teams to log the knowledge of the projects and ultimately
linking each transactions of the initiative to the organization’s goals when
the initiative goes live.
Some of the companies,
who are effectively using the Intrapreneurial advantage, are big companies such
as 3M and Google. While 3M strongly supports its employees to innovate newer
products, Google allows its employees to spend upto 20% of their time on the
projects of their choice. But what is important is the way such projects are
linked to the organization’s goals. One of the live Intrapreneurial examples that
I have personally experienced in my professional life is the story of a small
girl who was able to change the way one of the large mobile phone companies
operated their packing lines. As part of their continuous improvement projects,
the mobile phone company promoted all levels of employees to innovate in their
areas around them. The girl who was working on the packing line noticed that
the forklift operator who brought the cardboard boxes for packing phones on the
line had to go to the place where the boxes were kept in an opaque bin and had
to scan them to ensure that the right box goes to the right line as there were
more than 50 different packing boxes being distributed to different packing
lines. She thought of introducing transparent bins to store the packing boxes
which resulted in 40% increase in the speed to delivering the packing boxes to
the packing lines. This also reminds me of the famous soap box example of how
ground level employees are able to bring practical solutions to bring cost
efficient solutions to problems. If not for the organization’s inclination to continuous
improvement and empowering employees to implement them, the girl would have
never dared to bring forth her idea to implement the transparent bin solution
and saving quite a large amount of operational costs.
Shared
Services Centers in a way represent factory lines. Hence, there is a huge
opportunity to bring great operational cost savings through sustained
continuous improvement measures. Intrapreneurs
are more productive, dedicated and their creativity and passion are infectious. This benefits the entire team and ultimately the organization.
Today’s young Intrapreneurs have capabilities, tools and resources that can
provide incredible advantage to your Shared Services and the organization. But
what is more important is to develop and enable Intrapreneurs who are able to
lead and beat all odds to make improvements in the organization.
