The ‘intrapreneur’: A creative, forward-thinking legal professional

Realisation of a necessary vocational pathway

For Ms Joyce, intrapreneurialism was not a consciously chosen pathway. It was a source of frustration for her, she told Lawyers Weekly, that she could not do a job without wanting to do it better and, unfortunately, not all managers can or do understand or appreciate the skills that can be brought to the table.

“One executive said to me, ‘All of this extra stuff you’ve done to resolve this issue is brilliant Shevonne, but can you just do your job description?’ It was incredibly deflating and confusing,” she recalled.

“The world looked very different back then, and ‘intrapreneur’ was a foreign concept. I felt like a square peg in a round hole trying to find an employer who wanted and truly valued these skills throughout my career.”

It wasn’t until much later, she said, that she realised that she is entrepreneurial and the value that she could bring to an employer as an intrapreneur.

Since that time, Ms Joyce detailed, she has worked on a bounty of exciting projects, including being involved in redesigning graduate assessment centres for a global firm, creating a leadership course to upskill and empower a team of people leaders on best practice management and managing key diversity initiatives like building inclusive employment pathways.

It all began, she deduced, “by thinking about how I could solve key problems and drive change”. Ms de Zoysa’s intrapreneurial journey stems from the founding of her now-hugely successful spice business, Lord & Lion, which – as she told Lawyers Weekly in early 2021 – allows her to not only share family recipes but also embrace her heritage in ways she never before conceived.

“Our range has been stocked nationally for some time now, and each and every month we grow stronger in our retail footprint and create more of an experience in the food space for our community. I see Lord & Lion launching internationally in the not too distant future – we already have quite a customer base from around the world, so it really is something we need to put more of our focus onto in the coming months, to ensure that we can support our customer base overseas,” she said.

“The proudest thing that I think we have achieved is our community outreach projects – where we provide medical support and have provided work to tradespeople in rural Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, to build homes which we in turn donate to members of the community currently experiencing homelessness or facing imminent homelessness. This is something we are certain we will keep building on well into the future.”

The building of Lord & Lion was not necessarily something that she had been striving for over many years – whilst on secondment with a client of Sparke Helmore’s, she said that she started thinking about launching a products-based venture, “at some stage in the future, so that I could experience it from the ground up – to understand what components are required to build and run a products-based business”.

“When the pandemic began and we were forced inside, searching for creative outlets, ways to enrich our lives and make things more fun and interesting in a world where things were less fun and very much more challenging than most of us had ever experienced, I leaned into this idea that I could launch a company based on a passion of mine – food – to learn about something entirely new to me, and so I did!” she said.

The lessons learned along the way, Ms de Zoysa mused, have been fundamental to the successful journey she is on. “I do not know what I don’t know, so I often feel like I am working in a vacuum, but each and every single day, there are new learnings and new information that I come to rely upon down the line, and that is the one thing I am certain of,” she said

Ms Griffiths’ transition to intrapreneur was also somewhat organic, she contributed.

“The major way that I became an intrapreneur was by being involved in ongoing conversations with Gilchrist Connell about the type of work that was being performed in the restructuring and insolvency space in the marketplace and building up recognition in the market as a subject matter expert on recent developments in the sector,” she said.

At the time of joining the firm – as a senior associate in commercial litigation – she recognised an opportunity to leverage her market experience in restructuring and insolvency and establish a new, complementary practice area within what was already an established, national law firm.

The specialist restructuring and insolvency team at the firm initially comprised of just herself when the firm started such work two years ago. It now boasts 10 professionals across the country and services clientele including “big four” accounting firms, mid-size and boutique accounting firms and sole practitioner businesses, Ms Griffiths said.

“I would like to see the restructuring and insolvency team continue to organically grow alongside the needs of our clients to continue to provide specialist professional services offerings to the insolvency and restructuring market. This is to be distinct from law firms ‘offering’ restructuring and insolvency services within their larger dispute services,” she said.

The place for ‘intrapreneurialism’

Such creative and forward-looking activity has its place in both law firms and in-house legal teams, Ms Griffiths espoused, because it is representative of organic growth within an organisation by individuals who have worked within that organisation, and who are best placed to speak to the needs and requirements of the stakeholders within the organisation and stakeholders outside the organisation for which the organisation is servicing.

“Organisations that actively listen to the needs of the employees within it and implement recommendations which are geared towards growth and continuous improvement of the business will be the best placed to attract the best talent, maintain a stable workforce, create a safe and happy place to work and will continue to drive profitability,” she advised.

“For these reasons, organisations should encourage ‘intrapreneurship’ as an organic expansion of the organisation’s core business.”

Ms de Zoysa agreed. All employers, whether they are law firms, governmental organisations, companies, or any other form of organisation, she said, are attracted to candidates with more than traditional qualifications to bring diverse experiences to the teams, the company, and its clients.

“Where someone is able to do that and, especially where there are non-conflicting synergies involved, this is always going to be viewed as an added bonus. Diversity in experiences is key to building a more enriching work environment – this is yet another way in which another level of such diversity can be attained in a world where we are all in agreement that a more diverse and engaged workforce feeds into a more successful business,” she said.

Intrapreneurship is becoming more mainstream, Ms Joyce confirmed, and she believes that it will be the key skill of the future as both employers and employees begin thinking about how relationships can be enhanced.

“It’s so important for the health, culture and success of law firms because it not only enables employees to play a key role in building the firm, but to utilise their strengths and talents, and create unique products and services the business. This builds engagement, diversity of ideas and helps to propel firms forward,” she said.

Moving forward, she noted, firms will be looking beyond the technical responsibilities of a job description and “into how you are out there building your brand in the marketplace, and the unique skills you can bring. Equally, employees will be asking firms how they can contribute to enhancing their career and skill set to achieve their legacy.”

Advice to others

Those wanting to operate as intrapreneurs, Ms Griffiths suggested, should align themselves with organisations that share similar values to their own, and where the culture of the organisation is well known and the brand is respected in the market (even if outside of one’s field of expertise).

“I would actively think about working ‘in parallel’ with the established organisation for a period of time before launching into a ‘new offering’ within it,” she advised.

“Take the time to get to know the pressure points for the organisation, the barriers to entry, the types of clients that the organisation services and understand how your type of business offering would complement the existing organisation.”

Another important consideration, Ms Griffiths continued, is the “buy-in” that you need to actually create a new business offering, a lot of which, she said, revolves around transparency and good communication with the business.

“I think it is important to be realistic about what you want to achieve, how long it will take you to build a business and what resources your need to do so. It is critical to be authentic to what you are offering to the market and the expertise to do so,” she outlined.

“Particularly for an established brand, going into a new area, you need to ‘walk the walk’ and do more than just ‘talk the talk’ – building a business should be a long game not a quick game that is built on mere puffery.”

At the outset for any aspiring intrapreneur, she deduced, it is important to recognise that a thriving side hustle is a much more irresistible proposal for an organisation than a blank cheque being handed to an intrapreneur.

Part of this, Ms Joyce said in support, is to find an employer who allows the creative freedom to work on projects that not only excite the individual but also benefit the business.

“Ask about what learning initiatives your employer can offer to help you build commercial and strategic skills – and find yourself a good mentor who is experienced with innovation, product and industry disruption,” she said.

“Think about key problems that exist within your current firm and come up with ideas and solutions around how you may be able to help solve them. Ask your manager about it and find out what options are available for you to contribute. For example, you might be able to get together a working group of colleagues for a particular project.”

Reflections

It is somewhat daunting to be an intrapreneur, Ms Griffiths mused, given that – at present – it is not a well-trodden path.

However, she added, it is also quite exciting to be able to “build something that plays to your strengths within an existing organisation and it is also incredibly rewarding being able to take a step back and admire what has been built because you were prepared to take that first step and create something from scratch”.

“In my opinion, law firms are almost the best breeding ground for intrapreneurs as they are constantly looking to evolve to meet client needs,” she noted.

“Go for it,” Ms de Zoysa insisted. Intrapreneurship, she submitted, is “worth celebrating, sharing and learning from”.

Starting her own business whilst still employed by a BigLaw firm has been, she said, “one of the most interesting and exciting things” she has done to date. “It is absolutely, without a doubt, worth giving a shot,” she said.

Most important, though, is to enjoy the process, Ms Joyce stressed.

“It’s fun to create and experiment and so fulfilling when you see the results come to fruition,” she said. And, ultimately, it is never too early or late to start.

“Remember, we all start somewhere with learning something new. It’s important to just get started with something small and be compassionate about failures as you learn.

“The key is progress, not perfection.”