How corporate intrapreneurs can use small wins to create big change

These days it is common to feel overwhelmed by the scope of the challenges that we face – from extreme heat fuelled by climate change to impacts of economic and social inequality. Amid so much complexity and divisiveness, it seems only big solutions can make a difference.

That realization hamstrings us and impairs our sense of efficacy. And we lose sight of the fact that a small win can have a cascading effect by making the possibilities for achieving subsequent wins more visible.

This is what I have learned repeatedly in my work over 15 years with corporate change agents in the Aspen First Movers Fellowship. By shifting attention from looking for the big change and instead aiming for strategic small wins, these ‘corporate intrapreneurs’ – or change agents operating within companies – demonstrate possibilities for a better future.

How do they do it? Here are four lessons I’ve learned from these innovators about how to seek a small win to build momentum for bigger change:

Pilots allow you to make an idea tangible and test possibilities for change. Designed for learning, they can be structured with limited resources and low risk, and you win regardless of the outcome.

Both success and failure provide lessons for the next trial and build momentum for greater change. For example, Hao Dinh, VP of technology at Enpro, knows that millions of jobs are at risk as digital technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), transform the workplace.

But instead of worrying about impending calamity, he keeps his focus on running pilots to introduce digital technologies to help workers gain experience using these technologies and envision an ongoing role for their expertise, in combination with the use of big data and AI.

These pilots also demonstrate to the company’s senior leadership that successful digital transformations are not only about deploying the right technology, they are also about making sure impacts on people are fully considered.

Even when going for a win that requires a relatively small effort, you cannot count on change happening quickly. Randolf Waters, senior director at Xylem, a water technology company has worked with the World Economic Forum on its Global Water Initiative, is dedicated to helping the world solve pressing water challenges.

Doing so requires that municipalities find ways to finance the investments needed to build or repair water infrastructures. At Xylem, Waters organized a team to explore new private financing structures that could help bridge the gap between resources needed and the traditional sources of municipal revenues which funded these investments.

Together over many months this team crafted a pilot financing option they could test in the market with a willing customer. The entire process took more time than Waters expected, but he was not discouraged by delays. Being patient, he learned, gives you time for thoughtful design and to get more buy-in within your company and in the market.

As you develop your idea for positive change – for example, bringing about energy savings or targeting a new, underserved segment of the market – share it with your colleagues with the mindset of a catalyst rather than an advocate.

This will enable you to listen to those who offer objections, address their concerns and integrate their ideas as you build out your pilot.

While at State Street Global Advisors, Chris McKnett sought to develop a new product that would meet two market needs: low-income consumers needing credit and social impact investors seeking low-risk vehicles for investing in community development.

Such products are difficult to structure, and McKnett ran into resistance when he tried to make his case. Then he made a critical pivot. Instead of trying to persuade colleagues to offer this product, he shifted to inquiry. He started asking colleagues, “What would have to be true for State Street to be able to structure and sell investment products that would meet these two market needs?”

That question enabled an entirely different kind of conversation, one that invited his colleagues to imagine steps they could take to move forward.

Just as important as conducting pilots is sharing stories about your wins. It can make the difference between achieving a small win that is an isolated achievement and one that builds momentum for change.

When Emily Alati, a Director of Materials Innovation at action sports footwear and clothing company Vans, was looking to connect the company’s climate action goals with its commitments to social justice – she knew that shifting to a regenerative and inclusive model of agriculture would take years. So she decided to make an immediate difference in her own work.

Alati was already running an experimental programme to grow industrial hemp and test its use as a sustainable alternative to cotton. To make headway on racial equity as well, she sought to ensure that some of the farmers working on this program were Black. For the initial pilot they found two Black farmers willing to participate. That initiative proved to be successful, and they have now expanded the number of underrepresented farmers they work with.

A critical part of creating momentum for these innovations was Alati’s willingness to tell the story of the pilot, both inside and outside the company. These stories had a snowball effect not only at Vans but at VF, the parent company. Her colleagues have stepped up to get involved and to test other pilot programmes. They have set up a learning group to ensure they have diverse perspectives on how to move forward on the company’s climate action goals.

Dan Heath and Chip Heath, authors of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, explain that achieving small wins is so powerful because it helps us “shrink the change” that’s needed and achieve “milestones within reach”.

They write, “When you engineer early successes, what you are really doing is engineering hope. Hope is precious to a change effort.” Corporate intrapreneurs, who are ambitious about achieving breakthrough change within their companies and for society at large, know this from their experience.

Small wins are often key to revealing future possibilities for corporate change because they give us hope that we can actually get there.

Nancy McGaw is author of the recent book, Making Work Matter: How to Create Positive Change in your Company and Meaning in your Career.