ABSTRACT
In today’s turbulent and unpredictable environment, traditional ‘linear’ approaches to change management are losing in efficiency and relevance and many organizations acknowledge that the nature of the context in which they operate requires new models of organizational flexibility. Creating a separate entity with a mandate to innovate is a way to foster and develop an entrepreneurial spirit which can help tackle such a challenge. We refer to such a structure (or ‘in-group’) inside a corporation (also called matrix or ‘out-group’) – as a ‘corporate venture’. We term the process of developing and operating a corporate venture as ‘internal corporate venturing’ (ICV). Many examples of such hybrid structures exist, including action labs (cross-company projects giving people large amounts of power, and time with permission to be creative and to challenge the status quo), or skunk works (small and loosely structured units or subsidiaries, often undertaken in quasi-secret, and operating completely independently until the innovation is ready for commercialization). The individuals who drive and thrive in these structures and processes we term ‘corporate venturers’. Coaching with corporate venturers is the focus of this chapter.
