How can you develop an entrepreneurial workforce?
There's a strong correlation between entrepreneurship and economic growth, as well as a connection between a company's entrepreneurial culture and its bottom line. However, in today's challenging economic climate, entrepreneurship and innovation seems to be elusive for many organisations. How can you integrate an entrepreneurial way of thinking into your corporate culture?
Successful entrepreneurs share certain characteristics:
- They're innovative thought leaders, and
- They're visionaries who're willing to take risks to transform an idea into a reality.
How can you develop an entrepreneurial way of thinking in your workforce?
To promote this type of thinking in an organisation, it's necessary to create a learning culture that promotes innovation. A true culture of entrepreneurship and innovation involves exponential effort from the workforce and opportunity for continuous improvement.
This requires a kind of leadership that taps into the collective genius
Research by author and management guru, Linda A Hill, shows "that innovation is far more than a competence - it must be a key element of the corporate culture". In her book, Collective Genius, Hill states that to harness collective genius, leaders must create organisations that are willing and able to innovate. Willingness is achieved by uniting purpose, shared values and rules of engagement. Ability results from a process that includes:
- Creative abrasion,
- Creative agility, and
- Creative resolution.
According to Hill, creative abrasion is the opportunity to collaborate through open dialogue and discussion. Creative agility talks to experimentation and discovery, while creative resolution is about being able to make and implement decisions following the creative process.
All of this is underpinned by a learning culture
A learning culture provides an environment where people feel safe to create and explore and therefore able to contribute to innovation. Learning and performance must be seamlessly woven into everyday tasks and objectives.
Remember that learning is a practice, not an event. Employees will feel more comfortable to contribute new ideas if they understand that failure is not fatal. Employers need to create an environment where people feel safe to fail. Ultimately, leaders who promote a learning culture - and show that they value every employee's input - are well on the way to creating an entrepreneurial culture.
Entrepreneurial cultures are key to addressing SA's high unemployment figures
We need to look beyond the government for the creation of new jobs and private enterprises play an important role in this initiative. A 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report states that established businesses create 3.2% jobs on average.
However, South Africa's prohibitive regulations and excessive costs related to hiring and dismissing staff mean that many new businesses are hesitant to take a chance on employing unskilled workers who show entrepreneurial flair – people who might contribute positively to their organisation. For those individuals who have the courage to start their own small business, tough regulations once again come into play with endless bureaucracy, exorbitant start-up fees and limited access to finance. In short, some of South Africa's staunch regulatory requirements are hindering entrepreneurship.
There is a lot employers can do in their organisations to encourage entrepreneurship. Outside of their reach is the government policies, and this is something we should look at as a matter of urgency.
