Enhancing Entrepreneurial Spirit
from Linked IN Pulse 02 Sept 14 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
Entrepreneurial spirit is a mindset. It’s an attitude & approach to thinking, that actively seeks out change, rather than waiting to adapt to change. It’s a mindset that embraces critical questioning, innovation, & other continuous improvement of service/s products & processes. It’s about taking ownership and pride in your organization.
Benefits. In general, entrepreneurial teams tend to have a more innovative approach to thinking about their products or services, new directions to take the team or startup in, or new ways of doing old tasks. During these innovation processes, entrepreneurial spirit helps companies grow & evolve rather than become stagnant & stale.
Risk-Taking.On the other hand, entrepreneurial spirit is also associated with taking calculated risks, and sometimes failing. This usually means that an employee working within a budget and organization guidelines is allowed or encouraged to find innovative ways of getting the job done. This attitude can have amazing effects – not only on profitability – but also can contribute to increases in employee satisfaction, retention, public image and productivity.
Attitude. To have an entrepreneurial spirit, you need people who think anything is possible and have the tenacity to accomplish it. Regardless, if you are a founder, senior executive or a junior team member, everyone has a voice that needs listened to & nurtured, not criticized, in order to continue bringing innovative ideas forward. The leaders & members are both responsible for creating & maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit as your organization grows. What can leaders do to create entrepreneurial spirit?
#1, Work as Partners. All team members should feel empowered to make decisions–and leaders should let them. “In fact, decision-making processes & approvals need to be simplified and leaders need training in how to hand off the reins and to help them confidently grab hold of the reins. When team members are tasked with thinking like a partner, when they presents an idea, it’s important that their leader & co-workers not shoot it down immediately. In addition, you should ask your team members some questions to understand their thinking or build on top of their ideas as it encourages them to remain open and share ideas. Even if you ultimately end up walking away from an idea, they’ll understand why.
Learning Opportunity, is a better way to look at it, when an idea fails or is postponed. By doing so, you drive commitment – which ultimately will fuel creativity & productivity.To keep ideas coming from employees, managers need to respond to every idea and every suggestion in a timely & forthright manner so that people feel their ideas aren’t disappearing into a black hole.
[ #2 Work on some Crazy Ideas, #3 Work with Cross-Functional colleagues, #4 Work as a Role Model, in Premium Content ]