Entrepreneurs in the Trenches
In my September and October (2019) Communication Tips and Tools e-newsletters, I teased readers about how there are many entrepreneur-minded folks working in a (regular) corporate job. They just need to be supported and encouraged. Those entrepreneurs in the cubicles and offices calling on prospects and customers, tackling technical issues, and managing financials are:
✔️ Creative and Inventive
✔️ Collaborative
✔️ Willing to take risks
✔️ Purposeful
✔️ Positive Thinkers
Although the people I’m talking about are entrepreneurial, they aren’t actually looking to start their own business. They simply have entrepreneurial attributes corporate leaders may be overlooking. In the September issue, I shared a link to a 2008 article: The 10 Most Influential & Successful Female Entrepreneurs Of Our Time. Among those corporate entrepreneurs noted in the article were Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook) and Susan Wojcicki (Google).
In the October e-newsletter, I advocated finding these entrepreneurial spirits and taking advantage of what they offer. Let’s go a bit deeper into those notions than was conveyed in a quick-read e-newsletter.
Finding them is not that complicated. Being aware they exist and typical employee reviews will uncover these entrepreneurs. He’s the sales guy who is incredibly good at building strong relationships that result in new clients. She’s the creative marketing mind who is not afraid to try new ideas and keep tweaking them until they create unyielding trust and brand awareness. How about the technician shielded behind a computer screen who detects and trumpets product improvements or uncovers tools that lead to greater efficiencies? It’s easy to spot the entrepreneurial support rep. She’s the one getting kudos and requests from your customers? I bet there are teammates who are always pitching compliments, smiling, sharing successes, and pushing others to see the glass half-full.
When you develop the awareness and uncover these creative, collaborative creatures, take the initiative to support and encourage them.
Encourage their creativeness by asking them for, and using, their input and ideas.
Doesn’t seem too difficult, does it? But it can be. Maybe their idea is a bit risky and might not work. So what? Asking them may be more important than actually adopting their idea. By asking, you’re implying an openness to their creative juices. Don’t dismiss their idea because it involves time and financial resources. Explore the idea. Maybe it needs some refining or some trial and error process. Get him or her involved in the what-if process and actual implementation. Careful, it might just be a big success!
Give them freedom and support in decision-making.
That’s actually a good idea for all your team, not just the entrepreneurs. I have a couple of chapters in my book, Beyond the Numbers about empowerment and decision-making. Let me condense those chapters and break down freedom and support.
Freedom is about empowerment. What is the negotiation purview (extent or limits) of your sales people? Can your customer support people solve most requests or problems? Does marketing have the freedom to try new ad campaigns like pay-per-click? Yes, there are boundaries in all businesses. Setting guidelines is part of the empowerment process. Just don’t make the boundaries too restrictive. Keep the emphasis on what they can do, not what they can’t.
Quick example. In my oil & gas software company, support reps and software developers (aka programmers back then) had almost unfettered freedom to solve customer issues. Without getting into a lot of detail about collaboration and financial concerns, they could decide, implement, and even impact our software enhancement process. Our development platform had an ad-hoc reporting tool. If a customer needed a report that was not already a menu selection, support and technical staff could build it for them or even set up a workshop to teach a client’s team how to use the tool.
Support is where positive results of decisions are celebrated and negative results are met with “okay, let’s move on, figure out a fix, or scrap the idea” (depending on the situation). I suggest decision support should be a foundational aspect of your culture. You need the entire team on board. No blame game. None of the (overt or surreptitious) “it wasn’t my idea” from anyone, especially peers and those up the hierarchy. Keep in mind this axiom: no one chooses to make a bad decision (criminal activity excepted). The decision may not turn out the way intended, but that’s about the results, not the decision itself. Work on the idea, not the person behind it.
Spread their positive outlook and team skills.
Call on these entrepreneurial risk-takers in meetings. Assign projects to them and let them pick their team. They are typically leaders. Let them lead. Another area where they can make a great impact is by integrating them in customer or support staff training. Maybe he or she leads new employee on-boarding. Implementing a new procedure or policy? Have one of your entrepreneurs give a positive, collaborative introduction in a team meeting.
You know what’s really interesting about all this? Whether you call them entrepreneurial or not, shouldn’t you be cultivating, supporting, and building your company on these types of employees? All I’m trying to do is get you to recognize and take care of them. If identifying entrepreneurial characteristics takes you down that path, good for you (and me).
Let me know how this is working (or not) in your world.