Thursday 31 January 2008

No Word For 'Entrepreneur'

George Bush famously commented that the trouble with the French is that they have no word for ‘Entrepreneur’. There is another aspect. Any business needs to have a spirit of enterprise amongst its employees. It has been called Intrapreneurialism.

The best companies invite a spirit of ownership in the doings of their employees which instils a sense of value and helps with staff retention. According to Orange and the Make Your Mark campaign, a survey of 523 UK small businesses conducted for Enterprise Week 2007 revealed that 77 per cent have difficulty recruiting enterprising people and more than one in three consider it a major problem.
It’s a question of balance again. Once you devolve responsibility or delegate to the lowly masses who knows where we will end up? The answer is of course to not do so in isolation. As a boss let your people know where the company stands and gradually invite contributory suggestion. If it’s halfway good – go along with it, and that way you won’t end up doing everything yourself.

‘Hiring a dog and then barking yourself’. Delegation is key to growing a business and developing your staff. It may be far quicker and easier to do the critical things yourself, but your staff will never learn if they aren’t allowed to have a go and learn from their mistakes. (Isn’t that how you got to where you are today?)
If you are a boss and are confident enough to recognise that you could do with some help ask
Bob Shepherd Associates for assistance. Personal fitness for a role needs observation from outside. The Boss should be doing the least apparent work and the most thinking. In Mid February it will be National Thinking Day. (who thought of that?) How about using it to set some new directions?

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