Venture Management:

Entrepreneurial Organization

10 Steps to Develop Entrepreneurial Staff

Moulding Your People into a Pro-active and Productive Team

By Australian Business Limited and Australian Commonwealth ITR Department

Adapted by Dean Prebble and Prof. Howard Frederick, Ten3 NZ Ltd.

"Teamwork is a make or break situation. Either you help make it or the lack of it will break you."  – Kris A. Hiatt

There are two phases in developing an entrepreneurial workplace.

Phase I creates the environment necessary to support and encourage it. Phase II is building your staff's entrepreneurial skills.

1. Corporate Environment. Share with staff your definition of entrepreneurship and intention of fostering it throughout the corporation well before the plan is complete and the details fixed.  Poll staff's fears, seek their input and suggestions: create an atmosphere of excitement and support.

2. Corporate Vision. Revisit with staff your corporate vision, mission and values.  If these do not permeate the organisation like the rings of a tree, take the steps necessary to make that happen.

3. Personal Goals. Are your people encouraged to develop their own personal missions, visions and values? If not, help staffers create them. Should the two be mutually exclusive, then it is in everybody's best interests to help those concerned find another corporation in which there will be no conflict.

4. Training. As part of your professional/personal development program offer the associated courses to your staff. Help them to be their best in every area of their lives, including the promotion of your corporation.

5. Empowerment. Are there any clients with whom your employees have difficulties working?  On the one hand you clearly want to avoid bringing in work that is simply going to create friction, but on the other, your people may have a different perspective that eliminates the problem.

6. Simplicity. Give your people the language to express the business of your corporation in simple terms as well as the appropriately technical. The more they share your business and its achievements with all around them, the more people in their lives will understand the work of your company and the more leads will come from completely unexpected sources.

7. Help staffers effortlessly introduce themselves.  Help your people to effortlessly introduce themselves to individuals and groups not in terms of what they do, but the benefits they bring to the corporation's clients.

8. Help staffers effortlessly introduce your company.  Help your people find the language uniquely right for them to introduce your corporation to individuals and groups in terms of the benefits of its range of services.

9. Networking. Present or arrange a networking workshop for staff.  Have them learn networking skills, teach them about relationship marketing, have them practice asking the open-ended questions. Follow up with group coaching sessions to help staff find the right language for each situation, to disengage from fruitless conversations and to reprise any interactions that didn't go as well as anticipated.

10. Search for Opportunities. Where do staff go, to whom do they speak, what do they read?   Entrepreneurship is not for inside the head only. Your people may already be surrounded by untapped business opportunities. Their lives outside of work may not change at all but they will be more alert to opportunities as they arise and the way in which they present themselves will attract more business enquiries. Help them develop their strategies for capitalising on all the opportunities, existing and as yet unrecognised.