EEW!: Empowering Entrepreneurship at Work

Exhibiting entrepreneurship at work is an attitude. No matter where and which place you are in, the attitude will never die. It challenges your inner thoughts and never asks you to adapt rather it embraces critical thoughts, reasoning, innovation and continuous improvement.

How do you empower your employees to be innovative and act as entrepreneurs in your organization? An engaged and empowered entrepreneur will not only increase the company’s profitability but also be more productive and satisfied. As always, The Culture of the organization defines these values and nurtures innovation. If innovation , freedom and democracy is in the core DNA of the organization it would never fail.

Now, how do you define or propagate this unique culture-

Promote wacky ideas- In the team meeting, do not put your foot down on some bizarre idea, rather as a mentor see the dollar value and nurture it. This helps in identifying the entrepreneurs and also brings those ideas to see the light of the day.

Act like an owner- Employees should be empowered to take decisions as in a democratic setup and they should be regularly mentored to tackle the issues at the core. Hence, the decision making should be simple and de-centralized.

Socialize the ideas- The idea that you believe is crazy may be apt for another situation and in future you could use it too. It would be worthy to archive and socialize those ideas for others to dissect and tweak as per their requirements. You never know, it may be a golden boot for others.

Regular Recognition- It is always a wise idea to recognize the ideators of your organization. Go for a social recognition platform and give them their due even though it may be a small idea for you. It helps in employee satisfaction and acts as instigator to think on something new.

Show the mirror- Communicating the right business updates in a timely manner is the key to innovation. Employees would not be able to give you cost effective methods if you don’t show them the real picture or how the future looks like.

Above all this is the leader’s capability to lead by example. If the leader is not open to ‘Open Communication’ channel or receptive to new ideas, you cannot expect your employees to be innovative and exhibit entrepreneurship at work.

  “A loss of entrepreneurial spirit often results in a less fun, creative and passionate work environment”- Michael Kerr (Humor at Work)

The 3Ps at Workplace

“And miles to go before I sleep…. And miles to go before I sleep”

We often wonder and struggle to catch up with miles we have defined for ourselves. Have we ever introspected or tried to find out what actually shapes these miles?

I firmly believe that Power, Positivity and Perseverance are the 3Ps which shape our life and career. Let’s figure out what and how these 3Ps affect our professional and to some extend personal life as well.

‘Power’ is a really strong word which impacts our life to a larger extent. Power as exhibited at workplace can be redefined and clubbed into the below types:

1. Social Power should be the typical characteristic feature of an established leader which I believe is all about leading from the front and giving individualistic authority to the team members. Working in a collaborated fashion will definitely achieve better results and in turn giving intrinsic motivation and recognition to the employee.

2.  Cloud Power is wherein the power and the authority rest at a particular level/person. It’s like clouds at different potentials if come together will end in thunder and lightning. In such type of work groups the decision is always in a top down approach and the team is not empowered which leads to lower motivation in the team.

‘Positivity’ in the ambience, culture and processes of an organization shape its goal and help achieve the targets. A positive workforce is more productive, efficient and innovative. Positivity cannot be inserted in an organization via an external force/method but it is largely governed by its internal practices.  Below are some examples which help reinforce positivity at the workplace:

• Recognition which can be external or internal by creating the relative worthiness of the job person is doing
• Effective Communication is another area which I have seen lacking in many leadership styles due to which there are corridor talks and ultimately leads to negativity around
• Leadership is very important because if as a leader you don’t see a problem at a nascent stage you won’t be able to provide a solution to it. Moving away from the problem is also not the correct leadership style to be exhibited which may send negative vibes in the team
• Listening to the personal and professional needs of the employee helps instill confidence in the leader and the organization
• Supporting your team when needed and helping them to achieve the targets/results create a sense of belonging in the team
• Mentoring is essential if you want to work along with the team to achieve the business outcomes and create an empowered positive workplace

‘Perseverance’ is an essential part which shapes your career. One has to be determined and not buckle down under pressure as it would not help in achieving long term career goals. The biggest obstacle in realizing your dreams is the person himself/herself. If you are confident about your decisions you would sail through even though people will debate, disagree and distract you from the path. Create a career path for yourself and even if you deter from the laid path learn from it and move on.  

  

I am sure the 3Ps will help us both as an organization and as a person to be introspective and create a balanced positive workplace.