Thinking like an entrepreneur is a must for business owners – but have you ever thought about the benefits of getting all your employees to think like entrepreneurs too?
If you want your business to be innovative from the top down to the front line, this type of thinking needs to be ingrained in your whole organization (not just in the CEOs office). Entrepreneurial thinking should become part of your company culture and encouraged by your leadership team; it isn’t just a one-and-done initiative.
An article by Canadian Business, “How to get your employees to think more like entrepreneurs”, discuses several innovative Canadian companies that are achieving huge growth thanks to the “intrapreneurial” spirit of their employees. According to the article, “In a world where innovation cycles move lightning fast, you’d better believe the companies outfitted with a small army of intrapreneurs are forging well ahead of their competitors.”
Ken Tencer, Innovators Alliance speaker, guest blogger, and CEO of Spyder Works Inc., was featured in the article, saying: “Before the internet and globalization, you could drive a business on a few successful market launches… but you can’t create the number of ideas necessary to succeed on your own anymore.”
For many CEOs and business owners, this type of change won’t happen without a change in your organization’s structure and processes. Employees need to be given opportunities for creative thinking – they need time and space dedicated to it, regularly.
At Innovators Alliance, we have outlined an exercise called “The 1st S.T.E.P. to Innovation”, an environmental scan that business owners can use to engage all employees in thinking about upcoming trends and ideas that could impact the company.
Here’s a brief overview of the exercise:
Spark a discussion around each of the below topics.
Example questions:
Example questions:
Example questions:
Use this exercise as a jumping off point, then begin to give your employees a sense of ownership over their ideas and new initiatives. Remember to make it safe for employees to take risks on their ideas, and provide frequent recognition for their successes.
You’ll be amazed at the innovations that arise! (For a full breakdown of this exercise and the critical questions to address, get in touch with us.)
Innovators Alliance is a business-to-business networking group committed to driving growth through innovation. Be our guest at an upcoming event to see what it’s all about!
Is your company innovative? Try our Innovator Self-Test. It has only 10 questions and takes less than 2 minutes!
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