Many organisations are exploring what it might be to have staff that behave like entrepreneurs. Some are calling this Intrapreneurship. It is a topic that feels more at home in corporates, now so many of us are remote working, literally from home! This may be due to the ‘lone worker’ stereotype of the entrepreneur setting out on their own.
With people working more alone, could they be more exciting in the way they bring their skills and expertise to bare?
We have been exploring this topic and building some insight into what it would take to behave more like an entrepreneur in a corporate organisation. During this research, one model that stands out is Professor Hindles ‘Model of Entrepreneur Process’. We think this is really rather good! Look it up, you can find reference to it very easily on the web.
I love the way it gives order to the entrepreneur behaviour set. Stating the obvious, it starts with the identification of an opportunity. This is such a helpful observation. If you want to behave like an entrepreneur yourself, then look for opportunity. This doesn’t have to be groundbreakingly new, it just needs to be an organisational opportunity to make something better than it is today. You can do this whatever job you are in. Seek out opportunities that make a difference and explore their viability with key stakeholder s and others around you.
The second thing that strikes me about the model is that, ‘personal commitment’ comes way later than you might have thought.
Many of us would assume entrepreneurs personally commit to an idea very early on. Well, that’s not the case. Not for successful entrepreneurs! What they do is understand the business case and then commit. This makes so much sense to me. Failure is a real possibility for the person who personally commits ahead of understanding the whether the numbers work out OK. You will have a far greater chance of success if that order is switched. Yes, we still need to commit, but not until we have as much certainty as possible that the business case is sound.
The entrepreneur is a person who organises, operates and assumes the risk of a business venture.
Understand what that venture is (opportunity), and commit only once the risks are fully weighed in the balance (Business Case).
Bob Bannister
Ships Captain
