Steve Reid has been involved in
business coaching for the past 15
years with four years dedicated to the
establishment of a successful business
incubator in Port Elizabeth. He opened
a Centre for Entrepreneurship for False
Bay College in 2015; with a Rapid
Incubator Hub launched in 2016.truths about service from Karl Albrecht,
author of The Only Thing that Matters:
▪ Today's consumers are more educated,
sophisticated, demanding, and less
tolerant than ever before.
▪ Customers are no longer "wowed" by
the basic levels of service – the basics are
the minimum; what you promised them.
That's why you must be moving toward
the kind of astonishment that builds
lifetime customer loyalty.
▪ We have to earn the right to do
business with our customers over
and over again. Every day is another
opportunity to reinforce the relationship
we have with them.
▪ The way you treat your people and the
way they treat each other, is the way they
will eventually treat the customer. You
can't do service well externally over the
long-haul until you first learn how to do
service well internally.
Consumers want to see tangible action,
and intrapreneurship is the best way to
deliver on that expectation.
The economic landscape is continuously
changing. Many large and established
companies are trying to adapt to this new
context by embracing intrapreneurship in
various ways within their organisations.
They are leveraging the creativity and
passion of their people, because they
understand they have to be more flexible
and agile to stay competitive. There's no
reason that you as the owner of a small
business can't do the same.HOW TO ENCOURAGE
ENTREPRENEURIAL THINKING
The following are five easy ways that
you can empower your employees to
act like entrepreneurs and create an
entrepreneurial culture in your company.1
BUILD PASSION. Entrepreneurs are
passionate about their work, which is
the key to success and fulfilment in any
field or position. If an employee lacks
passion in what they're doing, consider
how you can help them discover what
they are truly passionate about. By
identifying their strengths and those
activities that make them come alive,
they can slowly demonstrate those areas
where they will add most value. This may
open new opportunities they have not yet
considered.2
PROVIDE LEARNING
OPPORTUNITIES. Entrepreneurs
take advantage of every resource and
opportunity to learn something new,
brainstorm ideas, and get comfortable
with the unfamiliar. They then leverage
that collective knowledge into new ideas.
In your business, create opportunities for
employees to learn new skills and move
outside their comfort zones. Think how
you can encourage personal growth, or
improve interpersonal skills, critical and
creative thinking, and practical skills.3
FOCUS ON WHAT SETS THEM
APART. Entrepreneurs focus on the
things that set them – and their products- apart. Encourage your employees
to highlight the things that they do
differently and better than anyone else.
Encourage them to share this knowledge
as a learning opportunity for their peers.
4
ENCOURAGE OWNERSHIP. At the
Centre for Entrepreneurship (CfE)
at False Bay TVET College, selection for
entrepreneurial competencies is key. One
of the factors we look for is a high inner
"locus of control". This is the amount of
control you believe you have over what
happens in your life. An external locus –
the kind where the world is against you- is a common fault among unsuccessful
business owners. These people are more
likely to blame employees and colleagues,
or chalk their failures up to bad luck. They
see success as something that is outside
their control, and don't acknowledge
their role in mistakes made. An internal
locus is when you take ownership of your
business failures and learn from them. As
a result, you learn to adapt and how to
avoid mistakes in the future. Only one of
those mentalities works in business.
5
LET THEM TAKE RISKS.
Entrepreneurs know business
ownership is all about risk. There are
no rules when it comes to building a
business and there are no guarantees
of success. Allow your employees to
propose and take smart risks in their
various business areas. Share how
you have taken risks in growing your
business. Acknowledge that failure
will happen, and that often the biggest
lessons of all come from these failures.By encouraging your employees to
become intrapreneurs, you'll enable
them to start reaching their full career
potential. And don't be surprised, or
despondent, if they start dreaming
about starting their own businesses,
and taking the next step to become
entrepreneurs in their own right.
We're building our economy one small
business at a time, and mentoring
the right mindset in people makes an
invaluable contribution.