A new side to Entrepreneurialism
I read an article today that reported on a survey published by the job website Monster.com and consultancy firm Millennial Branding – I was really surprised to find that the survey claims Generation Y employees – generally workers aged 18 to 29 – feel they are more risk averse and less entrepreneurial than older workers. I find this so surprising because they are the first generation to be born and brought up without ‘life before the computer.’ They come into the world ‘tweeting’ their arrival and find themselves in the midst of a massive communications boom that lends itself to risk and entrepreneurialism; starting a new business is not nearly as difficult as it used to be.
As a ‘baby boomer’ I am equally heartened by the fact that the survey reports I am part of a generation where a high percentage of workers identify themselves as entrepreneurial. I am comfortable with that as it is where I see myself, but I do wonder whether this has been driven by the economy… workers being made redundant and moving into consultancy.
In the same article, I then came across the term ‘intrapreneurship’,” acting like an entrepreneur within a large organisation” (hrmagazine, 2013) and began to consider the benefits to an organisation of encouraging such an approach. It may well be that some organisations would feel threatened by having individuals on board who thrive on being innovative and leading change – perhaps small organisations in particular who may fear loss of control. I once worked for an organisation who brought in consultants to teach us how to be entrepreneurial but I now think on reflection that what they really needed was to move to a culture of intrapreneurialism – inward, rather than outward focused activity – I say this because it did lead to employees jumping ship to ‘go it alone’.
But then having an entrepreneurial trait running through the organisation must surely help an organisation to maintain competitive edge and keep up with the rate of change. An intrapreneur has the independence and innovation of an entrepreneur, but also the ability to fit into the organisation, to support business strategy and embrace the organisational culture. But to succeed they must be empowered to do what they do well and be supported by a leadership culture that equally embraces their characteristics.
Does your organisation’s retention strategy encourage intrapreneurialism?
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