My last two blogs focused on Dean Myer’s research in his latest book: How Organizations Should Work that provides a helpful guide for complex transformational changes. This last blog in this 3 part series summarizes the last seven of the 13 entrepreneurial leadership behaviours desired to cultivate to create a business within a business orientation.
To see the first six behaviours reviewed go here.
#7 - Innovation – Entrepreneurs have an insatiable desire to stand out above the crowd; they know their products and services experiences must not only stay up to date, but have differentiation to beat the competition. They also know loyalty is hard to maintain and so they are continually finding ways to make a difference in each customer experience touch point.
#8 – Teamwork – Built to Last entrepreneurs also know that they cannot do things all alone and value peer support wherever it is needed. They recognize the strengths of others and value diversity and inclusiveness.
#9 - Use of Vendors – Entrepreneurs understand their own resourcing or capacity limits, and are not afraid of partnering with other vendors to meet their customer needs. They focus on securing the results needed, and delivering the promised customer solution.
#10 – Safety – Entrepreneurs value safety and want to ensure their employees or contractors or customers are not at safety risk. They are attentive to leading trends in real-time employee feedback on health, safety and wellness practices. Companies like Purolator have an entrepreneurial mind set to health and safety, as every employee is focused on it, as this is Purolator’s number one corporate priority - Health and Safety.
#11 – Taking Risks (Judicious Ask) – Taking calculated risks that ensure responsiveness, or going the extra mile to resolve a customer issue, is an important behavior to cultivate in an entrepreneurial culture. Having the latitude to make decisions, and take risks thoughtfully creates a stronger sense of accountability and commitment. Cultures that value taking risks, also instill courage as a positive behavior to step outside of a box or one’s comfort zone – to make a valuable contribution. Cultures that instill more courage in employees also have more innovation capacity and resilience.
#12 - Alignment – This is all about listening closely to the voice of the customer and not over selling products or solutions that don’t match a customer’s current state. Informing customers of what the options are for purchase, and their unique benefits and proposing an aligned solution that meet customer’s fit match is important. Nothing is worse that a customer returning their purchases or complaining to others of being oversold. Continual dialogue during the customer journey is important to ensure customer – buyer and seller – an optimal communication fit match.
#13 – Motivation – Entrepreneurs value challenges, the opportunity for creativity and knowing they are creating value for their customers. This motivation instills stronger employee engagement and energy for always going the extra mile, and making a difference.
These 3 blogs barely scratch the surface of all the high performing organizational gems and solid principles that Dean Myer’s shares from decades of experiences guiding organizations and their leaders to create a network of internal entrepreneurs.
Note: Dr. Cindy Gordon has augmented the entrepreneurial leadership behaviours with additional examples and context from her own personal experiences.
