How to Groom and Develop Entrepreneurial Employees

Learn how to develop self-motivated entrepreneurial employees who can proactively solve problems and implement productive solutions to help your team succeed.

Promoting entrepreneurship in the workplace might seem counter-intuitive at first – why would an entrepreneur want to work on your team instead of for themselves? But the truth is that successful entrepreneurs have characteristics valuable to any business: leadership, problem solving, self-motivation, and enthusiasm.

So how can you develop and maintain your own team of entrepreneurial employees? According to Joseph Hadzima, senior lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management, the key is to focus on the following work habits:

1. Teach risk management

Entrepreneurs need to be able to make risky decisions in order to grow their business. Learning how to assess and manage risk is a valuable skill for any employee, because it allows them to deal with problems on their own.

Help teach your employees risk management skills by giving them the power to handle risks within their own roles, or through a business simulation. When teams can make risky decisions on their own, their manager’s time will be freed up to focus on larger projects and decisions.

2. Make projects results-oriented

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is that when you put in a lot of hard work, you get to benefit directly from the results. In the same way, you can give your entrepreneurial employees ownership of projects to get things done faster and with more authority. Make sure to specifically praise and reward successful projects led by each individual.

3. Bring up the level of energy in the workplace

Entrepreneurs all tend to have the same personality type: high-energy, focused, and motivated. While not every employee can claim to be like that all the time, you can bring the spirit of entrepreneurship into the office with an active participation team building activity.

4. Foster a culture of improvement

Entrepreneurs are continually looking for ways to improve their business, and often encourage others to provide suggestions and feedback. You can foster a culture of improvement on your team by inspiring them to ask, “Why do we do it this way?” and “How can we do this better?” Use regular staff surveys and tools like an online suggestion box or TINYpulse to encourage your team to speak up.

5. Encourage multi-tasking

An entrepreneur wears many hats, and needs to be able to work on many different projects at the same time. You can encourage your employees to do the same by seeing how they handle new duties, assignments, and responsibilities. A team building activity can also help develop skills like multi-tasking through fun team competitions and problem solving challenges.

Are you looking for trusted, flexible and fast team building solutions? Get in touch with us at 1-800-565-8735, via email at info@outbackteambuilding.com, or by requesting a callback using our Contact Us form.