An entrepreneurial spirit is often associated with innovation. Not all business owners can be termed successful entrepreneurs. They are rather those who introduce something new and useful in the market. It can be a unique service or product that differentiates the business, thereby offering a competitive advantage.
Researchers have found that established companies do take a long time to identify and exploit opportunities. They are also quite rigid about innovating or coming up with new ideas. However, this aspect is not held for some businesses. It includes business giants like IBM, Honda, Toyota, etc.
They have managed to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive and uphold their reputation as innovators. Fortunately, this entrepreneurial spirit can sustain and develop further during success and growth. But what essential steps should be undertaken to ensure that this spirit enjoys continued vitality?
Tips to keep alive entrepreneurial spirit
This guide can offer you practical advice, allowing you to stay responsive, innovative and aggressive to changing market conditions.
1. Establish strategic direction:
You need to be aware of the present direction of your business. Set your boundaries properly. Focus your creative energies and money in those areas, which can help generate maximum payoff.
2. Preserve innovation-friendly culture:
New ideas offered by creative and talented people should be well rewarded. It should rather be welcomed and appreciated all the time. Some people in your organization may love to take risks. They might perhaps end up a failure. Avoid punishing them for such acts. Instead, try to be outwardly focused and avoid complacency in all forms during success.
3. Improve continuously Idea-to-Commercialization process:
Organizations that have in place a set process to grow and innovate can generate ideas. It is necessary to recognize which ideas may have commercial potential. Try to evaluate and analyze such promising ideas. Then follow it up with further development and commercialization. Such processes are crucial. Otherwise, innovative efforts are likely to be a sheer waste of resources, arbitrary and ad-hoc.
4. Personally engaged with innovation:
It is quite common to experience operational issues periodically. But this should not deter your focus from innovation as the future of your business relies on it. Be updated on market and technical issues and identify solutions to your problems rather than delving into them.
5. Partner or engage with people with entrepreneurial attitudes:
Make sure that they have the following:
1. Genuine curiosity with regards to customer latent and stated needs.
2. The excellent feel of trajectory technology crucial to your business.
Remember, people not having much interest in technical skills or abilities will not be able to produce your desired practical innovations.
6. Apply portfolio thinking:
It allows you to enjoy deriving ongoing projects concerning return/risk characteristics. Once you get to know such characteristics, you will be in a better position to shape as well as manage the desired portfolio. It helps you to achieve an appropriate balance of potential return and involved risks.
7. Anticipate tomorrow’s discontinuities and work more effectively:
Leaders seem to be quite absorbed in some detrimental aspects related to the business. Research conducted have shown that it is your organization’s immediate problems that tend to dominate your attention and time. Thus your future business prospects are rather treated like a stepchild. Some valuable suggestions to follow are:
1. Evaluate your company’s operations. You need to find out if they are efficient, fast and effective, and if cost improvements are possible.
2. Evaluate your present position concerning innovation trends. Find out if your present technologies, products or services are in the early perfection phase or have matured. Also, find out if new services or products have the desired potential to undermine the business.
Following the given steps will help you to preserve as well as enhance your entrepreneurial spirit.
