Jennifer Prosek thinks of herself as the general of a business army: a team that’s committed, aware of the terrain and always ready to take action.
But in contrast to a military hierarchy that depends on following orders from the top, the CEO of public relations company CJP Communications in New York encourages soldiers in her force to act like entrepreneurs who think independently. The results are higher engagement and more loyalty, the author of Army of Entrepreneurs told a Canadian Management Centre conference in Toronto last week.
The Globe and Mail’s Wallace Immen asked for details:
What’s the advantage of an army of entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurs act more like owners than employees. They’re clear about the mission and about their contribution. Because of that they’re more focused and productive. They’re empowered to make decisions, willing to take risks and they’re always looking for opportunities for growth. I believe you can change anyone’s mindset to think more like an entrepreneur and many can be developed into stars because of it. I’ve found most people want to be more entrepreneurial, but they don’t want to become actual entrepreneurs and go off on their own.
Why is entrepreneurial thinking important now?
Every company is looking to achieve more growth in a slow-growth world. This is a way to inspire more innovation and growth without burning people out when trying to do more with less. I think because the job market has been tight, some managers have decided they can spend less time focusing on retention and motivation. That’s a massive mistake because in any economy your top performers always have opportunities to leave. And the moment that the economy starts to grow, there’s going to be a huge exodus out of many organizations.
How did you decide to amass an army?
In the mid-1990s I had bought out my partner and was looking for ways to make the business grow and prosper. What I realized was that even though I was a natural entrepreneur and creating new business came easily to me, other people at the firm simply didn’t have the tools, context, skills and outlook they needed to promote the business and its capabilities. What it took was actually a change on my part to help build the staff I needed.
And you gave them a boot camp in entrepreneurial skills?
My epiphany was to realize that many people in public relations have never been to business school and didn’t understand the keys to running a successful business. I started by teaching a half-day workshop for employees on the fundamentals of making a business successful: things like setting financial goals, receivables collection and profit margins.
Now that we’re a larger organization (45 employees), I have a trainer who knows the industry come in and do the workshops, and we run about six a year. They aren’t mandatory, but people want to attend because it can make them more successful in what they do. Employees say they appreciate that we’re teaching them something beyond their essential job skills and it helps them see new possibilities.
What can any organization do to encourage entrepreneurial thinking?
Over-communication is essential. Employees who feel they have as much information as management does feel empowered to make decisions in a more owner-like fashion than an employee-like fashion. And I would make sure that you regularly communicate about the health of the organization because we’re in a time when people are enormously worried about their job security. Keeping people in the loop cuts down on gossip and that makes people more secure and productive.
Second, make the organization as flat as is reasonable. I literally broke down walls, so managers and employees sit together and can freely engage each other.
