Entrepreneurial Mindset: How to Foster Innovation in Established Companies
It's not uncommon for established companies to fall into a bit of a rut when it comes to innovation and leadership. When operations have run smoothly for years, businesses often stick to familiar methods, even if those processes aren't the most efficient or profitable.
So, what's the solution when businesses fall into this kind of rut? Ultimately, fostering a sense of continuous improvement and innovation is key to empowering businesses to grow and teams to do better. But how do you cultivate that entrepreneurial thinking and collaborative innovation in your workplace? Read on to find out.
Understanding the Entrepreneurial Mindset
Before exploring strategies to foster an entrepreneurial mindset in the workplace, it's crucial to understand what this mindset involves and why it's vital at every stage of a business.
What Is an Entrepreneurial Mindset?
An entrepreneurial mindset is a way of thinking that prioritizes innovation, continuous improvement, and even risk-taking to achieve long-term success. According to the Center for American Entrepreneurship, "entrepreneurship is the process by which individuals or a group of individuals exploit a commercial opportunity, either by bringing a new product or process to the market, or by substantially improving an existing good, service, or method of production."
One of the most common misconceptions about this type of mindset is that you need to be an experienced entrepreneur to exercise this mindset. In reality, anybody can follow this way of thinking, from the entry-level employee to the C-suite professional. With the right sense of creativity, risk-taking, perseverance, and adaptability, every employee within a company has the power to harness the entrepreneurial mindset.
Why Established Companies Need an Entrepreneurial Approach
Although established companies may have already found what "works" for them, the reality is that maintaining an entrepreneurial mindset is critical to fostering long-term growth and innovation. When everybody falls into repeating the same processes and procedures simply because "that's the way it's always been done," the entire company misses out on potential opportunities for growth and change.
With a strong entrepreneurial mindset in place, all employees can be encouraged to brainstorm, pitch new ideas, and take risks for the long-term benefit of the company. In fact, this is where some of the most exciting and groundbreaking new products and concepts can come from.
Strategies for Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Culture
Not sure where to begin? There are many strategies and best practices that leaders within established businesses can follow to cultivate an entrepreneurial culture within their respective workplaces.
Encourage Risk-Taking and Innovation
First, business leaders should go out of their way to encourage all employees at every level of the company to brainstorm and get creative with their thinking. For example, you might consider hosting innovation workshops where employees have a chance to flex their creative muscles and come up with new products or solutions to problems with existing products.
Empower Employees With Autonomy
Consider that employees generally feel more confident in making independent decisions and thinking creatively when they have a strong sense of autonomy. Business leaders, then, should put employee empowerment strategies into practice by:
- Delegating tasks to give employees a sense of ownership over their work.
- Giving employees more decision-making power in their own work.
- Involving employees in larger-scale projects and decisions as much as possible.
Foster a Collaborative Environment
Collaboration is often the key to innovation, so business leaders should also prioritize promoting collaboration in the workplace. This can be done by grouping teams together to solve problems and share ideas freely. Meanwhile, the use of collaboration tools and other technologies can come in handy when it comes to sharing ideas and organizing tasks.
Support Intrapreneurship
Finally, business leaders will not want to overlook the importance of supporting intrapreneurship in the modern workplace. Intrapreneurship refers to the simple idea of getting workers to think like independent entrepreneurs rather than as everyday employees of the company. There are many ways to support intrapreneurship in any work environment, from offering incentives for new ideas to providing employees with professional development opportunities where they can sharpen their own entrepreneurial thinking.
Building a Structure That Supports Innovation
Fostering innovation is important even in an established company because innovation is what can set businesses apart from their competitors. Fortunately, there are many strategies that business leaders can use to encourage innovation in their workplaces.
Develop an Innovation Hub or Lab
Some business leaders find success in proactively creating innovation hubs within workplaces. With these innovation hubs or labs, business leaders may assemble teams with a wide variety of skills and backgrounds to work on new projects or brainstorm ideas. These dedicated hubs can be incredible sources of innovation, especially when paired with a clear vision and strategic plan.
Implement Agile Practices
In the interim, the use of agile practices is also critical when it comes to innovation management. Agile practices refer to project management methodologies where larger projects are broken down into smaller and more manageable tasks. Similarly, agile practices center around collaboration and continuous improvement at every stage, which can result in better products and services.
Streamline Decision-Making Processes
Innovation can also be encouraged through the streamlining of internal decision-making processes, which can help employees avoid the frustration of red tape and other frustrations in the creative process. Many businesses are even finding that using AI and other tools to automate some basic decision-making and tasks can make all the difference here.
Leadership's Role in Fostering Innovation
Of course, business leaders play just as important of a role in innovative thinking as anybody else in an established company. Through leading by example and offering continuous improvement and innovation opportunities, business leaders can set their companies up for success.
Leading by Example
The entrepreneurial mindset should extend to corporate leaders as well. In fact, leaders can demonstrate corporate entrepreneurship and corporate intrapreneurship by embracing a creative mindset, taking new risks, and testing out new ideas rather than simply overseeing others.
Provide Ongoing Learning and Development
Business leaders should also provide workers at all levels with plenty of opportunities for professional growth, learning, and development. When employees have the ability to actively improve their skills in the workplace, they may also be more likely to apply those skills creatively and maintain a strong ambition to innovate.
Overcoming Barriers to Innovation in Established Companies
Even with the most entrepreneurial thinking and collaborative measures in place, businesses can run into obstacles that may hinder creative thinking and innovation in the workplace.
Addressing Resistance to Change
When a business has been run one way for so long, it's easy for everybody to feel a little resistant to any kind of change in procedure. This is where it becomes especially important for business leaders to speak to employees directly about proposed changes and how they will benefit the company in the long run. Once employees can understand the direct reasoning behind the changes, they may be more open to embracing new ideas.
Balancing Innovation With Operational Efficiency
Of course, there's also the fact that bringing in new ideas, procedures, and brainstorming sessions can throw a proverbial wrench into a company's everyday operations. This is where businesses will need to rely on strong and experienced leaders to find that ideal balance between innovation and operational efficiency. Knowledgeable leaders will be able to implement strategies to foster innovation and creativity while keeping the inner workings of the business running as they should.
Measuring Innovation Success
How can business leaders tell whether all their innovation plans are working? While there may not be a single metric that's easy to track, there are some ways to measure the overall success of an innovation plan. For instance, consider using customer satisfaction as a key indicator of success. Likewise, business leaders may wish to look at other factors to get a feel for how their innovation strategies are working, such as:
- Resource allocation
- New products or services introduced
- Employee satisfaction
- Continuous improvement
- Financial success of new ideas
With these considerations in mind, business leaders may be able to better determine what's working versus what may need some improvement as they strive to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset among employees.
Ready to Learn More?
With today's business world more competitive than ever, companies that truly want to set themselves apart need to prioritize leadership and innovation in their everyday operations. Of course, this can only happen when a supportive and innovative corporate culture is established and maintained. In overcoming common barriers to innovation in established companies, businesses can reap the benefits of entrepreneurial thinking while building an innovation hub.
Want to learn more about becoming an entrepreneurial thinker and leading teams to new levels of success? It may be time to explore one of the many degree programs offered through Indiana Wesleyan University's Division of Business. With online and hybrid programs available at both the undergraduate and graduate level, you can be empowered to become a key influencer in your field. Get in touch today to learn more or get started with your online application.
Sources
https://www.indwes.edu/find-your-program
https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/find-a-resource/agile-project-management/
https://www.business.com/articles/offer-professional-development-to-employees/
