Kevin Koym - Exceptional Entrepreneurship

Thanks to Kevin Koym for his kind words on the Exceptional Entrepreneurship blog. In this post he touches on the role of psychology and philosophy in building entrepreneurial communities.

The Institute for Open Economic Networks

"No small group of people, no matter how gifted, can hope to manage the complexity within our communities. Our prosperity will be built on new patterns of civic leadership. These patterns will be more open and networked than they have in the past. We will find collaborations stretching across both organizational and political boundaries.
The communities and regions that embrace this new approach to civic leadership will prosper. Those that do not will likely fall farther behind."

Institute for Open Economic Networks

Sounds a bit like Enterprise Facilitation?

Well at first glance perhaps. In fact the Institute for Open Networks is arguing for is a different approach to strategic planning - one that is more fluid, more inclusive and definitely more action orientated. They talk about 'strategic doing' rather than 'strategic thinking'. But the intention is the same - to develop and implement strategy.

We would argue that the strategy needs to be to learn to respond to and nurture the talent, passions and skills that are already in the community. Instead of thinking strategically we need to think and act responsively.

Local people, their passions, their skills and their connectivity in pursuit of making the community a better place are the ultimate cluster.

How Many New Starts is Enough?

At the recent Rossendale Open Day one of the key topics for discussion was the number of new starts that the project had managed to facilitate in the first 30 months or so of operation – 100.

• Is this sufficient evidence of success?
• If this rate were replicated elsewhere would it help to achieve objectives for increased entrepreneurship?
• Should we strive for a level of entrepreneurship in a community that planners believe to be sufficient to achieve their economic goals?
• Should we respond effectively and sensitively to enterprising people as they come forward and then use their success to encourage their peers to follow in their footsteps - setting up a feedback loop that inspires local people to achieve more?
• Should we have sufficient belief in local people and their own capacity to grow to set up programmes that respond?
• Do we have the courage, patience and faith to let communities develop an enterprise culture at their own rate or do we believe that is something that has to(and can)be forced?
• Can we identify rates of entrepreneurship that will represent 'success' and then manage a series of interventions to achieve them?

As Schumacher wrote in Small Is Beautiful over 30 years ago - 'If people do not want to better themselves they are best left alone. This should be the first principle of aid.' Schumacher went on to say that there are always people who do want to better themselves - but do not know how. By engaging with this group at their invitation and responding to their needs and aspirations you can change the economic future of a community one person at a time.

The alternative approach is to motivate and incentivise large numbers of people to do something that they would otherwise not be willing to do. And in our experience this is not a recipe for success.

In our experience this is not a difficult choice between two potentially viable approaches.

One of them works consistently to contribute to the re-birth of local economies in a sustainable and cost effective way.

The other does not.

Good Luck to Peer in the Enterprising Britain Awards

The first Enterprise Facilitation in the UK, PEER, has been short-listed for a major national prize - Enterprising Britain for its success in helping with the re-birth of an enterprising culture in the Rossendale Valley.

People Encouraging Enterprise in Rossendale (PEER), the winner of the regional heat of Enterprising Britain 2007 in the Northwest, has been visited by judges from the Social Enterprise Coalition, the Department for Trade and Industry and Enterprise Insight to decide which business deserves the National Enterprising Britain 2007 title.

Enterprising Britain 2007 is the DTI’s search to find the most enterprising town, place, city or area in the UK, and was launched on 29 January 2007. The competition has been run in two phases - a regional stage and a national competition. During the regional stage which took place between 29 January and 31 May 2007 regional winners were selected from across the UK, to go forward to the national final along with twelve other finalists from around the UK.

You can read more here.

A Brief History of Global Development

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/140

This is a great presentation by Hans Rosling on the state of Global Development. An amazing video for anyone interested in economic and social development.

In Praise of the 5 Day Training

A core part of the way we teach communities Enterprise Facilitation is a 5 day training programme taken by the Facilitator and up to 12 of their panel members. The training provides a solid foundation for the practice of Enterprise Facilitation and really helps to build a strong local panel of management.

In the Sirolli folklore the 5 Day Training is sometimes referred to as Bootcamp - making it sound like some sort of militaristic passage of rites. This not the case at all - as I hope this feedback from a recent training makes clear.

"The course was quite simply a joy to participate in as a Panel member. I felt right from the start that Ned set the standards high in a gentle, yet authoritative style with good natured humour which immediately put all of us at ease. I was amazed at how quickly he got all participants to open up so quickly, which is not easy for Scottish people especially the men in the group who were really relaxed with him.

The materials were excellent, well chosen, intelligent and interesting and set the tone of the course with a refreshingly different start which had a remarkable effect on the group. (I watched people reading the materials and I could see their eyes light up as they absorbed the knowledge taking care to get the right meaning across as they prepared their mini lectures). I enjoyed hearing all of the inputs to the day and left day 1 with a new perspective on my own thoughts and although day 2 was a re-hash of all that I had read before – it was amazing how much I learned again by listening in a different way than I had done in the past.

Days 3 and 4 were a great insight into people struggling with their dreams and aspirations and I felt truly humbled by the trust that they gave us – which could not have been easy for them in our close-knit community.

Ned’s skills as a course facilitator were astounding and the back up of the differing styles of Nancy, Linda and Mike – all offering varied insights and their own experience of Enterprise Facilitation worked really well. I liked the team approach with different tasks assigned to each one of them.

I think we would all agree that the Friday was an amazing day – I think we experienced every positive human emotion that is possible to feel – we laughed, we cried and our hearts were deeply touched and what was left was a warm glow of human understanding and a feeling that now –anything is possible. So THANK-YOU all so very much for a wonderful life enhancing experience which I will never forget."

“The training was useful, interesting, and enjoyable. It was a great opportunity to get to know the panel members better and our Facilitator.

My learning style is about active engagement and reflection so I enjoyed the interactive nature of the course. I thought the reading activities were very useful and I’m looking forward to reading the ones I missed and revisiting others. The most memorable quote for me was: “Self interest rightfully understood”, so pertinent.

The practical workshops with clients were great. A truly insightful experience and good for developing understanding of the enterprise Facilitator’s role.

I thought the three trainers were excellent their skills as trainers and facilitation made the week enjoyable as well as valuable. They were effective, yet compassionate; Focused, yet positive; friendly yet still objective.”

“At the start of the week I said that I did not expect to be surprised by the week. That was not to say I would not learn anything, but I did not expect that I would meet anything surprising. Since I encountered Ernesto a couple years back the overriding philosophy of enterprise facilitation has seemed to me to fit perfectly with my belief system.

However, with no business experience myself, I had not expected the strength of feeling that the folks who want to start their own business have.

I have really enjoyed the mixture of activities that we’ve gone through- discussion, reading, practical; well mixed and balanced. I’ve really enjoyed meeting my fellow panel members and getting to know them and it has been a joy to have three such enthusiastic, skilled and relaxed facilitators for one week.”

“The first two days were quite heavy going though I cannot see anyway they could be anything but. The readings were very helpful and helped concentrate the mind on the task of the week. I particularly enjoyed the participative nature of the training. The analytical tools were for me what I had anticipated as being the central issue, But discovered that this is just one part albeit a most important one. I found Ned, Nancy and Linda’s enthusiasm and energy invigorating and they brought fun and joy to the course.

I was a little confused as to why there was so many of us carrying out the training but was sure it would become clear and it did very quickly.

In conclusion, the course has been superb, leading to my understanding of the essence of Sirolli.”

The (course) leaders quickly established a relaxed but controlled environment where participants felt confident to express themselves and unrushed, yet were guided to ensure schedules were adhered to and sessions did not over-run. A group rapport was formed, and the atmosphere was positive and encouraging throughout.
Feedback each morning reinforced the previous day’s learning, allowed participants to give others fresh viewpoints of the material, and to clarify anything they might have felt unsure about on reflection. Although some academic rigor was demanded most of the time, a lighthearted friendly atmosphere was maintained.

The basic concepts of the training were very simple, but were explored through various methods to re-present them from a variety of viewpoints, or in different contexts to draw out the subtleties of their meaning and application.

The choice of material (eg in the readings) and varied activities (reading/interviewing/discussion, etc.) was excellent and kept the participants’ attention level high.

There was a danger that participants would feel “I know it already” and that the ideas were too obvious, but the presentation ensured that the concepts were explored deeply enough to keep up interest either by making participants check the correctness of their prior knowledge, or realize that there were aspects they had not appreciated.

I valued the clear explanation of the objective of the course for panel members, making it clear that my presence was justified, and not just peripheral (to the main purpose of training the facilitator). Although I think I appreciate the main thrust of the various basic points about facilitation, the course gave me time and focused my attention on these so I can not feel more confident and I appreciate them and understand them correctly. On at least some points of course, I think I was guided to a better understanding or even corrected. (for example on the particular intentions of the “brainstorming”.)

My congratulations to the presenting team for their efforts.”

"I liked framing of each day.

Really appreciated the degree of practice and positive feedback.

Appreciated the panel being there.

I liked the pace overall.

I was simply surprised by the panel’s member’s understanding and greatly encouraged by the way everyone was brought along the path.

I started with no questions just an open mind. I feel that I have soaked up so much. I appreciated the “actual experience shared by Ned, Linda, and Nancy. I look forward to connecting with you again.”

"The five day course provided to be a thorough explanation of the background, theory and implementation of Sirolli’s original insights, the ‘Trinity of Management’, the ‘two legs of economic development’. The practical interviewing and reviewing of real potential clients was interesting, informative, and exhausting, and the efficiency of the rules and methods of brainstorming was a revelation. I was left realizing just hoe much time is wasted in other brainstorming techniques.

The network of resources and person centered approach to clients was amply expounded by the four-strong team of experts giving the course. The ratio of trainers to trainees was impressive in itself, with the tone of the course being light-hearted and keenly purposeful at the same time. The course was reinforcing for the panel where they had already had basic training and informing where they had not. For our newly-employed Enterprise Facilitator, the informing was augmented by the network and client “seeding” which occurred deliberately in the carefully casual atmosphere

The sessions came across as well planned, with quality reading material and videos. The trainers’ enthusiasm was undeniable, and all questions were answered well. The choice of Training rooms was admirable, as was the catering. I would definitely recommend this course to others, and exhort that it be made available to more panel members at a later date."