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Enterprise Professionals Missing the Point?

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I am amazed by the wonderful work done by so many enterprise professionals that is not:

  • recognised
  • valued, or
  • paid for

Sometimes the only things that seems to count in the world of the Enterprise Professional are:

  • businesses started/expanded/retained
  • jobs created/retained
  • GVA (Gross value added)
  • Percentage of people who have ‘thought about’ starting a business/going self employed
  • numbers engaged in 6 hours (or more) of training

Sometimes even obviously important measures are no longer tracked because they are not directly called for in the policy frameworks within which enterprise work is commissioned and delivered.  These include measures such as the survival rates of the new businesses and also the number of people who thoroughly investigate a business idea and then decide to walk away from it because it is not ‘right’ for them at this time.  These are the clients who put their enterprise dreams ‘on hold’.  It is likely that they will have learned a lot about enterprise on the journey and they will often return with a better business idea after a while.  They will have got the enterprise bug and should certainly be counted as successes.  By putting the ‘dream on hold’ they have almost certainly been saved from future misery and debt.  It is ‘dreams on hold’ clients that we should really be counting as the percentage of the population who have really thought about enterprise.

Failure to collect data on survival rates can lead to an increase in poor start-ups destined to struggle or fail, often leaving a trail of debt, despair and depression with enormous social costs.  Indeed there are often perverse incentive schemes that ‘reward’ enterprise professionals for the facilitation of such start-ups as they are seen as ‘countable’ successes in the short term at least.

However these are not the main points I want to make in this rant!

There are a ream of other measures that are valuable in both social and economic terms that many enterprise professionals fail to track and remain unrecognised.  These often relate to the development of social capital in the course of the enterprise journey.  Tracking social capital or social return on investment is not a massively difficult task – but it does need some planning.

The kind of indicators that could be tracked  and reported on by enterprise professionals include:

  • number of social groups belonged to and frequency and intensity of involvement
  • perceptions of ability to influence their own future
  • feelings of self worth and self esteem
  • how well informed they are about enterprise opportunities
  • frequency of engaging with relatives/friends/neighbours/professionals to explore aspirations and dreams
  • invovlement in virtual networks and frequency of contact
  • exchanges of help and advice
  • perceived control of, and satisfaction with, life
  • trust in people of similar backgrounds
  • trust in people from different backgrounds
  • confidence in ‘institutions’ that might help
  • engagement with crime and anti-social behaviour
  • health gains (reduction of reliance on prescription drugs, mental health improvements etc)

I am sure that the list of good work done by enterprise professionals could go on and on (feel free to let me know any you think I have missed).

The important challenge is how we go about recording the true impact of our work – both socially and economically and making sure that the full value of this is recognised and paid for.

Getting the Marketing Right

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Much emphasis is placed on leaflets, posters, websites and business cards when planning a community based enterprise project.  And thankfully when you look at what is produced these are pretty poor channels for reaching potential entrepreneurs in disadvantaged communities.

  • Ever wondered about working for yourself?
  • Got a business idea?
  • Want to be your own boss?
  • Thinking of starting a social enterprise?

Now there is very good chance that your answer to all of the above would be a resounding ‘No!’.  Especially if you life in an area of multiple deprivation and have a history full of failure to deal with.

Yet these are the opening gambits on so many fliers, leaflets, posters and websites that hope to get people to say Yes!

A better start to such marketing collateral might be;

‘Looking to make a better life ?

Fed up with the same old, same old…?

Looking for ways to make some more cash…

Then come and meet….’

But the reality is that it does not matter what you put on your marketing collateral.  You will find it very difficult to push your way into a community.  You can only work successfully upon invitation – when people invite you to help them on the basis of your strong track record of helping others in a similar position.

So if you want to do enterprise work in a community make sure that you have trusted advocates inside the community who will encourage others to seek you out.   Most of the effective community enterprise workers that I know get over 90% of their referrals from word of mouth and very little from the leaflet drops and the websites.

Is your experience any different?

It’s all about dreams!

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Policy makers are keen on promoting enterprise and entrepreneurship.

Those who work in Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR) see enterprise as a way of increasing competitiveness and gross national product (GNP).

The Department of Work and Pensions are interested in promoting enterprise as one way of getting people off of benefits and back into work.

Those in the Department of Communities and Local Government see it as a way of narrowing inequalities around wealth, building more sustainable communities and empowering communities to create their own future.

The Department of Health is interested because of its potential to engage individuals in meaningful activity that may reduce their needs for prescription drugs – but also because enterprise – especially social enterprise may provide vehicles for engaging the community and voluntary sector further in developing and delivering a range of health care services.

So there are a wide range of policy drivers from a wide range of government departments for the current and continuing interest in enterprise.

However what few of the policy makers seem to understand is that enteprise is not about ‘opportunities’ or social and economic policy.  It is much more personal than that.

Enterprise is driven by personal and often very private ideas of how progress can be made.

How things can be made better.

And a precursor for this is that individuals must believe that they can make things better – that they can make a difference in their own circumstances by taking action and making things happen.  They must have dreams of progress for themselves, their families and their communities.

Yet so many have given up dreaming as they associate dreams and hope with failure and disappointment.  Safer to accept the status quo than to risk the dangers associated with progress.

A key part of the work of the enterprise coach is to help their clients to dare to dream again.

Seven Years of (Social) Enterprise

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Sam Conniff is a Social Enterprise Ambassador. (Thanks for the correction Nick) That means he talks about what it is like to manage a social enterprise. The funny thing is how much it is like running ANY enterprise.

He has just written a blog posting fuelled by his reflection s during the process of moving office after 7 years. As he sorts through the debris that has collected he realises how many of his (then spectacular) ideas were anything but. He recognises the values of patience, perseverance and flexibility as well as planning and insight.

He talks about how the private sector are beginning to catch on to the importance of the triple line ( i have blogged about this before – the dangers of the for profit sector recognising just how much money they can make when they provide valuable public services cost effectively and manage a motivated, enthusiastic and rewarded workforce). This reflection is particularly heartfelt for me as seem to have spent much of the last month working with third sector organisations that had slashed management overheads to the bone in the mistaken belief that this would somehow generate more value for the funders. In fact it generates a workforce that feels undervalued and exploited. Sure, cut ‘bad’ management out completely – but invest in good management because that’s the way to get high performing teams who love their work (social enterprise or not).

You can read the full, frank post here.

Engaging Communities in Enterprise

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  • ‘I just wanted to say thank you very much for the workshop, I thought it was absolutely brilliant and made me think on a deeper level of what community is all about. The book is great and very inspiring so thanks for that too. I had a lot of fun and it wasn’t one of those meetings where we were talked at it was very interactive and I really look forward to the next one’
  • ‘good networking event’
  • ‘good style of delivery’
  • ‘good selection of talk and exercises – kept my attention’
  • ‘met new people; found out about other organisations; loved the opportunity to share and learn from others’
  • ‘excellent delivery and content’
  • ‘the whole day was very good :-)’
  • ‘liked the style and format; good exercises and examples’
  • ‘built rapport and gained more info on partners’
  • ‘opportunities to network and see the LEGI bigger picture’
  • ‘presentations very good.  re-assured about things I did in the past.  learned about innovative ways to deal with disaffected’
  • ‘good mix in terms of style and delivery – light hearted but meaningful tasks – theoretical and practical
  • ‘informative – with interesting ways of getting the points across’
  • ‘good networking, meeting other LEGI partners, more information about enterprise, the activities were educational’
  • ‘liked the interaction, presentations, venue, networking and the presenters’
  • ‘liked the mix of activities – fun and engaging’
  • ‘liked the process model and the stages, Boyatzis Model and the group work, the learning from the videos was good and the interaction with others’
  • ‘I liked the exercises that put us out of our comfort zones’
  • ‘I see that many people could really benefit from both you and Anne as I have to admit that I have been on so many workshops and training days but I have to say yours was the best by far’
  • ‘I liked Anne, I think she is very knowledgeable and is a great presenter. She thinks outside the box and  stretches other peoples thinking. I have just been sharing my day with [colleagues] and telling them how fantastic the workshop was. I would like to include the others from our team if possible onto your next planned workshop as its important that we can all learn as much as possible to benefit the people that we try and reach everyday within our jobs’

This was just some of the feedback from the first time we ran our ‘Engaging Communities in Enterprise’ workshop.

I am delighted to say that we  plan to run it again in London on September 26th.  You can find out more and book your place here.

I run the event with Anne Sherriff.  Anne has a strong background in regeneration, in particular community engagement, communications and marketing, and developing effective partnerships. She joined re’new in 1996, having previously worked for Bradford City Challenge and before that the Community Development Foundation.

Initially appointed to lead and co-ordinate Leeds’ SRB2 funded East Bank regeneration programme, Anne’s role with re’new has developed to now encompass overall responsibility for all of the company’s work throughout East Leeds as well as leading the development of renew’s neighbourhood management and community activity. Anne also coordinates re’new’s corporate marketing and communications activity, and leads on the development of new business across the Leeds city region.

The East Bank regeneration programme encompassed housing and environmental renewal, economic development and social and community development. Throughout, the ability to engage successfully with local residents was key to the success of the regeneration programme.

Forming and sustaining effective partnerships – between agencies and with local communities – is fundamental to successful intervention at neighbourhood level. Anne developed and led the East Bank partnership and has subsequently coordinated the formation of the to’gether Partnership. This is a unique multi-agency approach to solving inner-city problems in east Leeds based on shared responsibility among public agencies and buy-in by local residents, including developing a ‘residents network’ of local people who have endorsed the to’gether Partnership, currently numbering over 1000 and still growing.

Anne has been involved in community development and community engagement for nearly thirty years, as a practitioner, trainer and manager. Committed to developing innovative and effective solutions to local issues, and to ‘joining up the dots’ between disparate interventions and approaches, she is an effective and creative strategic leader whilst retaining a pragmatic approach to getting things done. Anne is an experienced Investment in Excellence facilitator committed to enhancing personal and professional development opportunities for those working in or with local communities.