operations – Page 27

Enterprise and Flow

September 15, 2008 by admin

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests that the level of challenge needs to be carefully matched to the level of skill and confidence if the learner is to stay in the ‘flow channel’ that exists between anxiety and panic on the one hand and boredom on the other. Too much challenge and not enough skills and the learner is likely to feel panic and anxiety and may withdraw from the development process. Too many skills and not enough challenge is likely to lead to boredom and also increase the probability of withdrawal. Get the balance right between the level of challenge and thelevel of skills and confidence and you have every chance that they well get ‘into the zone’.

As enterprise coaches (especially those of us working in communities with low levels of educational attainment) it is my belief that we often float the challenge of self employment and entrepreneurship much too early in the development process for some of our clients. The mismatch between the challenge (you could run your own business) and the perceived level of skill and experience is so high that we induce anxiety, fear and panic and are likely to experience high drop-out levels.

This problem is especially acute when policy drivers lead to ‘fast enterprise’ projects designed to accelerate the client towards entrepreneurship. This often manifests itself in a range of workshops designed to put people on the ‘fast track to entrepreneurship’. In practice such workshops often struggle to recruit participants from the target market and experience high drop out rates.

My solution?

Recognise that self employment and entrepreneurship may lie way outside the comfort zone for many people in the communities we serve. We have to use an ‘intermediate technology’ to help them to make progress from where they are at, in terms of both their technical skills and their psychological state (confidence, motivation, self esteem and self-belief).

Start to engage in more ‘person centred’ ways about what progress might look like to them at the moment. Help them to set goals for progress that are challenging but realistic and provide them with the support and guidance that they need to achieve. This WILL lead to personal development and to them learning to use enterprise skills to make progress. Help them to recognise the progress that they have made and the skills and abilities that they have used along the way. Ask them again to think about what progress they want to make now and repeat the cycle.

If we can help enough people to steer a course of personal development that delivers real progress on the problems and opportunities that face them we may find that before we know it we have a number of people who are ready to start working with us on their plans for entrepreneurship.

Engaging Communities in Enterprise

September 15, 2008 by admin

26th September, Euston, London

More enterprising communities are stronger, wealthier, happier and more sustainable. Aren’t they?

The advantages are obvious.

So why, when we’ve explained the benefits of enterprise so carefully, and offered all the help and support any budding entrepreneur could possibly need, are we not mowed down in the rush as enthused and energised communities respond to the call?

What holds them back?
Why don’t they ‘get it’?
Why don’t more people clamour to take up enterprise services?

This one-day workshop will help enterprise practitioners better understand community engagement, to see it from the customers’ point of view, and bring their skills to bear to overcome barriers and resistance to change. It will help you to make connections, get working relationships established and developed, and offer services which respond better to communities’ needs.

This is a day of theory and practice facilitated by Mike Chitty and Anne Sherriff. Mike has been involved in enteprise development for over 20 years. Anne has a strong background in engaging communities in regeneration.

What will you learn?

You will go away from this day better equipped to understand the drivers and barriers influencing the extent to which people in disadvantaged communities will engage in development initiatives.

We will also give you practical insights and strategies to make the most of the drivers and minimise the barriers.

After this day you will be able to plan your interventions more effectively, developing ambitious but achievable goals that deliver results.

Using enteprise lessons from Britains got Talent, horses and their riders and young people from some of the most challenging estates in Leeds we will help you to explore the human stories behind the enterprise agenda and the multi-dimensional nature of the enterprise challenge.

After this day you will re-think how you make initial contact and go on to build effective working relationships with individuals and communities.


	BLOG READERS DISCOUNT: Readers of this blog still qualify for the ‘early bird’ discount – save £100

Who should attend?

This event is for you if your job brings you into contact with local communities as a:

community development worker,
enterprise officer,
trainer or community facilitator,
manager of enterprise or other community development projects;
provide marketing or PR support to community projects;

The day will also be highly relevant if you work for an agency which is seeking to address worklessness or promote enterprise as a way of tackling disadvantage in local neighbourhoods, or if your role involves developing community enterprise.

To find out more and book your place click here.

Engaging in Enterprise

August 12, 2008 by admin

“If you want to reach people no one is reaching you’ll have to do things that no one else is doing. In order to do things that no one else is doing you can’t do what everyone else is doing.”

Craig Groeschel

Craig is a preacher in the US and this quote was in the context of taking the church into the community. However I think it is relevant to the challenge of engaging individuals in enterprise – especially those from the poorest communities.

What are you doing – that no-one else is – that gives you a chance of connecting with potential clients that no-one else is engaging?

Enterprise Centres – All things to all people?

June 26, 2008 by admin

One of the things that LEGI has stimulated in ‘deprived areas’ all over England is a renewed interest in Enterprise Centres.

Many of them have a very wide remit to:

Provide serviced workspaces for social enterprises as well as more traditional ‘for profit’ businesses
Make available hot desks in open plan environments to encourage ‘start-up’ entrepreneurs to network and support each other
To provide access to business advisers and other professional sources of advice and support
Community Cafes/Restaurants
Conference facilities and meeting rooms
Crèche facilities

This breadth of focus should provide a real strength – a business community that is diverse in terms of goals (making profits AND making progress) and stages of development (start-ups mature businesses and high growth all under the same roof) and from a variety of business sectors. However it is also a potential Achilles heel as it easy for the various market places that the centre sets out to serve can become confused.

For example in Leeds this was recently written about one of the Enterprise Centres being developed in the city:

‘Shine Harehills offers flexible and high quality serviced accommodation for Leeds growing companies’

‘The space, being marketed to the city’s growing creative industries includes 14 office units, each around 600 sq ft, plus spaces from 50 sq ft.’ – ABOUT LEEDS – Summer 2008

Now this makes it sound ideal for a small but growing business looking for space in a professional, high quality and creative ‘for profit’ cluster, but perhaps not an ideal choice for a small social enterprise start-up.

The new generation centres are usually located in the heart of some of the most deprived communities in the country. It will be interesting to see what the ‘creative professionals’ make of the location of SHINE! Especially if they follow the local media and buy into their characterisation of the community.

The fact is that not everyone will be keen to situate their office in the middle of one of the most challenging and diverse neighbourhoods and the third most deprived ward in the city. This may sound like a horribly middle class mind-set. Middle class or not – it matters. I recently suggested meeting a client of mine for a curry on Harehills Lane. However she was not happy about parking her lovely Audi TT convertible down there so we ended up in the Shadwell Tandoori (again). Audi TTs are the ‘runarounds’ in that part of the city. Finding entrepreneurs who want to make a profit and play a part in community life will help to ensure success.

The nature of the local communities could result in the new Centres being put behind large fences, surrounded by CCTV and feeling more like Secure Units than open and welcoming centres for community enterprise. Working effectively with local people, councils and the media to change community narratives from ‘impoverished and problem filled’ to ‘optimistic and full of potential’ will be critical to the successful development of new generation enterprise centres and the transformation of the communities themselves.

Being able to develop and market a cost effective and diverse ‘new generation enterprise centre’ will depend on engaging the right balance of different tenants – and helping each of them to quickly realise the benefits of being part of such a diverse community rather than looking for a more homogenous business environment.

They will also need to very carefully learn the lessons from previous generations of enterprise centres, few (if any?) of which have managed to stay close to achieving their social objectives as they have had to pursue almost ANY tenant who can reliably pay the rent and cover the additional operating costs associated with high quality managed workspace. When faced with the reality of developing a sustainable business plan, that is not dependent on long term subsidy, sometimes the quality slips as does the range of additional services and support.

These ‘first generation’ centres sometimes do little more than offer cheap office accommodation for entrepreneurs that live elsewhere, enabling them to generate additional profits that are spent in other more affluent communities. These centres often then provide only a handful of jobs in security, office administration and caretaking to local people. The actual regeneration potential of the centres for providing business incubation for local entrepreneurs to help to transform the enterprise culture of the local community is largely missed.

If this new generation of centres is not to fall into the same trap then passionate and skilful management will be required – as well as a strong nerve – to ensure that they do become powerful centres of regeneration for local entrepreneurs and not simply low cost profit machines for the already entrepreneurial classes. The centres will need to have strong boards that are held to account as much for their role in the regeneration of the local community as they are for the financial performance of the Centre. And, believe me, when centre managers report to their boards the first thing they talk about – sometimes the only thing – is the financial security or otherwise of the centre.

I hope the new generation centres are massively successful. I do believe that they can achieve both commercial and social objectives. I just hope that they are able to attract the executive and non-executive management teams that they need to keep a balance between their commercial and the social objectives and to keep funders and other stakeholders on board for what could be a long, bumpy but incredibly worthwhile enterprise and regeneration journey.