{"id":1346,"date":"2010-01-14T08:45:43","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T08:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localenterprise.wordpress.com\/?p=921"},"modified":"2010-01-14T08:45:43","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T08:45:43","slug":"enterprise-development-needs-a-very-different-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2010\/01\/14\/enterprise-development-needs-a-very-different-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Enterprise Development Needs a Very Different Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

If we are serious about developing more enterprising individuals and communities, rather than managing the outputs that most enterprise funders are looking for (start\u00a0ups and VAT registrations), we need to concern ourselves with the development of\u00a0self-interest\u00a0and the accrual of power through organisation, association, collaboration and the acquisition of ‘knowhow’. \u00a0 We are in the realms of person centred facilitation, community development and education. \u00a0Not business planning. \u00a0This requires an enormous shift both in what we do, and how we do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Helping people to clarify their\u00a0self-interest\u00a0and find the power to pursue it requires very different structures and processes to those that we currently\u00a0use to develop enterprise. It is not about setting up a business. \u00a0It is not about experiencing ‘Industry Days’ at school or attending ‘Enterprise’ Conferences with (not so) secret millionaires, dragons and ministers. \u00a0It is not about Catalyst Centres and managed workspaces (although these might be useful for the small percentage of people who choose\u00a0entrepreneurship\u00a0as the most\u00a0appropriate\u00a0way to express their enterprising souls).<\/span><\/p>\n

It is about engaging in a dynamic and continuous\u00a0reflection on who we are and what we\u00a0want\u00a0to become, and managing processes that\u00a0will\u00a0help us move in that direction in a complex and rapidly changing world. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Davies Review<\/a> defined enterprise as \u00a0the capacity to:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. handle uncertainty and respond positively to change – Resilience<\/li>\n
  2. create and implement new ideas and ways of doing things – Creativity and change<\/li>\n
  3. make reasonable risk\/reward assessments and act upon them in one\u2019s personal and working life – The Pursuit of Progress<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    No mention of employment, entrepreneurship or business.<\/strong> Instead it is about resilience, change making and progress. \u00a0Enterprise development needs to find a new home where this broader\u00a0conception\u00a0can flourish without the distorting, primarily economic calculus of entrepreneurs and The Treasury. \u00a0They will have much to offer to the development of entrepreneurship – but that is only ever\u00a0likely\u00a0to be relevant to a minority. \u00a0Enterprise needs to escape, what for many is, the deadening hand of business.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The art and science of enterprise is\u00a0relevant\u00a0to all and we need to build communities and relationships that understand how to nurture it.<\/span><\/p>\n

    One of my big regrets is that so little\u00a0LEGI funding has been used to drive this sort of innovation. \u00a0Instead it has been used, often wastefully, in the short term pursuit of business startups and in placing cuckoos<\/a> in the heart of some of our poorest communities. <\/span><\/p>\n

    Anyone up for some innovation in Local Enterprise? <\/span><\/p>\n