The Entrepreneurial Leader: Making a Meaningful Impact

Entrepreneurial leadership isn’t limited to start-up founders and business owners. It can be adopted by managers in all types of organisations, regardless of size or sector.

Entrepreneurial leadership involves combining traditional leadership skills with entrepreneurial thinking and ways of working, with a focus on innovation, adaptability and growth.   

By applying entrepreneurial thinking, leaders can help organisations maximise opportunities, adapt quickly to change or challenges, and achieve great results.

Organisations that hire or develop entrepreneurial leaders often have greater resilience, more sustainable growth and higher team morale.

What are the characteristics of an entrepreneurial leader?

Entrepreneurial leaders aren’t happy to just tick boxes and do the bare minimum. They believe things can be better and have a desire to make a meaningful impact through their work.

Making meaningful impact doesn’t have to be about changing the world. It can be about helping colleagues achieve their full potential or delivering exceptional quality to customers and clients. You can have meaningful impact on the local community by creating more jobs or supporting small charities.

When you want to make meaningful impact, your work has a purpose. Entrepreneurial leaders are driven by that purpose.

Inspiring

Entrepreneurial leaders inspire others with their passion and drive. They share their vision and give their colleagues purpose. They make team members feel valued and get everyone working towards the same goal. This can improve team morale, employee engagement, and productivity.

Collaborative

Entrepreneurial leaders can accomplish a lot by themselves, but they value relationships and teamwork. They work collaboratively, always looking for people they can learn from as well as people they can offer support to.

Customer-focused

Entrepreneurial leaders have a people-first mindset which benefits both employees and customers. An entrepreneurial leader is adept at understanding customer needs and consistently strives to meet those needs.

Innovative

Companies that don’t innovate will fall behind. They will gradually lose employees and customers to their competitors. The best leaders understand this and are always looking for ways to improve, innovate and maximise results. They are creative and curious, and they aren’t afraid to try new things.

Good communicators

Being an effective communicator is a crucial skill for any type of leader. You need to be able to communicate the vision and goals to your team. An entrepreneurial leader can inspire and persuade, but they can also listen to the needs of their teams and their customers.

Self-assured

Entrepreneurial leaders are confident and assertive. They are open to risk-taking and aren’t afraid to make tough decisions. They can adapt and adjust to change quickly and capitalise on opportunities. 

Effective problem solvers

An entrepreneurial leader can stay calm and rational when faced with challenges or adversity. They are able to apply strategic thinking, solve problems effectively, and learn from mistakes so they can move forward. They are resourceful, resilient, and adaptable.  

How to be a more entrepreneurial leader

Being an entrepreneurial leader requires having a willingness to innovate, a drive to achieve great things, and a genuine interest in your team. If you care about your work and about the people you work with, you can use that to unlock your entrepreneurial spirit.

Encourage a culture of innovation and collaboration

There will always be work that needs to be carried out by individual team members, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create opportunities for collaboration. Encourage your colleagues to be more innovative, and to share knowledge and ideas with each other.

Empower and support your team members

Supporting your team isn’t just about giving them compliments and rewarding them for good work. It’s about giving them the tools and resources they need to do their job well and succeed in achieving their goals. Listen to their needs and look for ways to give them what they need. If it’s not possible to give them exactly what they need, work with them to find a compromise.

Be proactive

Don’t wait for problems to arise or opportunities to present themselves. Be proactive. Look for where improvements can be made in every area of the business. Making small incremental improvements on a consistent basis will be more effective than trying to implement huge changes without warning.

Be open to risk-taking and failure

Things can go wrong, and mistakes will be made so be prepared to fail sometimes. Be open to taking calculated risks and if things don’t work the way you hoped, learn from your mistakes. What could you have done differently to get the outcome you wanted. Create a safe space where you team members feel safe owning up to their mistakes so that you can all learn from them and avoid them happening again.  

Be adaptable

Every business needs structure and processes or nothing would get done, but there also needs to be some flexibility. Things don’t always go to plan and if you can’t adapt quickly, you could end up with bigger problems. As a leader, you need to be adaptable so you can lead your teams through unexpected challenges or take advantage of new opportunities.

Be assertive and self-confident

If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect your colleagues to believe in you? Have faith in your abilities and be assertive in your decision making. If you are confident, your colleagues will have confidence in you, even when things are tough.

Never stop investing in yourself

There is always something new to learn so be curious. Listen to podcasts, read books and articles, attend workshops or conferences, sign up for industry newsletters. Invest in your own training and development and the training and development of your team.

Developing Leaders

As a manager or leader, there’s always something new to learn or a skill you can improve and develop. Organisations need to support managers and leaders in this development, but you also need to invest in yourself.

Getting formal leadership and management training will not only help you build your leadership skills, it will also help you grow in confidence, and increase your chances of career progression.  

Alternative Partnership delivers ILM-accredited Leadership and Management training programmes to support you and your teams in gaining formal, nationally recognised qualifications.

Find out more about our current ILM courses here or get in touch to discuss how our services could benefit you.

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