By Wilfred Isak April
WINDHOEK – There are a few common truths once an entrepreneur starts a business he/she needs to be made aware of as early as possible in the management and development of their enterprise in order to create a positive, productive and high-performance environment.
Entrepreneurial leadership is a process of social influence in which the entrepreneur can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of tasks for the benefit of the business. The primary issue of entrepreneurial leadership entails proper management at both junior and senior levels. This is the key to success for any business, including governmental organizations.
However, it is important to highlight at this point in time that enlisting the aid and support of other people to meet strategic objectives and achieve deliverables is not an easy task at any level.
Usually, the most challenging time for entrepreneurial leaders is in the early days of leading and managing those around them in the business. This is because of the shift from only having to manage yourself to having to manage other people around you which can be a daunting task, especially if you are very young and inexperienced. It is important to note at this point in time that this does not imply that young people cannot become leaders. It is clear once leadership skills have been learnt – the progression to become a leader of others becomes much easier. I would like to highlight three recurring fundamentals that entrepreneurial leaders need to look at in the early days of their businesses.
First, it is critical to understand that it will take time to learn that part of your tasks will now be done through the other team member’s efforts. You are no longer responsible to get your work done, but you have the obligation to help your enterprise and team members achieve their individual and team goals to ensure that the whole team is successful.
Secondly, it is common for new entrepreneurial leaders to fall in the trap of avoiding tough conversations with their direct ‘reports’, allowing room when delivery does not happen or performance is not at the required standard.
This clearly indicates that the direct report will not be able to experience good, clear performance evaluation and will never have the chance to improve, and will only find out that he/she has not performed adequately sometime later, when the opportunity to improve or grow has passed.
Lastly, as a new entrepreneur you are not always knowledgeable about your own policies, their implications on labour legislation and the practical application of policies.
This can result in costly mistakes, such as agreeing on the different options of leave available to the workforce; which at times people aren’t at liberty to agree to.
It therefore becomes critical to educate yourself about enterprise policies and the labor law. This can be learned through adequate training and educational programmes.
It also becomes important that you try and learn from entrepreneurial leaders in the industry in the form of mentoring and coaching, while you are managing others in the initial phases of your enterprise.
• Dr Wilfred Isak April holds a PhD (Entrepreneurship) from New Zealand and lectures in Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship at the University of Namibia in the Department of Management Sciences.