Canadian Entrepreneurship on the Rise

Canadian Press. “Over-50 crows drives up business startups.” Sept. 26, 2012, Hamilton Spectator

According to a new report from CIBC authored by economist Benjamin Tal more than half a million Canadians said they had begun their own business over the past two years, this accounts for 15% of Canada’s labour force, a record number.  The paper reports that unlike the early 1990s and 2008 when recession and layoffs drove people to self employment this increase is a product of people voluntary leaving their jobs for entrepreneurship.

The paper suggests that half of these startups will fail within five years.  These new entrepreneurs are males accounting for almost 70% of all new startups.  Although the majority of startups are male, female lead startups have shown to stay in business longer on average.    

Benjamin Tal reports that several factors are driving this increase in self employment.  He reports these being.

-          Being over 50 (this age group represents 30% of all new start ups)

-          Technology such as the internet make the process easier

-          Outsourcing of corporations to smaller firms

-          Influx of immigrants

Tal reports that older Canadians are more likely to start their own firm because…

-          Work experience

-          Useful contacts

-          Financial means

The report finds that regardless of age and gender the new businesses in the past two years are generally more educated than the average population and are also more educated than previous entrepreneurs.

Question: As a small business owner are you finding success in todays market place  globally/domestically or both?

Link: http://www.thespec.com/news/business/article/806015--more-canadians-abandoning-traditional-work-report

Driving Employee Motivation and Engagement

The Hamilton Spectator produces a comprehensive business section 1x per month which includes a section called "The Academic and The Practitioner” In this section they propose a question and someone from the academic world gives their opinion and someone from the business world gives an opinion. 

In the latest edition the question that is asked is "Can you suggest some programs to help motivate and reward staff? Is an official recognition program even helpful?

The Academic
For improving an individual employee's motivation the Academic discusses the obvious reward systems of fair compensation based upon performance.  She also believes it is important to emphasis lifelong learning to employees by creating opportunities to do so with tuition subsidies and training programs. She also goes on to mention that employees are motivated if they have a sense of belonging.

The Practitioner
Motivating people is the responsibility of leaders in the organization according to the Practitioner. She goes on to discuss how regular and consistent feedback to your team is important in order to achieve this.  She discusses how feedback needs to be random and is most effective when it is specific and describes the impact of the behavior on the project, client, team, etc. 

My thoughts…
Companies are realizing the importance of creating a positive work environment which offers unique benefits that recruits and retains top talent.  According to a recent poll of local employees some of these top benefits include an employee fitness centre, onsite daycare and a nap room.

As leader the organization I work for I believe giving regular feedback is important as this allows open communication between me and my team.  I often hear stories of employees who feel like their supervisor’s do not recognize their efforts and contributions to the team.  Giving feedback does not have to take significant amount of time in fact it should be simple gesture of appreciation.  Today there are several technologies that allow for instant feedback and recognition even if employees are working remotely. 

To help know what feedback to give I use a quick questionnaire with my employee which helps me assess their motivational needs.  This questionnaire is based around the McClelland's Human Motivation Theory, which suggests that there are 3 dominant motivators. 

I also believe an engaged employee is a motivated employee.  If you give employees responsibility and the opportunity to be invested in a certain project you are more likely to achieve your desired outcomes which will help contribute to the organizations success.

Below is a link to an overview of the McClelland’s Human Motivation Theory
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/human-motivation-theory.htm

How do you motivate your employees or how are you motivated as an employee?

Leading a "Community"

By no means do I feel I have an understanding of US or foreign politics and would not do well in any political debate with my peers.  However, I do feel I can do a decent job of leading various teams and working within a group.  I understand what is required to lead and be successful.  The Republican Convention has started to get me thinking of what it takes to be a great leader in a community.

 The Republican Convention in Florida is a reminder of how quickly November is approaching.  At this time America will be choosing their leader for the next 4 years.  Both gentleman are well educated, have various experiences in business and government.  On paper either one would seem like a decent choice.  However, even the best candidates on paper do not prove to be inspirational leaders who inspire greatness and action.  I am sure this is the case in many work places.  Those who have extensive backgrounds in education with exceptional technical skills may not translate to great managers/supervisors.    

Whether your organization is small or large even as big as 300 million people I believe the leaders need to create a sense of community.  By definition community is a unified body of individuals.  With this we may be part of several communities in our daily lives.  We are part of our communities in which we live in, where we work, various organizations we belong to, etc.  Based upon what I saw at the Republican Convention they are on the wrong path to creating a "community" and I don’t expect anything less from the upcoming Democratic Convention. 

By creating a sense of “community" in your organization you will create engaged followers who work towards a common goal.  Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors will influence your followers to drive towards your organizational goals.  As a leader of a "community" you need to understand the residents/employees from the lowest level workers to the executive team.  You need to be able to inspire everyone in your community and let them know that their existence on the team is crucial to the "community’s" success. 

Here are 3 ways to create a sense of “community” within your organization.

1)      Hold each employee responsible to the organization’s success

-          This will demonstrate that you trust every member of your team which will increase employee engagement dramatically

2)       Don’t try to lead on your own

-          Empower others by identifying exceptional leaders within your organization and give them the responsibility of forming specific committees that align with the organization’s mission and vision

3)      Share      

-          Include your employees in monthly, quarterly and yearly reports.  Even go beyond this and use social media to update employees on the developments of various projects and individual successes    

In what ways do you create a sense of “community” within your organization?