Creative people development in entrepreneurial organisations Claire McCartney and Jill Miller CIPD Advisers

SMEs are vital to the UK for jobs, future economic growth, productivity and innovation Between 2000 and 2011, the estimated number of SMEs increased by 31.1% In the UK they account for 99.9% of all enterprises The people ARE the business CIPD’s focus on smaller organisations

Our research with SMEs 1.How do your people practices need to change over time to attract and retain talented people? 2.What are the key ‘tipping points’ to watch out for where your approach needs to change?

What I found: four stages of SME transition Two fundamental questions for employers: 1.What stage are you currently at? 2.What’s coming round the corner? 4 Inflection point Entrepreneurial edge Emerging enterprise Consolidating organisation Established organisation

5 Entrepreneurial edge Learning through doing Emerging enterprise Specialist skills development Consolidating organisation Longer-term focus & career paths Established organisation Talent programmes People development

Table discussion 1.Which stage are you at? You may not be firmly in one stage Have you moved forwards/backwards? 2. Which inflection point is next on the horizon? 3. What implications does this have for your graduate recruitment and development? 6

Having the ‘entrepreneurial edge’

Significant business value Enterprise offers a chink of light in a difficult climate Entrepreneurs grew sales by 20% & significantly boosted employment in 2012 (Ernst and Young) Explores practices that help entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial organisations to flourish The insights can be used across org sector & size Part 1: Entrepreneurial spirit driving growth Part 2: Inspiring female entrepreneurs Part 3: Youth enterprise

Entrepreneurs are those persons (business owners) who seek to generate value, through the creation or expansion of economic activity, by identifying and exploiting new products, processes or markets Ahmed and Seymour, 2008

Talent attraction Flexible roles, realistic targets, autonomy, talent clustering and opportunities to learn different aspects about thriving businesses make the entrepreneurial talent proposition strong Practices that work Build strong brands and personalities in partnership with customers and staff, described as a family or a community Emphasis on purposeful profit Use networks, customers and social media to get best recruits Paid graduate internships are a great way to find talent Focus on quality hires (shared values, work ethic/enjoyment) Fun working environment and non-financial fun rewards

Talent development Entrepreneurs have a massive appetite for learning and development and are keen that their employees have similar opportunities Practices that work Customers placed at the heart of creativity strategies: involved in product innovation & design/testing, creates virtuous circle to deliver unique customer experience and great employee development Provide opportunities for real business involvement Development opportunities in alliance and partner organisations Treating employees as individuals and playing to strengths Placing development plans in employees’ own hands Quick promotion from within where possible

Intrapreneur development opportunities Intrapreneurs are ‘inside entrepreneurs’, who use entrepreneurial skills without incurring risks associated with those activities. They can help larger orgs maintain entrepreneurial outlets Practices that work: Support grass root innovations - bottom-up Get intrapreneurs in front of the right decision-makers Connect workers to one another – ‘speed dating for innovators’ Aid connections/collaboration via social media (profiles, blogs, wiki's) Don't forget the failures too – they represent great learning Think about and anticipate the approach you’ll take if employees want to create spin-off companies

Over to you... What are your current resourcing and talent challenges? How can you compete with larger organisations? What makes you unique? How can you further develop your SME personality/brand? Could you support the role of the inside entrepreneur?

1.Purposeful profit: it’s ok to care ‘We passionately believe in building long-term relationships through responsible business; achieving commercial success while respecting people, communities and the environment.’ Warren Bennett, A Suit That Fits 2. One part entrepreneurial = twenty parts impact ‘When you don’t have a budget you are forced to be creative. We have set up strategic alliances and relationships with Barnados and Nickelodeon that have helped us extend our reach… it was a nice way to work and communicate the value to our own customers.’ Hillary Graves, Little Dish 3. Deep and deliberate co-creation with customers ‘Deep customer involvement through focus groups, events, competitions and feedback has been an important strategy in keeping the brand fresh at Little Dish.’ Hillary Graves, Little Dish Entrepreneurial Tenets

4. Headspace for innovation Microsoft has created a physical space for experimentation and a successful way of supporting entrepreneurs: ‘The Garage was created as a way of supporting grassroots innovation. It’s bottom–up, not top–down.’ Dirk Junghanns, Microsoft 5. Go forward with failure ‘Another innovation of eDiplomacy is the creation of a shared online platform, “FailFaire”, which allows individuals to talk about failures and things that have gone wrong and share the lessons learned from these.’ Richard Boly, US State Department Entrepreneurial Tenets

Thank you! Any questions? Find out more! cipd.co.uk/research us at: