By Sandy Arsenault, CHRP

As human resources professionals, we are designated advocates for both an organization and the people who work within it. We are also responsible for managing engagement and ensuring employee retention to the best of our ability. Might we look to entrepreneurs for an innovative assist internally?

With entrepreneurs representing more than half of our business market, how can we harness intrapreneurship (i.e. behaving like an entrepreneur within an organization) and further grow our innovative potential.

Entrepreneurship in B.C.
According to Small Business Profile 2013, 98 per cent of all businesses in the province are small businesses—55 per cent of which are run by self-employed individuals with no paid help. Also, on average, those who are self-employed tend to be over the age of 35 and are more often men; however, “well over one third (37.7 per cent) of the province’s business owners in 2012 were women”¹.

Barbara Bell, owner of Raintree Wellness Spa and Tea, is one of them. Inspired by the tranquility of the west coast of Vancouver Island, Raintree Spa is located off the Steveston Harbour in BC and the perfect refuge for both men and women².

This year, Raintree Spa celebrates its tenth year and owner Barbara Bell is thrilled to have seen employment opportunities triple in size. Her spa though, is only one of Bell’s ventures. Before Raintree Spa, Bell operated a consulting firm Bell Curve Marketing for eight years which helped improve the sales goals, administrative systems and software programs of other start-up and small businesses.

Perhaps not surprisingly for this (or any other) entrepreneur, Bell found working within a medium to large organization boring after five years—even at the management level. She often felt there was a lack of opportunity to progress in her career and that the limitations of autonomy became more evident over time; this is what caused her to feel non-complacent, step out and move forward.

In order to delve deeper into Bell’s entrepreneurial psyche, let’s take a look at how other female entrepreneurs relate.

The Female Entrepreneurial Profile
With the help of a Predictive Index (PI), organizations can collect accurate, actionable data that quantifies the unique motivating needs and behavioural drives of employees and potential employees using a science-based assessment tool³. Unlike other personality/trait-based assessments tools, PI can also be used during the candidate selection process since it was developed to help employers comply with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures.

From a sample size of 163, Doug McCann, PI managing principal and founder of Frontline Leadership In Practice Solutions, isolated and identified several personality traits of both female and male entrepreneurs. “Both groups are quite impatient, comfortable with multi-tasking, have a fairly intense style of follow up and follow through and (obviously) are competitive, self-starting, independent and assertive,” says McCann.

However, it was evident that female entrepreneurs (representing 20 per cent of the total sample size) show a greater intensity in more core entrepreneurial traits than men, including⁴:

• Careful with rules—thorough, accurate and strict on how things should be done with a strong level of follow up;
• Proactive—competitive, fast paced, assertive and impatient when accomplishing tasks;
• Quick to connect—persuasive and participative style;
• Analytical—direct and abrupt communication and behaviours, including critical creative thinking, and technical problem solving;
• Diligent about delegation—delegates a greater amount of autonomy and authority; and
• Decisive—more willing to take risks.

Now that we can recognize core traits of an entrepreneur, especially in women, we can begin building a strategy around leveraging their drive and innovation in the workplace.

Intrapreneurial Management Strategies
In order for any retention or management strategy to work, it is important to identify a target employee group and to appeal to their needs. If that target group includes valuable female intrapreneurs, managers must⁵:

• Offer opportunities to develop her career using sound training, knowledge and experience;
• Encourage communication and contact with others;
• Provide independence when expressing her own ideas
• Give freedom to deal with problems and challenges in the way she sees fit;
• Supply opportunities to prove herself; and
• Recognize and reward her for success.

HR’s Unique Opportunity
Depending on your organization’s size and structure, some of the above management strategies may not be feasible; however, since they appeal to the entire female entrepreneur profile they are all essential to retention.

HR professionals build special relationships with employees. Those relationships are based on trust, advocacy and communication, making it easier for us to identify entrepreneurial attributes and suggest ways for managers to harness them; except, since entrepreneurs are inherently impatient, independent and proactive, retaining them can be a significant challenge.

Therefore, HR must encourage managers to manage intrepreneurs accordingly. Moreover, although we do not want to see intrapreneurs becoming entrepreneurs overnight, we should consciously support them if they decide to leave the organization to pursue their dreams.

Known for her unique background in accounting, business and HR, Sandy Arseneault is an entrepreneur, writer and Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) who is passionate about people. Today, Sandy owns and operates Acadie Consulting Ltd., a consulting firm focused on helping local organizations implement effective business, financial and human resources strategies. She also works with the Canadian Cancer Society as a Coordinator, Volunteer Engagement for Camp Goodtimes – a safety-focused, medically supervised, fun and recreational summer camp for children with cancer and their families.

[1] http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/products-and-services/free-resources/bc-small-business-profile-2013
[2] http://blog.raintreespa.com/
[3] http://www.piworldwide.com/solutions/predictive-index-system/
[4] McCann, D. (2014). Canadian Entrepreneurs and Executives. Vancouver: Frontline Leadership In Practice Solutions.
[5] et al.