He joined the company as a Management Trainee. He rose through the ranks to higher positions with better rewards. He suggested an idea for new product development, which was accepted by the board, leading to the establishment of a new business unit. He was eventually appointed the substantive head of the unit. In a few years, he became the Chief Marketing Officer and later the CEO of the fast-growing company. Ben works as if he owns the company, and his colleagues usually teasingly quiz him, “Does the company belong to your father?”
The word “Entreployee” is coined from two words, “Entrepreneur” and “Employee.” An entreployee is an entrepreneur who works in an existing establishment as an employee without any legal ownership of the business. Most often, we identify entrepreneurs as those who started companies. Even though that is still true, the concept of being an entrepreneur goes beyond starting an enterprise. You do not need to start your own company as the CEO to be an entrepreneur; you only need an attitude of an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur is an attitude or mindset – entrepreneurial mindset, not a profession. Being an entrepreneur is a leadership attitude of taking risks, being proactive, innovative, a problem-solver and a change maker in any profession or industry. Entrepreneurs are productive people who bring value into the marketplace.
Regardless of what you do, below are ten (10) entrepreneurial traits that you can develop to become an “entreployee” for career success.
1. Opportunity seeking Entreployees see and often seek out opportunities. They always seek for opportunities to add value to themselves and their employers. Their minds are at work even after close of work to identify opportunities.
2. Risk taking
Entreployees learn to weigh and assess risks and become comfortable with the idea before they invest time and resources in uncertain enterprises and ideas. Despite fear of failure, they take action. They are passionate about what they do.
3. Creativity and Innovation
Entreployees are creative problem solvers. They apply unconventional tools and approaches to existing challenges. They see possibilities and generate ideas as solutions to problems.
4. Visionary and future-oriented
Entreployees think about “what’s next” and take ownership of outcomes. They have purpose for their life/work, and vision for both their professional and personal lives. They can be focused on achievements, and reaching set goals for their ideas or themselves.
5. Flexibility and adaptability
Entreployees do not only learn to change, they expect to. They prepare for and react quickly to obstacles, setbacks and new information.
6. Initiative and self-direction
Entreployees are self-starters and motivated to reach goals. They know where they are going in their personal and professional lives. They take daily decisions and actions to get to their destination in life.
7. Critical thinking
Entreployees are analytical thinkers. They do not run with opinionated ideas of people without analysis. They can learn to see challenges, opportunities and even products in their component parts. They can make deep assessments accurately before taking action.
8. Communication and co-operation
Entreployees are good at sharing ideas, and input from others spark and drive their progress. They can communicate their ideas clearly and passionately for the involvement of others.
9. Disciplined
Entreployees are disciplined with strong work ethics and integrity, making them endowed with both character and competencies for productivity. They will not take organisational time or resources to do their personal work.
10.TeamWork
Entreployees understand that it takes the collective effort of other competent people in a team to achieve great success. They know their personal strengths and weaknesses and are able to leverage the strengths of others for optimum team productivity.
Remember, all these traits can be learnt as skills when you do not have them as natural traits. You will find those who have and use this entrepreneurial mindset anywhere. They are not all starting businesses, but are also engineers, writers, pastors, teachers and managers, civil servants or public servants working in government institutions and non governmental institutions. When it comes to entrepreneurship, being an entrepreneur or entreployee, it is not what you do, but how you think and act is what matters. Successful organisations are led by a team of entreployees. It is the desire of many startup entrepreneurs and CEOs in any industry to have as many other entrepreneurial leaders in their team.
By Mr. Emmanuel Woyome
Career Coach/Trainer & CEO of
Corporate Life Consulting
