Q:  When I worked for Mercy Corps, it was a very entrepreneurial enterprise.  For instance, if we wanted to take on a new project, we had to own it.  Isn't that how most small businesses are run? -- Mara

A: Unfortunately, I think the answer is 'no.'

The question above came from a conversation I had at dinner one night when I was in Jordan last month while eating kebabs at a breezy outdoor Lebanese restaurant. The woman who posed it had previously worked for that great humanitarian-assistance non-profit Mercy Corps (MercyCorps.org) for a number of years and I was fascinated with her explanation of how the organization is run.

Essentially, much of what they do is based on what they call "social entrepreneurship;" an idea that is, ironically, too often missing in most small businesses. Let me explain:

Let's say my new friend had what she thought was a great idea for a new Mercy Corps program. Like any Mercy Corps employee, she was free to suggest it, but that was just the beginning. If she really liked the idea, she had to think and act like an entrepreneur:

• Like any entrepreneur, she had to show there was a genuine need for the program (i.e., her product), a need that wasn't being already met;

• She had to figure out the best way to implement her idea;

• She had to figure out what it would cost;

• And, maybe most interestingly, like any great entrepreneur, if she could do the above, and could implement the program and solve a problem, she also had to take long-term responsibility for it and own it.

What became obvious to me over the course of the evening was that by treating its employees as entrepreneurs, Mercy Corps empowered them to be more than just employees. They were able to be creative individuals with the chance to think big and implement their vision when it made sense.

Isn't that what we all want from the people we work with? People who think beyond merely doing their job and look to see how the whole can be improved? Yet how many of us have actually created organizations and businesses that empowers the people we work with in that way? I would venture to say not many of us.

Is it not ironic that entrepreneurs rarely foster entrepreneurship in their own businesses? I think most are so busy, happily being the boss, that the idea of people acting entrepreneurially is almost scary.

Am I wrong? Please let me know if I am, but I don't think so.

Now, the best big businesses often get this idea; a new program won't be implemented unless someone owns it and budgets for it accordingly. In fact, one such corporation created a whole new management system based on the idea of turning employees into stake-holders. Called Open-Book Management, it originated at a manufacturing company called SRC by a business owner named Jack Stack. As the name implies, Open Book Management ends the traditional practice of hiding the financial ball. The rules for Open-Book Management are that you must

• Give employees the training necessary to understand how their job, financially, ties into the overall business plan

• Give them all relevant financial info for the company -- everything from what it costs to do their own job to what the CEO makes

• Give them responsibility for their own numbers, and finally

• Give them a financial stake in the overall company bottom-line

The result is that employees, by not having the financial ball hidden, and by having an ownership stake in the outcome, become more productive and entrepreneurial and the company flourishes.

What I am suggesting today is that this is not a bad idea for small businesses to look at. What would happen in your business if employees were encouraged to look for projects that could help the business, decide if those projects make sense, prove it, and then were given the responsibility for implementing and owning the project? A revolution in productivity and interest, perhaps?

Entrepreneurs, maybe it's time to create an entrepreneurial business from the inside out.

Today's Tip: For more information on Open Book Management, you might want to pick up The Open-Book Experience: Lessons from over 100 Companies Who Successfully Transformed Themselves by John Case.

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