Enterprise skills session 4
Introduction
• Intro What’s your T shirt
Review of self study from last session
• I asked you to pick 4 or 5 companies or
organizations and look out their web site. What
are the characteristics it demonstrates or are they
trying to demonstrate? Alternatively for an
organization you work for, or would like to work
for, do the same. Write up your thoughts.
• We will review your findings.
• What were the symptoms, what did they display,
which showed the most enterprise? Good and
bad practice. Any particular good practice?
Review of self study from last session
• Do you think that many companies actually
demonstrate enterprising characteristics?
• To the general public?
• To their existing customers?
• To potential customers?
• To their own staff?
Could compare sites of , for example
• IBM
• NASA
• Banks e.g. Barclays, Halifax
Personality selling exercise
• People often ‘buy’ (or the opposite) into the
enterprising person as much as the goods and
services they provide
• Can you think of any of examples of this from
their own life or business?
• Think about some famous entrepreneurs – Alan
Sugar, Gordon Ramsey, Richard Branson’s Virgin
group - arguably for these people personality is a
key factor? Do we ‘know’ the people more than
their businesses?
The exercise
• This exercise is about encouraging people to be able to
sell or market themselves.
• Develops NGCE criteria of:
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Strategic thinking
Negotiation capacity
Selling and persuasion
Imagination
Achievement orientation
Also self belief and personal charisma.
• I'll hand out a card to each person and then you have
five minutes to prepare a 60 second speech.
Personality selling exercise - scenario
• There is a rocket ship leaving the planet Earth to
escape from a collapsing world. There is a new
planet out there waiting for new leader and a
new group of people to help lead. Some people
have already gone up to the new planet and
there are enough people already there to ensure
continuity of the human race.
• We are looking for a new leader and a new group
of people to join and go there in a rocket. The
problem is that there are limited places available
on the rocket..... There are only 7 places.
Rocket Ship Round 1
• You have five minutes to each to each prepare
a one minute speech (i.e. a maximum 60
second timed speech).
• The speech should aim to sell yourself as a
person with a vision, leadership qualities and
the character to build and contribute to the
new world.
• We will then hear each person’s speech.
Rocket Ship Round 1
• Individually write down the names of the 7
people you would choose.
• Don’t show your list to anyone.
Rocket Ship Round 2
• You now have up to 6 minutes to prepare a 60
second speech aimed at destroying any
arguments which may be put forward by other
as to why you should not be chosen for the
rocket.
• Note you do not know what these arguments
are, you have to try and consider why others
may not want you in the rocket ship.
• We will then hear each person’s speech.
Rocket Ship Round 2
• Individually write down the names of the 7
people you would now choose.
• It may be the same list as before, it may be
different
• Don’t show your list to anyone.
Rocket Ship Round 3
• Every person now spends up to 5 minutes
prepare and make a 30-45 second speech why
they should:
• 1 Be chosen as the leader of the new world
• 2 Why they should be chosen for the rocket
ship.
• Essentially - What is your vision for the new
world?
• We will then hear each person’s speech.
Rocket Ship Round 3
• Individually write down the names of the 7
people you would now choose.
• It may be the same list as before, it may be
different.
• Now consider your 3 lists:
– Which people have you selected for the rocket?
– Which person have you selected as the leader?
Rocket Ship Round 4
• Now we will vote or select who should stay in
the rocket.
• And who should be the leader of the new
world.
Reflection
• The personality selling exercise was about
personal projection and the ability to
articulate comment under pressure.
• Which was more important – a person’s
argument itself or the person? Or both?
• What can we learn from this?
Short break?
Role play job interview selling exercise
• Next we're going to build on the last exercise.
• Think back to the exercise we did in a previous session
about enterprising characteristics - the illness and
symptoms exercise and also the relationship learning
exercise we did.
• We're going to do a role-play exercise about
demonstrating enterprising skills and characteristics,
use of imagination, empathy, and demonstrating
enterprising values, attitudes and characteristics.
• Aim is to enhance the capacity of you to internalise and
apply concepts of the entrepreneurial person.
Exercise
• Split into 3 groups:
• 1 person/group is the interviewer,
• 1 person is the interviewee (different person
for each round) and
• 1 person/group are the observers.
• I’ll hand out separate instructions to each
person/group.
• We will role play 2 rounds
Reflection
• Discuss the differences between round 1 and
round 2.
• Think about body language, tone, volume,
words used, pace, etc.
• How much more enterprising was candidate
2?
And
• How could the second interviewee have
demonstrated even more enterprising values,
attitudes and characteristics?
• What could they have done differently?
• What else could they have done?
• What would we have seen?
• What’s your T shirt say now?
• And now some theory?
• If we have time?
Hofstede’s Modes/frameworks of national
culture
Hofstede’s research of different countries. His work
is relevant to enterprise.
Hofstede identifies five dimensions of culture in his
study of national work related values. These
cultural differences describe averages or
tendencies and not characteristics of individuals
1 Low vs. high power distance - This dimension
measures how much the less/least powerful
members of institutions and organizations expect
and accept that power is distributed unequally.
How people perceive power differences.
Hofstede’s Modes/frameworks of national
culture
2 Individualism vs. collectivism - This dimension
measures how much members of the culture
define themselves apart from their group
memberships.
• In individualist cultures, people are expected to
develop and display their individual personalities
and to choose their own affiliations.
• In collectivist cultures, people are defined and
usually/primarily act mainly as a member of a
long-term group, such as the family, a town, an
age cohort, a profession, etc
Hofstede’s Modes/frameworks of national
culture
3 Masculinity vs. femininity - This dimension
measures the value placed on traditional male
or female values (as identified/understood in
most Western cultures).
• In ‘masculine' cultures, people value
competitiveness, assertiveness, ambition, and
the accumulation of wealth.
• In so-called 'feminine' cultures, people value
relationships and the quality of life.
Hofstede’s Modes/frameworks of national
culture
4 Low vs. high uncertainty avoidance - This dimension
measures how much members of a society attempt to
cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty.
• In cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, people
prefer explicit rules (e.g. about religion and food) and
formally structured activities; employees tend to
remain longer with their present employer.
• In cultures with low uncertainty avoidance, people
prefer implicit or flexible rules or guidelines and
informal activities. Employees tend to change
employers more frequently
Hofstede’s Modes/frameworks of national
culture
• 5 Long vs. short term orientation - This dimension
describes a society's ‘time horizon’ or the importance
attached to the future, versus the past and present.
• In long term oriented societies, people value actions
and attitudes that affect the future: such as
persistence/perseverance, thrift, and shame.
• In short term oriented societies, people value actions
and attitudes that are affected by the past or the
present: immediate stability, protecting one's own
face, respect for tradition, and reciprocity of greetings,
favours, and gifts.
Hofstede’s Modes/frameworks of national
culture
• So some cultures may be more or less
enterprising?
• Can you think of any examples from your own
experience?
• Could it to some extent explain why some
countries such as USA are more enterprising
than others?
• Perhaps look on web after today’s session?
Next week
• We’ll be looking at our own perspectives on
life – you will do some web based diagnostic
tests between now and the next session.
• One of the tests the GET test is specifically
about enterprise, the others are about how
you perceive life. So there will be some self
study...
Self study homework
• Use the internet to do 3 diagnostic tests – there are links from
the Wiki website
• Seligman learned optimism test
• Rotter’s locus of control
• GET test
• Then look at website wordle and produce a word cloud with
words and phrases that are in your mind/thoughts after the
above 3 diagnostic tests
• Then produce a learning log.
• Bring the results with you to the next session! – Print off your
word cloud
• And remember to bring with you the results of your interview
with an entrepreneur!
Website with resources
• My email A.G.Holmes@hull.ac.uk
• The wiki website for the course
• http://enterpriseskillsuniversityofhull.wikispac
es.com/