Characteristics of enterprising people

Characteristics of enterprising people

Motivation: The enterprising person is highly motivated, energetic, and has a capacity for hard work. They are busy, driven, dynamic and highly committed to getting things done. Their high motivation levels are characterized by a high need for achievement and for autonomy, manifesting as the desire to lead, shape and compete projects.

Creative tendency: The enterprising person is restless with ideas, has an imaginative approach to solving problems, and tends to see life in a different way to others. Their innovative tendency and need for achievement helps them to develop ideas to create new products and processes, for example new technologies, businesses, projects, organizations, comedy and artistic outputs.

Calculated risk-taking: The enterprising person is opportunistic and seeks information and expertise to evaluate if it is worth pursuing the opportunity which will usually involve some risk.

Locus of control: The enterprising person has an internal rather than external locus of control which means that they believe they have control over their own destiny and make their own 'luck'. This means that they confidently seek to exert control over life, draw on inner resources and believe that it is down to them if they succeed through their own efforts and hard work.

The test is not definitive and it should be used as an educational aid for thinking about enterprise. If you are not happy with your test results, personal transformation is an open door! If you want to be enterprising then you are half-way

 

The enterprising person has entrepreneurial characteristics

The description of the enterprising person is drawn from what is known about entrepreneurs; the idea being that the enterprising person shares entrepreneurial characteristics. GET2 assumes that enterprise is a wider concept that includes more than business owner-managers and entrepreneurs, recognising that there are different types of entrepreneurs, distinguished by their growth orientation, motivation, type of business, involvement with new technology, association with business owner management, and so on. The enterprising person may be an entrepreneur, or an intrapreneur, working within organisations, or the voluntrapreneur who sets up and leads voluntary projects in the community. An enterprising tendency is defined as the tendency to start up and manage projects.

 

 

What is an enterprising person?

The description of the enterprising person is drawn from what is known about entrepreneurs; the idea being that the enterprising person shares entrepreneurial characteristics. Just as there are different types of entrepreneurs, distinguished by their growth orientation, motivation, type of business, involvement with new technology, association with business owner management, and so on, there are different enterprising people. An enterprising tendency is defined as the tendency to start up and manage projects. The most enterprising people set up projects more frequently; set up more innovative projects; and are more growth-oriented, which means that they have to be opportunistic and good at utilizing resources, including human, technological, physical and organizational resources.

A person who is highly enterprising has the following qualities:

• Have a strong need for achievement;
• Like to be in charge;
• Seek opportunities and use resources to achieve plans;
• Believe that they possess or can gain the qualities to be successful;
• Are innovative and willing to take a calculated risk.

What is a high need for achievement?

The enterprising person is highly motivated, energetic, and has a capacity for hard work. They are busy, driven, dynamic and highly committed to getting things done. Their high motivation levels are characterised by a high need for achievement, manifesting as the desire to lead, shape and compete projects.

A person with a high need for achievement has the following qualities:

• An orientation towards the future;
• Reliance on own ability;
• An optimistic rather than a pessimistic outlook;
• A strong task orientation;
• Effective time management;
• Results-oriented with yourself and others;
• Restlessness, driven and energetic;
• Opinionated in defence of ideas and views;
• Determination to ensure that objectives are met even when difficulties arise;
• Responsible and persistent in pursuit of aims;
• Oriented towards challenging but realistic goals;
• Willingness to work long and hard when necessary to complete tasks.

What is a high need for autonomy?

The enterprising person is highly motivated, energetic, likes to lead, shape and do things their way. They are independent, driven, dynamic and may have to be number one or work solo.

A person with a high need for autonomy has the following qualities:

• Independence, preferring to work alone, especially if they cannot be top dog;
• Self expressive, feeling a strongly need to do their own thing their way, rather than work on other people's projects;
• Individualistic and unresponsive to group pressure;
• Leadership, preferring to be in charge and disliking taking orders;
• Unconventional, and prepared to stand out as being different to others;
• Opinionated, having to say what they think and make up their own mind about issues;
• Determination, strong willed and stubborn about their interests.

What is creative tendency?

The enterprising person is restless with ideas, has an imaginative approach to solving problems, and tends to see life in a different way to others. Their innovative tendency and need for achievement helps them to develop ideas to create new products and processes, for example new technologies, businesses, projects, organisations, comedy and artistic outputs.

A person with a creative tendency has the following qualities:

• Imaginative, inventive or innovative tendency to come up with new ideas;
• Intuition, being able to synthesis ideas and knowledge, and make good guesses when necessary;
• Change-orientation, preferring novelty, change and challenges with a dislike of being locked into routines;
• Versatile and able to draw on personal resources for projects or problem solving;
• Curious and interested in new ideas.

If you have an inventive idea that you would like to take forward, a tool developed by the author as part of the EU-funded 'U-Stir' project may be of interest. Growth-oriented enterprises tend to be very innovative, so if you have an enterprise and would like to assess how innovative it is, try the Open2-Innov8ion rating tool.

What is calculated risk-taking?

The enterprising person is opportunistic and seeks information and expertise to evaluate if it is worth pursuing the opportunity which will usually involve some risk.

A calculated risk-taker has the following qualities:

• Decisive, being able to act on incomplete information and good at judging when incomplete information is sufficient for action;
• Self-awareness with the ability to accurately assessing their own capability;
• Analytical, being good at evaluating the likely benefits against the likely costs of actions;
• Goal-oriented, setting themselves challenging but attainable goals;
• Effective information management using information to calculate the probability that their actions will be successful.

What is an internal locus of control?

The enterprising person has an internal rather than external locus of control which means that they believe you have control over own destiny and make their own 'luck'. This means that they confidently seek to exert control over life, draw on inner resources and believe that it is down to them if they succeed through their own efforts and hard work.

A person who has an internal locus of control has the following qualities:

• Opportunistic, seeking and taking advantage of opportunities;
• Self-confidence with the belief that they have control over their destiny and make their own luck, rather than being controlled by fate;
• Proactive, taking personal responsibility to navigate the problems that arise to achieve success on their terms;
• Determination and express a strong willed control over life;
• Self-belief, equating the results achieved with the effort made.