The health and economic crisis has accelerated the various pressures and challenges organizations are facing today. However, these pressures can also create opportunities for organizations to grow differently.
- Organizations are faced with the urgent need to reinvent and diversify quickly, keeping the long term in mind. In some cases, it could be due to the health and economic crisis. In others, it may be simply because business models have run their course and come to an end.
- For some organizations, the challenge is to continue to ensure overall global growth without losing its ability to empower their local operations. For others, it is a matter of urgently finding the levers that contribute to growth.
- The government's call to rebuild national sovereignty encourages autonomy for organizations, however, they also need to maintain connections and partnerships with other countries.
Under these pressures, companies need to innovate to grow and perform, cultivate curiosity, and collaborate beyond silos and borders (paradoxically to regain autonomy). These are just a few of the challenges. Meanwhile, organizations also need to be closely watching for new needs and emerging trends that will enable them to compete in this new economy.
In reality, carrying out the necessary transformation, and at the same time, ensuring performance objectives are met, is a difficult exercise. While difficult, depending on the industry and culture, it is not impossible.
One of the keys to a successful future is developing leaders who fit the profile of what we call a “collaborative entrepreneur.”
A Case Study for Collaborative Entrepreneurship: Governance and Culture Are Critical
Some business environments are more suited to the collaborative entrepreneur-type of leader than others. For example, agricultural cooperatives are primed for this approach.
Agricultural cooperatives are organizations where farmers are key in decision-making and often have a seat at the leadership committee table. They usually pool their resources to better manage parts of their business, such as part of their supply chain or a set of services, such as marketing.
Resilience is in the DNA of the agricultural world and in the way cooperatives are managed. The length of time to cultivate, the unforeseen climate, the inability to control time—i.e., time cannot be accelerated or slowed because it follows the seasons—all of these conditions contribute to self-control in difficult times.
These nuances and challenges mean that agricultural cooperatives need to be highly adaptable to quickly pivot. Cooperation also means knowing that this adventure is a collective adventure, that we are building for and with each other, for the future. It also means that someone will always be by our side to help and take over if necessary.
A cooperative like Limagrain has been able to pass on this resilience from its farmers to its salaried employees. It has adopted a governance where employees and farmers work closely together on local and global issues. Through knowledge, management of the global environment, and an understanding of how to be locally reactive, the cooperative has been able to build strength during massive turbulence. But it couldn’t be done without the collaborative entrepreneur style of leadership.
What Is the Collaborative Entrepreneurial Style of Leadership?
Above all, a collaborative entrepreneur leadership style requires an open mind. Navigating international complexities, and understanding business performance, both for the good of the farmers and the cooperative, is not innate to us. It is also certainly not a model we are taught.
"Growing plants locally" and "selecting seed varieties that bring solutions through genetic progress to the world's farmers" are two different business models. They also have very different challenges. The link between the two is not obvious. The ability to learn the trade and being an “apprentice” of the trade can be difficult. However, when the concepts are integrated, it is satisfying to be able to move from one to another (intellectual and emotional gymnastics), by always finding a common thread and projecting itself into the long term.
How do you get to this leadership style? By continuously learning, being in contact with others, and feeding on diversity. It also means having collaboration, while also considering modes of operation and cultures. Therefore, it’s necessary to find every opportunity to develop collaboration and take the time to understand and exchange ideas, but also perform quickly with a long-term perspective. In addition, it’s best practice to fight against being too focused on immediate results. Too much focus on the short term can often be destructive for future growth, because it may limit sharing or confronting other realities and ways of thinking.
It is therefore a style of leadership that opens doors for observation, and for integration across borders, whether they be geographical or functional. It’s also a style of leadership which promotes experimentation, idea creation, and transformation into actions. It is the undertaking of risks, while considering long-term impacts.
The question is, are these qualities developable?
How to Identify Collaborative Entrepreneurs
The first step to identifying a collaborative entrepreneur is to create a very clear profile of the type of leader you are looking for. The next step is to then gather information that is both specific and objective to form that profile.
Over the past 50 years, DDI has conducted 120,000 leadership (behavioral and personality) assessments. To do so, we have immersed ourselves in thousands of global companies to understand the type of leaders they have recruited over the past 10 years, compared to the type that they will need in the future.
According to our research and data, an entrepreneur profile often looks like this:
- High ambition, moderate prudence, great curiosity, an appetite to learn, an ability to navigate uncertainty, attraction to new things, openness to change, measurable results, a strong capacity to influence.
- It can also sometimes include arrogance when under pressure, a tendency for impulsiveness, and attention seeking.
- Socially, these people like to stand out, however their interpersonal sensitivity can be rather low.
- They create and develop businesses and are more interested in the "what" than the "how." Once the initiatives are established and executed, they tend to move on.
So, a collaborative entrepreneur would, to an extent, have these characteristics:
- interpersonal sensitivity,
- low arrogance
- developed sense of inclusivity
- collaborative nature
- long-term visionary (as opposed to shorter term), which means having the ability to take into account the long-term consequences of decisions
In summary, a collaborative entrepreneur would have a perfect balance of keen business acumen, the ability to understand local and global market nuances, an acceptance for measured risk, and a long-term vision inclusive of short-term goals. They would also be inquisitive and a role model for collaboration that goes beyond silos. Overall, they would have an interest in people as well as business and the ability to integrate into action what they have learned and felt to advance business.
Five-legged sheep, you may say? Maybe it is. But some of these characteristics can be developed as long as there is a foundation detailed and a framework identified. From there, a targeted development plan must be created that’s focused on growing high-impact skills.
Note that there are objective behavioral and personality assessment tools that assist in creating this framework. However, the purpose of this blog is not to detail these tools. If you are interested in comparing your experience or learning more, you can explore DDI’s leadership assessment tools.
Once potential to become a "collaborative entrepreneur" leader is established, the next step is to determine how to accelerate development. Keep in mind, simply because a person has the potential doesn't mean they know how or can do it.
More recently, development has changed from traditional classroom to access via online e-learning or webinars. In the past, participants were grouped together in cohorts. They studied business cases and implemented knowledge or ideas that were most often used in the past.
The approach detailed in the remainder of this blog is more to equip leaders with skills and to allow them to experience new situations outside of their comfort zone, while building their confidence.
How to Develop Collaborative Entrepreneurs
Leaders with the potential to become collaborative entrepreneurs must be given opportunities for professional and personal skill development. They also need opportunities to experience and experiment in new situations.
According to DDI’s research, five skills are particularly important to generating profitable growth:
- Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Business Acumen
- Strategy Execution
- Decision-making
- Change Management
Change management is certainly one of the most critical skills, from a personal skills perspective, but also from an emotional intelligence standpoint. To facilitate change, the collaborative entrepreneur must focus on understanding the different possible reactions to change and help others overcome their resistance to change. To do this, they need to be able to demonstrate sensitivity to negative fears or feelings, help others discover the benefits of the changes, engage others through expression, and take others’ ideas into consideration, while also realizing the necessity of the changes.
Of course, leaders also need to communicate the right information about change and what they expect of their employees. But leaders also need to engage people emotionally. What’s the best way for leaders to learn to do this?
It is a less risky alternative to reproduce an experience that is close to reality, using a simulated and safe environment, with clearly defined expectations, than it is to ask someone to practice on the job. Including a simulation into a development program is a proven practice. Such immersion allows participants to experiment with different leadership roles and contexts, gather feedback from their peers and/or coaches, and to actively think "how" they would implement their own plan to solve issues.
The next essential step is to provide real opportunities for development: whether that be through expatriation or opportunities in other business units. Give leaders experience confronting different global realities, as well as other real challenges within the organization.
Thomas Philippe of Limagrain made this journey, literally and figuratively. He took on responsibilities as an operational manager and then as a senior executive in France, Morocco, Chile, and Vietnam. During this process, he experimented with two types of organizations: the seeds and the cooperative. The exchange was meant to be informal, however it was during this time that together we identified the need for the collaborative entrepreneur profile in the agribusiness world.
Perhaps though, this profile is also relevant in any industry that requires high technical skills and expertise in facing challenges in capturing market opportunities. Why? There is always a need for leaders with the ability to engage very quickly with different services within the company and succeed in leading transformation.
How to Become a Collaborative Entrepreneur
Your personal journey is important, but having someone in your work environment who trusts you and takes the time to talk to you is essential. It is also critical to be given opportunities that prepare and develop your awareness and confidence. Simulations such as "a day in the life of an operational or strategic manager" are revealing and provide valuable data to build development plans.
Leading through extreme and complex situations and learning by doing further accelerate our transformation. But being a collaborative entrepreneur is not just having the ability to take risks and innovate, it’s also about being able to engage diverse teams, and to ensure those teams collaborate with each other to accelerate the necessary business transformations.
No magic recipe, but here’s what we learned with experience and hindsight. Here are some of the ingredients of a collaborative entrepreneur:
- Cultural sensitivity. Even when time is limited, taking the time to immerse yourself and appreciate a new environment is essential to building self-awareness and learning to act with maximum impact. For example, take time to understand the history of the country or the history of the team. Active observation and the analysis phase that follows are critical in preparing and adapting communications to teams. It’s critical to formulate clear, consistent, and easy to understand messages in all situations.
- Empathy. Having the ability to say or act in a way that demonstrates you understand what others feel and why is crucial. Situations where the team and leader do not speak the same language can be interesting because the challenge is then to create a closeness that is not only built on words. An indicator of the effectiveness of empathy is not only increased team confidence and performance, but also an improved desire and ability for both parties to listen to each other.
- Healthy doubt. Self-confidence and determination are essential qualities for an entrepreneur. However, these leaders should make room for moments of healthy doubt and self-reflection. These moments enable you to challenge things that may seem evident for an even better solution.
- Respect. Go back to the example of being expatriated to another country or assigned time in another business unit as a learning experience. It is important to remember that we are only guests. Always remember to show respect for others, no matter how different they are from you. Respect is essential to building trust. And don’t forget to take the time to celebrate collective success.
- Teach. Before the end of the assignment, take the time to pass on necessary knowledge so that initiatives can continue in our absence, or even turn into something else.
Collaborative entrepreneurs have a bright future in all organizations that can make the link between expertise and entrepreneurship. When developing leaders who are collaborative entrepreneurs, it’s important for organizations to consider the long-term success of these leaders, and not just their success in the short term. But organizations also can’t forget how important it is that its collaborative entrepreneurs are also able to innovate quickly.
Reactions or contributions to extend this perspective? Do you want to learn more about the methodology or tools that help to identify and develop this type of leader? Please do not hesitate to contact Thomas Philippe or Laurence Pintenat.
Thomas Philippe has been an employee of the Limagrain Group for 22 years. After 13 years in the international world, he has regained the Auvergne and the heart of the Group by joining his parent company, the Cooperative, in 2020. Weaving bonds of understanding between cultures, maintaining and supporting people towards the development of a pragmatic long-term vision, and cultivating perseverance in service of the collective result is what drives him on a daily basis.
Based in DDI's Paris office, Laurence Pintenat works with international companies. She supports them in defining and implementing their leadership strategy through solutions that support both the professional and personal aspects. Outside of work, she has a passion for contemporary dance, performing on stage every year. One of her mottos: "Movement is life" (whether fast or slow, large or small, physical or intellectual). If you have questions or would like to exchange ideas for setting your leaders or managers in motion to support your strategic and cultural priorities, contact Laurence directly at laurence.pintenat@ddiworld.com
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