Entrepreneurship

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Part One Overview of the learning for the time period

From week one

• Introduction to what entrepreneurship is/can be defined as

• Introduction to Covey's 7 Habits theory

• Explored the "Circle of Influence"

From the recommended reading for the class, I learned that "Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own effort. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success" (Covey p4). This is an important point to consider as it is widely assumed that independence is best, however Covey puts an interesting slant on that widely accepted opinion. It is important for entrepreneurs to consider that their venture may be based on an independent idea from themselves, but that to succeed at it, they will need to become interdependent. The Circle of Influence is important because both personally and for entrepreneurs, one needs to know what is in and outwith their control. This raises another debatable question of what is control and what is influence.

From week Two

• Considered expectations from the class

• Exploration of the SMART/SMAaRT framework

• Met with a real entrepreneur and applied the framework to his venture

When we were asked to consider what our individual expectations of the class were, I found this quite a difficult question, as it is one that is seldom asked. This task highlighted the importance of Habit "begin with the end in mind", and proved that it can be done in practice. It also gave myself time to reflect on what I really wanted to gain from the elective, and I set myself a goal to work towards. The SMART/SMAaRT framework was extremely interesting. I had never considered that goal setting could be so in-depth, and this framework has the potential to change the way I set my goals. It was also interesting to apply the framework to a real life entrepreneurial situation.

From week Three

• Applying the Covey 7 Habits to a real life scenario

• Learning to put first things first

Applying the 7 habits to a real life situation was really helpful as until then, I found it difficult to see the overall picture and how to put this knowledge into practice. Doing the case study on Michelle Mone and the Ultimo Bra was useful in my gaining an understanding of the habits. Learning that putting first things first means to prioritise one's activities by means of importance rather than urgency is a notion that is challenging, as it is in most peoples nature to deal with the pressing issues first. I understand its importance in order to be effective, but I think it will be quite difficult to apply.

From week Four

• Time Management Grid

• Minimum Effort =Maximum Result

The time management grid is a useful tool for prioritising activities and responsibilities. It allows me to see where my energies should be focused. In the class we made a list of all the activities that we needed to complete by the end of the week and then prioritised them, and fit them into the grid. The most demanding part of the class was to cross out the three boxes whose activities should be ignored or binned. I found this really hard, as I immediately wanted to get on with my Crisis activities. Realising that in business, sometimes the 'lazy intelligent' employee is the most valuable asset was certainly unexpected. It showed that minimum effort can often achieve maximum result. I had always viewed laziness as a negative attribute, but now I see that it may have its advantages.

Part Two In-Depth Reflection of Your Learning

From the above review of the most important ideas from the first part of this course, one particular idea stands out. In week two, learning about goals, and specifically the SMART/SMAaRT framework has really had an effect on me. I had always presumed that I had quite definite goals and objectives set for myself, but on learning about the worth and role of goals, I found that some of them were not as important or well developed as I had first thought, and that they were really rather general ideas of where I want to be. I feel that this idea has the most potential to enhance my personal effectiveness in all aspects of my life.

The framework has two sides SMART and SMAaRT. SMART is an objective approach to goal setting is based around the idea that goals have to be

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time scaled

to be useful and effective. However, many plans or goals, which follow this structure, still fail. Consider, for example, driving on the motorway. There are often signs depicting that road maintenance will finish on a certain date. Many times (even most times) this date will have passed already. The works may have followed the principles of SMART to the latter, but still has failed. This may have been due to factors outwith the contractors control (such as bad weather) or it may have been due to a failure on one element of SMART (such as an unrealistic time scale).

However, the vast majority of plans fail due to the fact that not all stages have been aligned with ALL aspects of the operation. Therefore, it is necessary to consider SMART with different dimensions. This is where SMAaRT becomes applicable. It is a subjective outlook on goals, where SMART is an objective approach. This subjective approach considers that goals should be

Simple

Meaningful

As if now

aligned with all areas of life

Responsible for all involved

Towards what you want

to be effective. This applies on a personal level. I feel that for my personal circumstances, the subjective approach is more influential and applicable. Let us consider each element.

Simple the execution of the goal may not be simple but the idea itself must be.

Meaningful the goal should be meaningful to you, not to a colleague, friend, parent or any other person

As if now if the goal had already been achieved, what would be its effect? This element is about visualising your goal

Aligned with all aspects of your life does the goal fit in around everything else, or does everything else fit in around the goal? If the goal were achieved would it have a detrimental effect on any other aspect of your life?

Responsibility for all involved. This includes yourself and any other people that may be involved. For example, an academic goal would involve responsibility for you, and for asking help of your lecturers and tutors.

Towards what you want these results should be expressed in terms of desirable outcomes.

There are a number of potential benefits of applying this framework to my university life. My goal before exploring this was simply to pass with at least a /1 Honours degree. I now realise that this goal is too broad, and that there may need to be a series of smaller, interim goals in order to achieve this broad overall goal. For example, I would need to gain a good pass from third year to be admitted to Honours year. In order to do this, I would need to apply myself more fully to my coursework, attendance at lectures and exam preparation. This applies to the first letter S-for Specific. I have realised that my goals must be more detailed. In terms of the other elements of SMART, I have achieved each of these. My goals are measurable in terms of completion dates, or hand in dates, which is linked to the time scale element. Furthermore, they are achievable in the sense that others have achieved them before me, and realistic in that I have all the available resources to achieve them.

The main benefit of applying this framework to my university career is that it would give myself clear goals to work towards, and therefore I would become overall, more effective. It would also give me a scale for measurement, so that I know when I have achieved my goals, and a time scale to work within. I feel that it is extremely beneficial to have a time limit in which to finish a certain item because it lets your mind focus on the important issues and concentrate less on the attraction of procrastination.

Furthermore, it would provide me with a goal that is important to me. All to often I have seen myself work towards something because someone else wants it for me. For example, I attended a martial art because my parents wanted for me to learn self-defence. I feel that I never really put my full energy into it, and I even found myself concocting excuses to miss classes. I now realise that I did not give the sport my full effort because I did not want it for myself, I only did it to please my parents. Similarly, many of my friends are at university because their parents wanted them to go. I feel that I am at an advantage to them because I came to university of my own accord, and therefore I maybe try harder, and I certainly achieve better marks than them. This is not because I am more intelligent, but because I apply myself, because I want it for me.

Finally, applying the framework will allow me to align my activities. Having a clear goal focused in my mind will mean that everything else will fall into place. Applying the framework would mean that all of the above is more likely to materialise. I would become more focused, more organised, and more effective, and still be able to have fun! If, however, I were to ignore all that I have learned, in favour of "going-with-the-flow", I would be less likely to complete assignments, find time to fit everything in and no clear goals to work towards. All these negative factors would lead to the worst thing procrastination.

In the big picture, this idea is fundamental to an effective and satisfying life. The benefit of having this knowledge is that there is a logical, easy framework to plan and organise around. This knowledge will also help overcome shortcomings in my existing lifestyle and approach to goals. It may also explain why previous plans have failed.

Furthermore, it helps one to understand when to say 'no' if our goals are time-scaled. For example, recently, I was invited to a party. I knew that I had some reading to catch up on for the end of the week. Instead of putting it off I simply said 'no'. This allowed me to complete my goal for that evening and so worked towards my overall goal for the week.

I intend to apply the framework by firstly, setting realistic goals (realistic in terms of available resources, time and ability). I will take time to do this, thinking about what I really want to achieve in the grand scheme of things. Covey suggests that we write a "personal mission statement" to help us know what is most important to us, and help us construct our interim or smaller goals. I intend to do this, in order to make shorter-term goals to work towards. For example, I intend to make a weekly plan of what I need to complete, for university that week. This will help me to start assignments early, and have them completed before deadline, to a high standard. This may mean that I will read certain chapters of a course text, or research a certain subject on the Internet.

Moreover, I intend to set a time scale to achieve these goals learning to fit in all I have to do (as Covey highlights, there is a move away from time management, to management of ourselves) putting the most important things first to achieve my goals. Allowing time for work, play and study!

If I fully applied this framework I would become more organised, more fulfilled and less stressed! Recently, I have constantly been late for work for a number of reasons. But one of my goals is to work towards a promotion at work, and this will hinder me somewhat. Now that I know about the framework, I can consider this goal whenever I am in a situation where I may run late, and consider what is more important to me. At first it will be quite difficult to apply, especially giving up some nights out, and saying 'no' when I really want to help, for example, not taking on extra shifts at work to help my manager. But, after a time I think it really will become a habit, and like second nature to me. This means that in the future, outwith university, I will still be able to fit in all I have to, because I will have clear goals to follow.

In conclusion, the SMART/SMAaRT model provides a valuable framework to base our goals or planning on. It allows me (and will continue to allow) to be more organised and efficient, as I have or will have clear, precise goals to meet and a time scale within which to meet them. It will also help me to learn when to say 'No' without feeling guilty. My life will definitely benefit from applying this framework.

Part Three Application of Covey's Ideas to Entrepreneurship

Habit Put First Things First

The concept of putting first things first is concerned with prioritising activities and responsibilities. Covey believes that there are four generations of time management. The first generation was of notebooks and 'to-do' lists. The second was of calendars and diaries. We are presently in the third generation, where the focus is on daily planning and goal setting. The final generation is characterised by the realisation that the challenge is to manage ourselves, not time management, in that our focus should be on our relationships and getting results, not on time and things. However, there is the danger that life becomes too regimented and people will start to turn back to generation one and two characteristics in order to live spontaneously.

Covey proposes, therefore, that we plan on a weekly, rather than daily basis. It is much easier for us to be able to take up opportunities and be flexible with whatever life throws at us if we have some room for manoeuvring. Planning on a weekly basis, rather than daily, allows for this flexibility as "daily planning becomes more a function of daily adapting…responding to unanticipated events…in a meaningful way". Covey suggests that we write a list of our roles and responsibilities and derive goals for the week from this list. Once these goals have been chosen, we can start to schedule time to attain them. For example, if one wanted to lose weight through a slimming class, they would put aside the time to attend the class every week. Similarly, if one wanted to spend more time with their children, they could set aside a few hours a week when they would both be available. There will always be some tasks that are attainable only at specific times during the week, or something else may prevent one from doing a task at a certain time. This is where the benefit of weekly planning lies.

The above measures relate to "becoming a quadrant II self-manager". Quadrant II belongs to the Time Management Matrix, and it is the ideal quadrant for us to concentrate our efforts in. Quadrant II is characterised by activities, which are important but not urgent. Concentrating our efforts here allows us to work towards our goals effectively, as we can prevent our activities becoming 'crises' or quadrant I behaviour. The more we work in quadrant II the more our quadrant I activities diminish (although they will always exist). Similarly, quadrant III activities are those, which are urgent but not important. These activities should be ignored, and people who are surviving in this quadrant are simply reacting to things that they assume are important, but which are really inconsequential. Finally, quadrant IV is the procrastination quadrant, full of the 'nice' activities that are neither important nor urgent, and are often just time wasters. For example, I often find myself watching television when really I should be studying, because it is more enjoyable. The time management matrix is tabulated on the next page.

Furthermore, Covey also considers that "We accomplish all that we do through delegation" (Covey, pg 170) whether it be delegation to time or to other people. He suggests that there are two types of delegation gofer delegation and stewardship delegation.

Gofer delegation is where a person basically tells another person what to do. Mostly, it is producers who adopt gofer delegation. They expect people to do as they say, and often feel that if they do not give explicit instructions, the job will not be completed to their satisfaction. However, it cannot be an effective way of managing a large group of people, because it would be impossible to control their every move. Covey advises that people adopt a system of stewardship delegation, as it is more effective.

Stewardship delegation focuses on results rather than methods. This allows the individual who has been given the task, to make his or her own decisions as to how to tackle the task, and what methods to use. People are more likely to be more productive if they can do things their own way, rather than to someone else's specifications. By allowing them to choose their own method they become responsible for the results. This would lead to less pressure on the manager, and more motivation for the staff, as they can be more responsible for their own results.

Urgent Not urgent

Important Quadrant 1

Crises

Pressing problems

Deadline-driven projects

Quadrant

Prevention

Relationship building

Recognizing new opportunities

Planning, recreation

Not Important Quadrant

Interruptions, some calls

Some mail, some reports

Some meetings

Proximate, pressing matters

Popular activities

Quadrant 4

Trivia, busy work

Some mail

Some phone calls

Time wasters

Pleasant activities

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