The research, conducted by Morgan Redwood, a leading expert in leadership development, is based on responses from the Heads of Human Resource departments or Board Director level from over 250 businesses. These have been drawn from across the UK and from a mix of sectors and a range of company sizes, with two thirds employing over 250 people, and none less than 50.
Janice Haddon, MD of Morgan Redwood, said: “In today’s fast-paced environment, businesses can’t afford to stand still. They need to take advantage of whichever opportunities present themselves. With constant change a factor of the modern world, it’s becoming too much for one set of shoulders to bear. An entrepreneurial culture fosters the mind-set of spotting and developing new opportunities for business success throughout the company.”
Respondents to the study were initially asked how much of their turnover was dedicated towards staff training and development, which revealed the average figure to be 19.08% of turnover.
Janice said: “A fifth of the overall turnover of the business is a considerable investment, so it strongly suggests that businesses are keen on developing the talent of the staff already on their books. Other elements of our study suggested that attracting top talent was the key HR issue. However, training spend suggests that development is also of high importance.”
The study then looked to establish the priorities for training and development, which indicated that injecting an entrepreneurial culture was number one. Second place on the list of emphases was ‘encouraging greater teamwork within the organisation’, according to 35.2% of those studied, whilst ‘developing the leadership skills of the senior team’ was third, according to 28.4%.
Janice commented: “It’s interesting to see that the second and third placed priorities indicate a focus on creating greater cohesion, developing both teamwork and leadership. They are hugely important traits within any workforce. Combining these with entrepreneurial drive makes for a potent, and potentially very successful, mix.”
She concluded: “Businesses need to keep on their toes. Entrepreneurs are enterprising and resourceful. Generating a strong theme of those characteristics within your organisation will set you in good stead to ensure you capitalise on any prospective opportunity.”
To obtain a free copy of Morgan Redwood’s ‘Wellbeing and Business Performance’ Report, please visit the Research and Papers section of the Morgan Redwood website
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Comment from Ian McCawley, Acuity PR
“Wanting to be more entrepreneurial is a great vision at the start of any year in business. Getting to that stage is going to be very different from one firm to the next as the road to achieving agile, innovative and results-driven operations very much depends on the company’s existing set up.
The journey begins with a review of internal vision and values, extending across every department as the research suggests – and finding a way to ensure that walls are broken down to allow teamwork to take root.
All this needs to be done before the new entrepreneurial face of the firm is revealed to the outside world.”