Entrepreneurship plays a big role in our society. It has a large effect on the economy and allows people to turn personal ideas into a thriving business. Starting your own business can be scary but extremely rewarding. Not everyone’s made for entrepreneurship though; you need to be an independent person, comfortable with taking risks, creative, convincing, and good at negotiating, to really succeed on your own.

Employees of parks and recreation organizations can still nurture their entrepreneurial spirit and we believe this is an important part of a healthy company culture. While parks and recreation is a very structured industry, there are still many things that organizations can do to support these important passions and ideas.

Entrepreneurship Programs

Entrepreneurship programming can come in many different forms. Leadership or small business workshops can help people in your community improve the quality of their businesses, which is great for your local economy. The less businesses fail, the more stable your economy will be. Within your organization, entrepreneurship programs can help your staff develop ideas they already have or pursue new passions.

As we previously mentioned, not all people are set out to be successful entrepreneurs. These programs can help people work on the necessary skills for becoming more effective, as well as helping them figure out whether entrepreneurship is something they want to pursue.

Organizational Culture

A good organizational culture fosters growth in your employees. Personal development should be part of the organizational mandate — sending your employees to parks and recreation conferences, for example, can do wonders for their commitment and passion towards parks and recreation. Extending this further, helping develop entrepreneurial goals that your employees have can help build a greater relationship with your employees, motivating them to go above and beyond.

Supporting your employees in an entrepreneurial sense could include having semi-annual mini-conferences where people share their passions and work together on supporting each other. Having this kind of culture brings staff closer together, while allowing them to progress in their career goals.

Fostering Passions

Many employees that come through your organization may be there as a stepping stone opportunity. There’s nothing wrong with that — many of your entry level positions will often attract that type of mentality, especially for unskilled labor positions. If their passion is in parks and recreation, doing what you can do keep that passion alive is important for keeping your staff engaged and motivated. When the time comes, they may leave, but they’ll always remember the impact you’ve had on them. This is a major factor in creating a lifelong ambassador.

Helping Projects

Parks and recreation organizations have many resources and networks that can help ambitious employees pursue their own projects. Within the many different programs your parks and recreation offers, there could be employees within your organization that can help teach or organize certain classes or programs you offer.

We’ve worked with many recreation facility and park staff members who are highly skilled yoga instructors, personal trainers and coaches, for example. This can work two-fold, as the staff gains from getting one step closer to their goals, while the parks and recreation programming gains from having a passionate instructor holding classes.

How does your parks and recreation organization foster the entrepreneurial spirit within your organization? Let us know on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Google+, to stay up to date with all of your Xplor Recreation news.