Editorial
Hybrid entrepreneurship gives inventors and early stage entrepreneurs an opportunity to kick off their businesses while working full time and keeping their insurance, salary and relationships. Some very successful CEOs got their start as hybrid entrepreneurs: Steve Wozniak was working as an engineer at HP when he co-founded Apple. Pierre Omidyar was working as a software developer when he launched eBay. And Jack Dorsey was working as a web designer at Odeo when he started Twitter.
Hybrid entrepreneurship clearly benefits founders, but what about coworkers and employers? Do business owners support or want their employees striking out on their own? We explored this question in a survey which closed in July 2023 as part of the Leadership Pulse™ (a project that started in 2003). A little over 300 managers answered the survey. Here's a some of what we learned.
Hybrid Entrepreneurship, by the Numbers
We started by asking whether their organization’s management team supported hybrid entrepreneurship. Using a 1 to 5 scale, where 1 is they fire people that they know are doing it, 3 is they tolerate it and 5 is they enthusiastically support it — the average score was 3.12. The bar chart below shows the responses to each answer.
We next asked what percentage of the employee population they thought were practicing hybrid entrepreneurship, and the mean was 19.40, as seen in the chart below.
The last quantitative question we asked was: "What impact on the day job performance do you see in practicing hybrid entrepreneurship?” The mean for this question response, with 1 being very negative, 3 being neither positive nor negative and 5 being very positive is 3.22. A total of 41% responded positive or very positive; 39% responded with neither positive nor negative, and 20% responded negative or very negative.
What Do the Numbers Tell Us?
The survey results seem to indicate that hybrid entrepreneurship is something managers are seeing in their workplace, and only about 30% of companies are supporting it. In fact, 24% appear to have policies actively discouraging employees from doing it.
However, the bigger question is whether hybrid entrepreneurship brings value to an organization. It certainly provides employees with valuable learning focused on creating value from a new idea. Given the high need of most organizations to innovate, one could make a case to encourage this type of experience.
Managers face a dilemma however as they may worry employees spend less time on their day jobs or that should the venture be successful, they will leave. They may also question what kind of role model this would be for the organization.
The managers and senior leaders who responded to the survey shared some notable pieces of feedback in the open-ended comments, including:
Within my organization, working on your own is not discouraged. However, this is not generally viewed as something value added to the organization. This is unfortunate, however, just today I spoke to a colleague who does work outside of the organization. He mentioned that his motivation to do so was due to his feeling valued by the organization, however, this motivated him to be successful within his entrepreneurial career.
We are all entrepreneurs and we encourage members of the team to pursue outside as well as inside innovation.
Jobs have become bigger and more demanding. A side entrepreneurship is highly likely to have a detrimental impact on performance.
I think there are benefits to the organization but at the same time it can sometimes distract from company matters so on balance impact is neutral.
Productivity has increased as well as performance.
The leadership of my organization understands the benefits of hybrid entrepreneurship and fully embraces it.
People cannot concentrate on the job in hand if they are trying to build their own businesses. Also there may be a conflict of interest.
It encourages employees to perform better.
Related Article: Strategies and Techniques for an Agile, Intrapreneurial Workplace
What About the Learning?
Only three of the over 200 comments made by respondents addressed the topic of learning. As an educator, this surprised me, because this phenomenon brings so much potential to an organization. Hybrid entrepreneurship teaches employees how to not just innovate, but also learn what it takes to do something with their ideas and innovations. The comments that addressed this topic are below:
It takes away attention from our business, but the bigger picture is your employee learning skills, improving their happiness, and you will benefit from it that way.”
“They may learn new skills but other projects may be a distraction.”
“New skill sets can be learned and implemented across jobs to further development.
Hybrid entrepreneurship may be a new concept for many, so it’s possible we're seeing the fears around conflicts and workers not doing their day jobs overcoming the potential opportunities of these arrangements. However, businesses should also consider the benefits for employees — and the business — of learning innovation through taking action on projects employees are passionate about. I teach entrepreneurship at The University of Alabama, and students who really care about their ideas do a much better job with their business planning, research and presentations.
The same will happen when employees learn about innovation from their own work as a hybrid entrepreneur. Having employees charged up about the topic of innovation can lead to much higher learning and retention, which they may use later with their current jobs or in other ways may benefit their current employer (e.g., referring customers to the company, partnering with your organization).
Related Article: What Successful Entrepreneurs Know That Sets Them Apart
How Businesses Encourage Hybrid Entrepreneurship
Given the benefits of this kind of approach for the business and for employees, it might be worth exploring how you can encourage it in your workplace. Here's how to start.
First, find a way to discuss hybrid entrepreneurship with your employees that puts it in a positive light. Once the conversation is started, keep engaging in the conversation and make sure not to punish in any way employees who admit they are doing this type of work.
Second, think strategically about how embracing hybrid entrepreneurs can help benefit your organization and employees through learning and new skill development.
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Third, merge your ideas about hybrid entrepreneurship with your goals about growth and innovation in your organization. Help managers and other leaders in your firm embrace the idea and focus on the positive outcomes to both your employees and to your organization.
The saying, "This train has left the station" applies here. With more people working from home, they have the skills — and the time — to engage in more than one project or job at a time. Employers can help and embrace these changes or potentially be left behind. If nothing else, start a conversation with your management team about the topic and find out what they think and know about the level of hybrid entrepreneurship in your organization.
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