Business Plan Development, Creativity and Innovations
A business plan is a manuscript written that describes the way a company especially a
new business, will accomplish its objectives. The document contains the preparation of how
marketing will be conducted and all the operations of the industry in general (McKeever,
2016). A well-defined plan is essential as it enables a company to enlighten executive talent, fuel
ambitions and growth, maintain its focus and attract more investments. This is only achieved due
to the plan which describes its goals appropriately. In this regard, it is clear that every business
requires a plan to succeed (Karlsson & Samuelsson, 2018). Regardless of the purpose of a
business, or even its size, developing a plan is vital as it guides you on the decision- making. It is
a strategic tool for entrepreneurs to realize the success of both short-term and long-term goals.
In developing a business plan, teamwork is essential as teams dominate almost all the
work in an organization. However, developing a business plan is not easy as efficient
cooperation is hard. A team cannot be considered working unless members collaborate.
Challenges always arise in the process as working together is also challenging (Dale, 2019). The
essay below describes the challenges I encountered when I engaged with my team during the
process of developing a business plan (Shaikh, 2018). It also explains how I managed to
overcome the challenges, and the lesson I learned from the whole experience that can help me in
future contribution to a team. Additionally, the essay illustrates some theories that enhance my
understanding of the entrepreneurship, and finally gives my reflection as a potential
entrepreneur.
Challenges Encountered
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During the process of developing a business plan, the experience was excellent. My team and
I managed to come up with an effective strategy. However, I faced some challenges working
with my team, which include the following:
Building trust
Even though I managed to work in that team, I felt that some of the members did not have
enough trust in me. Yet, I tried my best to deliver as per the expectations and the duties assigned
to me (Honigsfeld & Dove, 2019). The situation gave me a hard time trying to express myself
fully to earn their trust. I also felt unsafe to connect with team members, just as they felt hard to
connect with me, which implies that everyone was working individually. It was not long before I
discovered that it was not only me that they did not trust, but trust was lacking among members
(Zuofa & Ochieng, 2017). In any team, trust is essential as it seems like a building block of
relationships.
Productivity is very much threatened and at-risk if trust lacks in a team, as no
communication can go on, thus creates a toxic culture. Basing on Aristotle's project, we can see
that trust was considered as a critical requirement for the success of the team (Frieze, 2018). In
an environment where trust reigns, there is respect and individuals are contented being
themselves. Trust is emotional, and it is earned over time as it cannot be engineered like
processes.
Physical proximity
During the development process, we carried out remote work as the team was dispersed. In
the modern world, teams come in all sizes and shapes, and to support numerous structures and
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means of working, technology has played a part (Mor-Snir & Golan, 2019). The technology was
used to enable the dispersed team members to work. Even though it was possible to do remote
work, I felt that it was not a right or optimal way to engage. Although technology is useful in the
current world close physical immediacy of team members is very crucial as teams work best, and
gets the work done appropriately. Our need for connection is basically just like the need we have
for food and water. It is because our social environment shapes us significantly. The studies
indicate that threatening or detaching our social bonds makes us suffer significantly. It is,
therefore, vital for teammates to connect to the social environment (Power, 2018). It is because
face-to-face interactions enable members to communicate effectively using body language, non-
verbal cues and environmental influences.
Optimal conditions
Another challenge I faced is difficulties in keeping pace with the work, as there were many
constant changes. I previously had not worked in such kind of environment, and therefore, I was
not quick in my working as I felt disrupted. Adaptability to this situation was challenging since I
had problems of flexibility (Davis & Scaffidi-Clarke, 2016). This is a significant risk to the
team as there are optimal conditions that must be present for teams to be productive, unified and
lively. The teams should not avoid change, but instead, they should create internal climate or
conditions characterized by ARA values, meaning Adaptability, Resilience, and Agility
(Ambrose-Miller & Ashcroft, R2016). The values are mechanisms considered as essential in
overcoming challenges emanating from fast-paced change. It includes having characteristics
such as empowerment, trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
Low Self-awareness
CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED 5
Because team members did not trust in me or my work, I felt that my esteem was declining.
While trying to prove myself and my ideas as valid, I never blamed myself for any of
shortcomings or disappointment that happened, and instead, I could see that others were
responsible for them (Honigsfeld & Dove, 2019). As a result, I assumed that I knew everything
better than any other person in the team, which made me give myself unwarranted excessive
praise or credit. I also became opposed to feedback. These character traits are dangerous as they
are not only frustrating to other members, but also bring about other repercussions such as stress,
the likelihood of resigning, and decreased motivation (Zuofa & Ochieng, 2017). That is the
reason that even my association with others got lost. Low self-awareness can, therefore, seem as
an opponent to moderate teamwork. Improving self-awareness guarantees improved quality of
connection in teams and engagement levels.
Lacking purpose
During the process, even though I worked with others, I had a difficult time understanding
the purpose of the team (Mor-Snir & Golan, 2019). That the reason why probably I had no
compelling reason for connecting with team members. This causes a challenge in doing your
best, and you could do as per requirements to just get work done but no efforts to build the team
beyond that. The purpose of the teams need to be clear, and team members need to be united,
which makes one feel satisfied, engaged, and stimulated (Power, 2018). It is so because a deep
understanding behind the efforts revolves around what we want to achieve.
Despite the few challenges I faced, I had a good experience as I was able to get through by
overcoming these challenges in the following ways. After recognizing the damage I caused to
my team colleagues, I had to change (Gentle & Parkin, 2020). I started by being myself. It was
CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED 6
to get rid of all the barriers to developing trust in all interactions. Showing or being genuine
helped me to create interpersonal associations easily, as there were honesty and openness in
exchanges. As a result, I was able to gain trust and in turn, stared to trust others also (Gregg &
Ramirez, 2017). After I felt that technology was not engaging enough, I held a dialogue with the
team leader, and we came up with ways to enhance communication among the dispersed
members.
There was the introduction of video calls to enhance conversations with eye contact. We
also agreed that there should be regular physical team meetings. I also looked around my
environment and the behaviours that attributed to my performance (Dyer, 2017). I discovered
that my attitude was a key hindrance to my ability to be adaptable, resilient and agile. This is
possible by focusing on the importance of connections, and the types of leaders appointed in the
group (Goulet, 2019). Another way I was able to overcome the challenges is through ensuring
that I enhanced my communication with my colleagues, to get meaning, clarity and direction of
team purpose.
The whole experience helped me to become more efficient in future contribution to
teamwork. It is because it helped me to gain skills such as communication, time management,
flexibility and decision-making, which are all qualities of a good leader (Gentle & Parkin, 2020).
Additionally, I learned to collaborate with team members, and have self-awareness among many
more skills I gained
TOPIC 2: Creativity and Innovation in Entrepreneurship
Creativity is the capability of coming up with new ideas and discovering new means of
solving or looking into problems and new opportunities.
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On the other hand, the application of the creative solutions in solving the problems, and
opportunities to improve the lives of people or society is referred to as innovation (Majchrzak &
Song, 2017). Creativity and innovation enable entrepreneurs to move to unexplored territories,
aiming to detect unique solutions. It is, therefore, essential to develop these two skills as they
bring entrepreneurs to the success path. Creativity in entrepreneurship is essential for the
business to thrive.
Creativity in an organization can be explained as the creation of goods, services, coming
up with innovative ideas and processes, which are done by people that work together in a
complex social system. The use of advanced technology or developing ideas is not considered as
innovations if they are not commercialized (Kuratko, 2016). Elevated or successful performance
of a business may be possible or attributed to the taking of risks. For instance, numerous
uncertainties get associated with a business started from scratch and which requires to be focused
on. Below is an illustration of theories that enhance my understanding of creativity and
innovations in entrepreneurship.
Innovation Theory of profit
This theory was developed by Schumpeter, who indicates that by introducing successful
innovations, entrepreneurs can gain economic profits. According to this theory, the role of an
entrepreneur is to introduce innovations, and he gets a reward in terms of profits, due to good
performance (Etzkowitz & Zhou, 2017). It views innovations as policies undertaken to increase
the demand for products and at the same time, reduce the overall cost of production. Innovations,
therefore, falls in two categories, with the first category comprising activities that reduce the cost
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of production. The second category according to this theory comprises the activities that help to
increase demands of products, like new goods of high quality, finding new sources of acquiring
materials, or opening new markets among others (Spigel & Harrison, 2018). Therefore, profit
gains in entrepreneurship are only realized if we increase products demand and increasing the
cost of production.
Theory of need for achievement
McClelland developed this theory which tried to find internal factors that leads a person
to exploit opportunities. These internal factors include human motives and values. As a result of
exploiting one is able to take advantage of favourable conditions in trade (Foss & Saebi, 2018).
The theory emphasizes on the significance of innovations. In this, the entrepreneur focuses on
the need for achievement, otherwise called a desire to do well. It is for the sake of personal
accomplishment of the inner feeling, instead of recognition or prestige. Therefore, the actions of
an entrepreneur are guided by the motive of this need for achievement (Lewis & Tracey, 2017).
Developing a need for achievement is essential among individuals to guarantee a high degree of
economic expansion. Practices that exhibit a need for achievement include self-reliance,
standards of excellence, training and material warmth.
This theory identifies two characteristics of entrepreneurship. The first characteristic is
the ability to make decisions, under uncertainty, and the second is doing t new and better ways
(Bradshaw & Brockman, 2018). It, therefore, suggests that we need to set high standards of
achievement to raise the level of achievement stimulation.
According to the theories of creativity and innovations discussed above, it could not
have been possible for successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gate and Larry Page to rank among the
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top entrepreneurs in America (Johansson & Wincent, 2017). Bill Gates came up with creative
ideas and innovation in technology, with his Microsoft Company emerging the world’s largest
influential technology. Larry Page came up with innovative ideas and founded Google, which is
considered as the world’s best search engines (Belanger & Pierro, 2017). Creativity and
innovation have made these and other entrepreneurs to be ranked as not only top in America, but
also in the world.
Personal evaluation
From the theoretical framework, I can comfortably say that I am a potential entrepreneur. The
conclusion is arrived after self-assessment and found that I have gained the following
characteristics of a successful entrepreneur (Wallace & Boyd, 2017). From the process of
developing a business plan that I went through, I am motivated to succeed. It is because I can
bring passion to whatever I do. I work hard and with a positive attitude. Am also creative, as I
develop new ideas and ways of doing things (Petronytė & Ulbinaitė, 2019). Even though I am
creative, I would take caution to allow other people ideas also, and accept to be corrected, unlike
an attitude I had before.
From experience I have in developing a business plan, I am now able to adapt to changes that
occur and can now keep up with the work. That means I can shift as needed. I also am not afraid
of taking risks in taking new adventures to grow the business (Johansson & Wincent, 2017).
After the challenges I faced during the process, I learned how I could be flexible and being able
to adapt to changes. This implies being receptive to the needs of people, opinions and ideas.
In summing up, teamwork is challenging and as the environment grows to be complex, so
does the teamwork need to be. However, challenges of trust, team purpose, optimal conditions,
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proximity and self-awareness could be addressed by focusing on connections in the teams. It
means acknowledging individuals and their feeling to work. Creativity and innovations are
crucial skills for any business as they bring entrepreneurs to paths of success.
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