IE Mindset

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mindset

As part of its 2017-2022 Strategic Plan, Algonquin College committed to fostering a mindset of innovation and entrepreneurship in all of its learners. With the changing nature of work, employers are looking for people who are not just skilled in their profession, but are also innovative, creative, and can solve problems.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee has worked to develop a set of competencies, based on existing frameworks and literature, that can support such a mindset with the purpose of providing a starting point for thinking about how an Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IE) Mindset will impact learners at the College.

Consultation is currently ongoing. Click below to fill out the survey:

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mindset Validation Survey

Our Goal

To embed an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset in Algonquin’s family of learners*, enhanced by Indigenous Knowledge.
*Learner is a broad term used to indicate the subject of lifelong learning. It refers to all Algonquin College community members; AC students (FT/PT/ONLINE), employees and community members.

Indigenous Inspiration for an innovative and entrepreneurial mindset

Our learners are diverse and have a wide array of interests, goals, and passions. Algonquin College wants to instill ways of thinking entrepreneurially and as innovators in our learners, through the development of innovation and entrepreneurship competencies. In practice, this means helping our learners to see their communities, their professions, and themselves in different ways. We want to empower our learners to spot opportunities—whether economic, social, or cultural—and come up with creative solutions on which they can follow through. We want our learners to be able to engage proactively as positive forces of change and leadership.

IE Mindset Validation Survey

Based on existing frameworks of entrepreneurship competencies and innovation skills, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee is proposing the following model as the basis of the IE Mindset. This model is meant to be a starting point for consultations with the Algonquin College community to determine its validity (i.e. Do you think that this model accurately reflects the competencies of an innovation and entrepreneurship mindset?) and relevance (i.e. Do you think these competencies are relevant to learners in your school/program?).

Consultation is currently ongoing. Click below to fill out the survey:

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mindset Validation Survey

Definitions for the IE Mindset Competencies

IEMindset_Competencies_Definitions

Thinking (East)

The IE Mindset
Self-Awareness
Believe in yourself and keep developing
  • Reflect on your needs, aspirations, and wants in the medium and short term
  • Identify and assess your individual and group strengths and weaknesses
  • Believe in your ability to influence course of events despite uncertainty, setbacks and temporary failures
Spotting opportunities
Use your imagination and abilities to identify opportunities for creating value
  • Identify and seize opportunities to create value by exploring the social, cultural and economic landscape
  • Identify needs and challenges that need to be met
  • Establish new connections and bring together scattered elements to the landscape to create opportunities to create value
Creative problem solving
CPS is a way of identifying opportunities when conventional thinking has failed. Find fresh perspectives and come up with innovative solutions to formulate a plan to overcome obstacles and reach your goals.
  • Develop several ideas and opportunities to create value, including better solutions to existing and new challenges
  • Explore and experiment with innovative approaches
  • Combine knowledge and resources to achieve value effects
Sustainable thinking
Impact of ideas, opportunities and areas
  • Reflect on how sustainable long-term social, cultural and economic goals are, and the course of action chosen
  • Act responsibly

 

Collaborating (South)

The IE Mindset
Valuing ideas
Make the most of ideas and opportunities
  • Judge what value is in social, cultural and economic terms
  • Recognize the potential an idea has for creating value and identify suitable ways of making the most out of it
Mobilizing resources
Get and manage the material, non-material and digital resources needed to turn ideas into action
  • Make the most of limited resources
  • Inspire and enthuse relevant stakeholders
  • Get the support needed to achieve valuable outcomes
Financial and economic literacy
Plan, put in place and evaluate financial decisions over time
  • Estimate the cost of turning an idea into a value creating activity
  • Manage financing to make sure my value-creating activity can last over the long term
Building trust
Build relationships
  • Work together and cooperate with others to develop ideas and turn them into action
  • Network
  • Solve conflicts and face up to competition positively when necessary

 

Doing (West)

The IE Mindset
Motivation
Turn ideas into action and satisfy your need to achieve
  • Be prepared to be patient and keep trying to achieve your long-term individual or group aims
  • Be resilient under pressure, adversity, and temporary failure
Taking initiative
Initiate processes that create value
  • Take up challenges
  • Act and work independently to achieve goals, stick to intentions and carry out planned tasks
Planning
Set long-, medium- and short-term goals
  • Define priorities and action plans
  • Adapt to unforeseen changes
Coping with uncertainty
Make decisions when the result of that decision is uncertain, when the information available is partial or ambiguous, or when there is a risk of unintended outcomes
  • Within the value-creating process, include structured ways of testing ideas and prototypes from the early stages, to reduce risks of failing
  • Handle fast-moving situations promptly and flexibly

 

Change Making (North)

The IE Mindset
Leading
Lead change and improvement to benefit community.
  • Develop the skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to produce new or improved programs, services, outputs and strategies to meet current and future needs and gain competitive advantage.
Building Community
Build a culture
  • Understand how to work together to meet and overcome challenges
  • Promote the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation
Ethical decision making
  • Assess the consequences of ideas that bring value and the effect of entrepreneurial action on the target community, the market, society and the environment
Being accountable
Takes responsibility for all work activities and personal actions
  • Follows through on commitments; implements decisions that have been agreed upon
  • Maintains confidentiality with sensitive information; acknowledge and learns from mistakes without blaming others
  • Recognizes the impact of one’s behaviour on others