Attitudinal seeds for growth.

Part Five of our series on the Action Saskatchewan Movement continues our exploration of the attitudes that shape our province's potential for prosperity.

In Part Four we discussed the need to nurture an optimistic view of the future of our province as the foundation for realizing our full potential. This "attitude challenge" was identified in the first phase of Action Saskatchewan, and even earlier by the Premier's Committee on the Economy.

You may be asking: Why all this focus on our attitudes in a time of abundant resource revenues and higher wheat prices? Our resource revenues may very well be in abundance, but history tells us that this is a highly cyclical environment. They will go down again. If the core attitude of Saskatchewan people is not positive, how will we withstand the change in times without returning to an attitude of pessimism? As we explored in Part Four of this series, "We Think, Therefore We Are," we create what we see. When we are positive about the future, we create positive results; when we are negative about the future, we create negative results.

In last year's focus sessions we learned that among the negative attitudes that prevailed overall, there were some buds of optimism. It is these buds that may well blossom into a prevailing positive attitude.

For example, Saskatchewan people are more likely to consider themselves as more optimistic than people in Alberta and Manitoba. This individual optimism is a potential building block to building a "we can" attitude in our province.

And equally important, even though Saskatchewan people see our province overall as less competitive and risk-taking than Alberta and Manitoba, as individuals we feel like risk takers with a competitive spirit. Another potential building block.

The third attitude that supports our potential for growth is that Saskatchewan people see themselves and the province overall as hardworking and industrious. Growing a prosperous province requires dedication and hard work. We rated ourselves higher in this area than both of our provincial neighbours.

Finally, Saskatchewan people are more community-minded and family oriented than people in the other Prairie provinces. While this could be viewed as an attitude that hinders growth, it is very important in a province where over 50 per cent of the people live in a non-metropolitan area and in an age when connectedness with others is becoming increasingly important. Family members often provide the essential financial, moral and labour support for new enterprises in our province. Many new businesses in Saskatchewan are the result of people in a community or region coming together to start and grow a business.

Small and medium businesses have been called the engines of the Saskatchewan economy, creating opportunities and jobs. They are likely to be the engines of growth for our second century. The Action Saskatchewan research reveals that Saskatchewan people have attitudinal foundation for entrepreneurial innovation and growth--competitive spirit, prepared to take risks, hardworking and optimistic. The strong connection to community and family provides an excellent environment and necessary resources for business initiation and growth.

While we have the foundation attitudes of entrepreneurship, what are our attitudes towards business and business people? In the next article we will explore our research findings on the attitudes Saskatchewan people have for business and entrepreneurship.

To learn more or join the movement, visit us online at www.actionsaskatchewan.com or call the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce at 306.352.2671.

                        AB          SK         MB.

Characteristic      Ind   Prov  Ind   Prov  Ind   Prov

Risk-taking         2.08  2.37  2.17  2.15  2.06  2.07

Competitive         2.30  2.75  2.45  2.54  2.33  2.38

Community-minded    2.50  2.63  2.83  3.14  2.57  2.79

Security-conscious  2.77  2.51  2.96  2.86  2.75  2.65

Family oriented     3.34  2.85  3.52  3.26  3.34  2.92

Thrifty             2.52  2.11  2.61  2.68  2.59  2.61

Optimistic          2.89  2.73  3.00  2.69  2.80  2.42

Hardworking         3.29  2.98  3.37  3.27  3.21  2.84

by Dr. Arthur Whetstone and Patti Gera

Dr. Arthur Whetstone is the President of Whetstone Consulting and co-chair of Action Saskatchewan. Patti Gera is a partner in verve2 events and a member of the Action Saskatchewan Committee.