“Proactivity. How do I get my employees to be proactive?” That’s a question I’m often asked by my clients, whether it’s for team training or individual coaching sessions. Proactivity seems to be a magic word; What is proactivity? Does it apply to everyone? What does it take? And what is your role as a leader in this?
1) Proactivity
How do I get my employees to be proactive? Other words that are used include: anticipating, initiative, entrepreneurial, dynamic. It means taking responsibility for your life, in multiple areas. And that can vary depending on the situation; it depends on the circumstances. Someone who is proactive doesn’t let circumstances dictate their actions and responds self-consciously to situations, regardless of the circumstances. That person takes matters into their own hands. Proactive people take responsibility for their actions, while reactive people often blame others and point to external circumstances as culprits. Like with the weather: reactive people let their mood be determined by the weather, but proactive people determine their own state of mind regardless of the weather. A beautiful example from sports is Esther Vergeer, a seven-time Paralympic champion: “I have a disability, but I am not disabled. My wheelchair has become my strength”.
2) Proactivity: Situational and Personal
Proactivity can flourish better when there is an environment where there is more freedom and autonomy to make decisions. It doesn’t work if there is, for example, a leader within a company who is proactive but wants to put their stamp on everything themselves. Or if there is a lot of bureaucracy, where the many strict rules leave little room for initiative. In those environments, proactivity cannot flourish. Additionally, it is important to become aware of someone’s behavior.
- How proactive is the person by nature?
- Or is someone more reflective by nature?
- Can proactivity be developed sufficiently in the employee in question?
- How motivated is the employee to change their behavior?
- And is more proactive behavior really necessary in the function of this employee?
- Is the employee reactive in situations?
Last year, I worked with a project manager who is very reactive in business but very proactive in his sport. With him, we explored how he could ‘copy’ his proactive sports mentality and apply it to his work. In this case, it had a lot to do with the mindset of the employee in question. Although it is generally visible whether someone is proactive or reactive, this can also be well mapped out through a behavioral and motivators analysis and/or a test in the field of emotional intelligence. This makes the cause often quickly identifiable and targeted work can be done on change. So, proactivity is developable, but it depends on the circumstances…
3) Leadership and Proactivity
What can you do as a leader to encourage and develop proactivity? There are several important factors to achieve this:
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Culture of Trust and Safety
Do employees feel safe in your company? Do they dare to take risks and come up with initiatives? Do they have the freedom to give feedback? Can they learn from their mistakes without being punished? Do your team members feel safe with you as a leader? You have direct influence over this.
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Assessment
An assessment provides a lot of insight into the degree of proactivity. Proactivity can be seen in a behavioral measurement. However, for a proper measurement, it is important to also check motivators. For example, suppose someone shows a non-proactive image in their behavioral style but has a strong ‘decisive’ motivator, then this results in a more proactive behavioral style. Read more about the assessments here.
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Freedom of Action
In this day and age, there is increasingly a move towards more autonomy, more independence, and more room to make your own decisions. Clear objectives and frameworks are important for this, but certainly also given freedom of action. Freedom of action that suits the employee. Also consider how to allocate someone’s time. Does everyone need to be in the office from 9 to 5? In short: what do your employees need to spread their wings?
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Awareness and On-the-Job Coaching
If one of your employees needs and wants to become more proactive, intensive guidance is important. You can have someone coached by a coach, removing possible barriers and achieving more effective behavior in terms of proactive action. But the most important task on the work floor lies with you as a leader: coaching on the job. You are the one who can give the employee feedback on behavior, make them aware of it. This helps to embed behavioral change.
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Focus on Results
The movement towards (more) proactivity can be supported by steering employees more towards results. This means they have to find their own ways to achieve these results.
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Encourage Solutions
To encourage more proactivity, it can help to always ask employees to come up with one or more solutions when they report a problem.
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Space for Feedback
Feedback is, in my opinion, one of the most underestimated skills in the workplace. The more correct use of positive and corrective feedback takes place, the more improvement occurs. You can find tips on giving feedback HERE
