Tuesday

Proactive Leadership


"There are three kinds of people:  those who make things happen, those who watch what happens, and those who wonder what happened," said Mary Kay Ash,
an American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
.
In today’s complex and dynamic work environment it has become increasingly important to have self-starting proactive leaders because it is impossible to anticipate and pre-specify all required behaviors.


Proactive behavior defined.
 
Proactive behavior refers to anticipatory, change-oriented, and self-initiated behavior in different situations and environments. Being proactive means controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding and adjusting to it after it has happened. Proactive employees generally do not need to be asked to act, nor do they require detailed instructions. They successfully anticipate, identify, and prevent potential problems from either occurring or escalating. Being proactive means not only visualizing the big and small picture; the short and long term goals; it is also about understanding where not only you are in the context of the project, but where the other team members are as well.  Proactive people are anticipatory, collaborative, inquisitive, innovative, methodical, resourceful, responsive, and work with a sense of urgency. They do not put off until tomorrow what they can do today; they resolve issues as they occur, in lieu of letting them accumulate and become unwieldy.

The types of proactiv
e behavior.
There are at least two types of proactive behavior:  Proactive work behavior and proactive strategic behavior.
  Proactive work behavior is taking control of, and bringing about change within the internal organizational environment.  Some individuals are proactive at managing their immediate work environment; they make suggestions for how the team might work, they come up with new procedures for their job, and/or they take charge to bring about change in their work area. Examples of behaviors related to being proactive in changing the internal organizational environment include:  taking initiative to bring about change, voicing their opinions, individual innovation, and problem prevention. People can be proactive in a variety of ways including: selling solutions to their leaders, managing change, self-initiated role expansions, proactively solving problems, implementing ideas, and network building. On the other hand, proactive strategic behavior is taking control of, and causing change in, the broader organization's strategy and its fit with the external environment.  Some people are proactive in their influence on the broader organization and its fit with the environment and they "sell" important solutions to their leader; they scan the environment to anticipate new products and services the organization might introduce, or they actively aspire to influence strategy. Proactive strategic behavior include the concepts such as:  solution selling, strategic planning, and coalition building.

The need for proactive leadership.

I have worked for various organizations in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, in diverse industries, with disparate groups of people and have witnessed countless employees acknowledging various issues without taking the initiative and proposing corrective action. Whether it be encountering loopholes in and/or ineffective policies, process break-downs, outdated technology, system defects, inaccurate accounting, miscommunication, disorganization, improper tracking of a project details, etc., the lesson learned is: being passive in lieu of proactive, and letting these issues fall through the cracks, may lead to a duplication of efforts, critical time squandered, inaccurate numbers, and loss of revenue.  Proactive leadership was needed. 

Conclusions.
Businesses are most effective, productive, and lucrative when they are able to
streamline operations: maximizing resources (people, money, and time).  Similarly, by improving processes and quality, expenses may be dramatically reduced:  decreasing waste, increases profit. My advice to companies and business leaders is:  Hire, reward, and promote proactive and resourceful team members ensuring it is ingrained in your organizational culture because a proactive leader will increase your bottom line.