Workplace Proactivity : Ways to develop it

A great quote by Stephen Covey that we can apply to Workplace Proactivity:

Reactive people focus on circumstances over which they have no control.... Proactive people focus their efforts on the things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive, enlarging, and magnifying, causing their circle of influence to increase.

How can you be proactive at workplace?

Workplace proactivity is possible only if you love what you do. It may be either

• You are doing what you love- you are lucky. You did not accept any job that came in your way. You waited until you got what you wanted. or

• Developed love towards the work you are doing. Many take up job for reasons other than love for that work. Some keep doing without any interest, but others grow love towards what they do.

Workplave proactivity or any other proactive behaviour cannot be forced upon or controlled tightly. Make sure you are not doing it with an ulterior purpose or motive.

Have a clear vision of what you want and what you want to become. You are responsible for your actions and for your life.

Live in the present. Enjoy what you do. Don't carry your past, but learn from it. Don't worry about the future, but what you do today must be relevant to what you want to be in future.

Be driven by the values chosen by you irrespective of what others think or the prevailing social environment.

Set ambitious goals but be practical in setting them. Your goals must be measurable with proper time frame for each goal. Divide each big goal into smaller goals. Be optimistic in solving a problem or reaching a goal. Anticipate hurdles. Plan and prepare for them in advance. Encourage yourself. When you accomplish each small goal, celebrate.

What should you do for workplace proactivity?

1. Don't wait for favourable situations to take action. Instead, create them. Don't wait for miracles and things to happen, make them happen. Be the miracle yourself.

2. Be creative and resourceful. Let your language and your way of speaking indicate the degree of your proactivity. Do things because you choose to.

3. Your response to stimuli should be based on values and not on feelings or emotions.

4. Let your workplace proactivity be independent of circumstances and conditions.

5. Do not blame the circumstances or other people for your actions or lack of them. Do not blame the external factors like- people around you, your ancestors or the environment you live in. Don't say- I could not produce the desired results because of my co-workers or my boss or lack of resources.

6. Don't be afraid of using resources (people, goods or services) elsewhere in the organization or outside, for reaching the objective or goal. Be bold, use your intelligence and contacts to influence the needed resources. People will realize your good intentions and cooperate- with your persistence.

7. Do not be afraid of failures- every failure is an opportunity to learn. Admit your mistakes immediately, correct them and learn from them.

8. Honour promises and commitments you make to yourself and others. Script you own story, which will become your life, before somebody else does it for you.

9. Set your own standards. You can’t give your best living up to others’ expectations.

10. Anticipate and help colleagues before being asked. Be genuinely interested in people. Don't attempt just a lip service. People can make out the difference.
    Example of lip service:
    During my long career, I worked under many bosses. Once, one boss offered help this way- “Oh, by the way, I was told about some health problems in your family. Ask for any help you want,” he told. He didn't even look up from his computer screen. Was he really offering help? What would be your feelings? He was not interested in you- just doing lip service.
    

11. You need to act, don't be acted upon. Be in control of your life. Don't allow somebody's behaviour or something outside control you. Know the difference between what you can change and what you can't. Don't focus on things you can't change, focus on things you can and need to be changed.

12. Make sure your workplace proactivity is compatible to your job specification and organization’s culture. You can be proactive in your prescribed role.

13. Be a part of the solution and not the problem, irrespective of who created the problem.

14. Create a favourable environment for others to be proactive. Respect, support and encourage other proactive people.

How do you know whether you are proactive?

Ask yourself:

• Are my actions natural and come from my inner-self, based on my core values and beliefs?
• Am I fully aware of my responsibilities and make choices in full alertness?
• Do I love and enjoy doing them?
• Do I take initiative to solve problems? Do I persist until I overcome obstacles?
• Do I bring in changes, if required?
• Do I come up with innovative and useful ideas?
• Do I take initiative to expand my roles and promptly adjust to new job conditions?
• Do others, who interact with me, solve problems, overcome obstacles, bring in changes and come up with new ideas- through my initiative?

The more the number of 'yes's in your answers, the more proactive you are.

You can be proactive in a variety of ways.

Your workplace proactivity may be related to-

• Your Immediate work environment.
• Your Department.
• Your Organization.
• Your own career.

Workplace Proactivity related to immediate work environment:

Make suggestions to bring in changes. Work towards affecting changes. Bring in innovative ideas. Work towards problem solving/prevention.

After attending one of those typical project review meetings, one of my engineers complained:
‘Sir, I was not required in today’s meeting. Like me, a few more engineers were simply sitting, feeling bored. The meetings are directionless and wander off the track and waste engineers’ time….’
I was also not happy of the ‘not so useful’ meetings but didn’t do anything about it. When my engineer expressed concern, I decided to do something about it- to make meetings more meaningful and useful. And we did. We had a discussion (this meeting was more meaningful) with the general manager and brought in a few guidelines for conducting meetings. We made sure they were followed strictly.

Workplace Proactivity covering your department /organization:

Anticipate new products and services. Suggest important organizational changes to the top leaders.

Example: Formation of ‘Core R&D’ was a major organizational change conceived by one of the executives and accepted by our company management.
Why ‘Core R&D’ was needed? To allow R&D engineers fully concentrate on development work and isolate them from such non-development activities like installation and commissioning of new equipment in the field, customer training, preparation of production documents etc.

One more example: There was a time when inspection by customer QA (quality assurance) team was delaying product dispatch. One of our internal quality executives came up with a suggestion to remove customer inspection. People laughed at this seemingly ridiculous idea. But he was serious.
He impressed upon the management- it is possible if the customer gets confident of our quality. We can make the customer confident by improving our quality and bringing down the rejection rate. It was agreed upon and he was made in charge of the process. It was a successful exercise and the customer inspection was done away with.

Workplace Proactivity covering your career:

• Ask for feedback about your performance.
• Negotiate job-role change. Discuss career plan with your manager.

A suggestive example: As an employee, are you aware of the work done in different department/sections of your organization? Do you feel that you can be more useful for the organization and for yourself in some other department? Be proactive and approach your boss with justification and try to convince him.

Workplace proactivity is very essential if you want to make a mark in your organization. Don't be just one among the crowd. Be one above the crowd. Take proactive approach and offer proactive solutions and see your career zooming ahead.

What are the benefits of Proactive Behaviour?

Proactivity Examples

How do you stimulate Proactive Attitude?

Return from Workplace Proactivity to Proactivity

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