Initiative is not waiting to be told what to do, but it is being proactive in doing what it takes, within your ability, to accomplish the mission and vision of the organization.
Employeeship is noted by factors such as participation and the balance of ownership, authority, and responsibility. It is the leader's (employer's) role to realize when to share leadership and how to follow. However, employeeship is not a democracy where everyone shares an equal part. Different work contexts and situations call for a different balance in the authority and responsibility. Employeeship is also noted by employees being encouraged and allowed to take responsibility and initiative.
Initiative is defined as the ability to assess, initiate, and work on things independently. Initiative is also defined as having the the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.
I learned a valuable lesson regarding initiative years ago. One summer while off from college, I took a job for a pipeline company where my father worked. As gang-hands, summer employees, and low men on the totem pole, we were told to wait in the shop until the supervisor came to give us our daily assignment. After I had worked for about two weeks, one morning while waiting for our daily assignment, I noticed that the shop was unusually dirty and cluttered. I thought to myself that someone should give the shop a good cleaning and even wondered if I might get assigned cleaning the shop that day. As I was playing this scenario through my mind, the supervisor entered the shop and proceeded to rail on us for just setting when the shop clearly needed to be cleaned. I was not cleaning the shop, not because I didn't want to, but be cause I did not want to assume responsibility that I had not been given. I realized that my boss just interpreted it as laziness at worst and lack of initiative at best. It was a valuable lesson, and one that has stayed with me through the years.
Aveling (2012) offers a very insightful illustration into responsibility and initiative. As a part of the company’s cost-cutting drive, a manager asked one of his team members to develop a plan to cut costs in that department by 5%. The employee submits the plan to the manager on time. So far, so good... He has been a hard working employee. It goes downhill from here.
Seven days later, the manager has not discussed the matter with the employee. What would an employee who displays responsibility and initiative do, what would the response be of a person who does not display the attribute of initiative? Let’s start with the latter. The employee who does not display the attribute of responsibility and initiative would “lay low” and wait until the manager raises the matter again. This employee thinks like this: “If the company’s cost cutting drive is that important, the manager would have said something to me about the plan. If things go wrong, it won’t be my fault--I have done my job.” This employee will blame the manager for not following up. Does this happen in your company? If there was a culture of taking ownership, of being responsible and having initiative, would this level of blame exist?
The employee who displays responsible behavior and initiative at work would follow up with the manager and ask if they had been able to consider the idea. They would push the manager to make it a priority, as this is clearly an important matter. There might have been lots of reasons for the manager not dealing with the matter, but, ultimately, the job needed to be done. And with these Employeeship attributes embedded in an organisation we would have managers and employees moving from blaming others to taking action to make things happen.
Employees who display Responsibility are the members of the team who you can rely on when you need to get things done. They “own the problem” and follow through to completion, for their sake, the sake of the team and of the organisation. Employees with initiative exhibit proactive behaviors assess creative and deliberate ways that employees plan and act on their own environment to influence, change, and alter it in ways the feel will benefit the company. Initiative is a behavior that employees can develop.
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Initiative is defined as the ability to assess, initiate, and work on things independently. Initiative is also defined as having the the power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.
I learned a valuable lesson regarding initiative years ago. One summer while off from college, I took a job for a pipeline company where my father worked. As gang-hands, summer employees, and low men on the totem pole, we were told to wait in the shop until the supervisor came to give us our daily assignment. After I had worked for about two weeks, one morning while waiting for our daily assignment, I noticed that the shop was unusually dirty and cluttered. I thought to myself that someone should give the shop a good cleaning and even wondered if I might get assigned cleaning the shop that day. As I was playing this scenario through my mind, the supervisor entered the shop and proceeded to rail on us for just setting when the shop clearly needed to be cleaned. I was not cleaning the shop, not because I didn't want to, but be cause I did not want to assume responsibility that I had not been given. I realized that my boss just interpreted it as laziness at worst and lack of initiative at best. It was a valuable lesson, and one that has stayed with me through the years.
Aveling (2012) offers a very insightful illustration into responsibility and initiative. As a part of the company’s cost-cutting drive, a manager asked one of his team members to develop a plan to cut costs in that department by 5%. The employee submits the plan to the manager on time. So far, so good... He has been a hard working employee. It goes downhill from here.
Seven days later, the manager has not discussed the matter with the employee. What would an employee who displays responsibility and initiative do, what would the response be of a person who does not display the attribute of initiative? Let’s start with the latter. The employee who does not display the attribute of responsibility and initiative would “lay low” and wait until the manager raises the matter again. This employee thinks like this: “If the company’s cost cutting drive is that important, the manager would have said something to me about the plan. If things go wrong, it won’t be my fault--I have done my job.” This employee will blame the manager for not following up. Does this happen in your company? If there was a culture of taking ownership, of being responsible and having initiative, would this level of blame exist?
The employee who displays responsible behavior and initiative at work would follow up with the manager and ask if they had been able to consider the idea. They would push the manager to make it a priority, as this is clearly an important matter. There might have been lots of reasons for the manager not dealing with the matter, but, ultimately, the job needed to be done. And with these Employeeship attributes embedded in an organisation we would have managers and employees moving from blaming others to taking action to make things happen.
Employees who display Responsibility are the members of the team who you can rely on when you need to get things done. They “own the problem” and follow through to completion, for their sake, the sake of the team and of the organisation. Employees with initiative exhibit proactive behaviors assess creative and deliberate ways that employees plan and act on their own environment to influence, change, and alter it in ways the feel will benefit the company. Initiative is a behavior that employees can develop.
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Aveling, G. (2012). Employeeship--a new way of thinking: The success of an organization is everyone's responsibility. Transformation Managed with Inspiration. www.tmimalaysia.com/my.
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ReplyDeleteA few simple ways to take more initiative at work: Do more than is required of you, Speak up and share your ideas, Consider every opportunity, and Always be prepared.
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