How to Be Proactive: A Quick Review

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Have you ever notice how managers tend to throw around a lot of corporate “buzz words”, especially when describing the work they’d like you to do? The problem with “buzz words” is that they start to lose meaning when you hear them used all the time. Sadly, the word “proactive” has turned into a meaningless buzz word for me. I hear it way too often and, apparently I should be doing it ALL THE TIME. Ok. It’s time to review.

What does “proactive” even mean?
According to www.freedictionary.com, proactive means controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens. Hm. Sounds easy enough.

But how exactly does one ACT proactively?

Understand exactly what your responsibilities are
Knowing what tasks regularly come your way helps you predict your workflow and foresee potential obstacles within it. Being proactive means you have the foresight to anticipate issues and prevent them. If you know your job inside and out, you’ll be able to take action before problems actually occur.

See the “Big Picture”
In order to be proactive, you need to understand the big picture. Where do your actions come into the process? How do they impact the final outcome? How do the actions of others impact yours? Seeing how your work interacts with others (and the final product) will allow you to see problems that are happening elsewhere and relate them back to you and the impact on your work, thereby allowing you to act proactively (rather than reacting defensively).

Anticipate
When working proactively, look for patterns. Plan your strategy for how to deal with problems that may arise. What can you do now to help the process? Set your mind on “solutions”. Being proactive is partly a mindset.

Be Creative
Use your imagination when anticipating the future. Things don’t plod along according to routine every day. New things pop up all the time. We need to stay on our toes to handle these things, but we also need to be creative in our thinking. Don’t just use the past as a predictor of the future. Use your brain and your imagination.

Effective Action
Foresight is not the key to being proactive. Action is the key. Without action, your foresight is useless. Seeing something approach is only half the battle. Your well thought-out strategy and timely, effective action is critical for success.

I don’t mean to make it sound as if being proactive is all about preventing problems. Many times, it’s more about simply working smoothly. Thinking a few steps ahead of the game helps you stay on top things and be prepared for what’s next. It also allows for a much more efficient and productive working atmosphere.

In conclusion, just remember that being proactive does not mean sitting around waiting for things to happen to you. It’s just the opposite. Get up and make things happen. Don’t just look at where you are; look at where you’re going and where you want to be. Being proactive is all about bringing the future into the present - doing what you can now to ensure future success.

Hope this helps some of you…it certainly helped me to write it!

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Comments

7 Responses to “How to Be Proactive: A Quick Review”

Sabrina on September 19th, 2007 7:55 am

Thank you for writing this. I’ve been wondering what exactly this means for a very long time. It’s good to know that “proactive” does not mean “psychic.”
tara on September 19th, 2007 8:11 am

Amazing! I just presented about this in my Organizational Behavior class last night! It was about the effect of a Proactive personality on women’s entrepreneurial intentions.
The serendipity is amazing!
Chrissy on September 19th, 2007 8:25 am

Sabrina - I forgot to mention it can also mean “mindreader”!! Ha ha…that’s what it feels like they’re expecting sometimes, right??

Tara - I love that you used the word “serendipity”…much more exotic than a mere coincidence If you think I left anything out, please add on…your presentation sounds very interesting. Sorry I missed it!

Thanks for reading guys!
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karen gigikos on April 26th, 2008 12:38 pm

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