Leadership - Proactivity
Proactivity
Proactive v reactive
If you had to come up with one word to describe a leader you would pick ‘proactive’ and for a follower ‘reactive’.
The difference is time.
In the case of the proactive manager he has time to consider options for any activity.
The follower has no time, he or she reacts, often with little thought for any options and the result is usually a less efficient result.
Why does the leader have more time? Proactive means he or she has already considered the possibility of the activity materialising.
The leader is thinking ahead and considering different scenarios.
A leader can do this because he or she will make time for forward thinking and hence forward planning.
The follower is usually poorly organised with no time to think ahead leading to a reactive mentality.
Proactive or reactive planning can alter the efficiency of achieving your aims.
Review
Think about what has happened during your day.
How have you ‘reacted’ to particular activities?
Were you proactive or reactive.
Why did you take this position?
How could you have handled the situation better.
If you determine that greater than 50% of your actions were by your own design as opposed to being lead by others you are heading in the right direction for leadership.
Leaders make their own plans and are less subject to the whim of others.
Leader traits
Leaders and followers can easily be distinguished.
Leaders
You will anticipate because you are proactive. This will lead to well considered plans and more time for other things.
You will like to take control and initiate actions. You like to influence others but not for selfish purposes.
Leaders will always be able to strongly visualise their goal. This will make it easier to ‘sell’ during presentations.
It is important that people feel good about the vision rather than just accept it.
Leaders tend to think ‘outside of the box’ when looking for solutions to problems.
Followers
No time will lead to poor efficiency and stress in the long term. Being continually lead will lead to frustration, probably boredom and disinterest.
This can lead to a downward spiral of performance and a destruction of self confidence.
Stress can be the result in the long term.
Positive thinking
Leaders don’t see obstacles they just see the vision.
This doesn’t mean they ignore them but rather have a very positive attitude to overcome them.
They will always try to not give in easily. They will exhaust all possible options.
‘Impossible’ is not in their vocabulary.
In other words they always think and encourage positive thinking.
Key constraints
A ‘constraint’ is often confused with an ‘assumption’.
Within the example of a project.
Assumptions
These are what the Project Manager expects to have or are easily accessible for the project.
If they are not, then key project milestones may be missed e.g. late completion date etc.
Constraints
These could have a negative effect on the project. They are often not under the control of the Project Manager and tend to be imposed.
For example, the personnel department may have an embargo on recruitment. Whilst the project plan will have been prepared with these in mind, these constraints may still prove to be the undoing of the project. Budget limits are another.
In the context of leadership key constraints are TIME and EXTERNAL.
The former is fairly obvious.
Even for an excellent leader as time constraints begin to increase you will move more from proactive to reactive.
The best laid plans of mice and men can still be beset by unexpected hurdles arising.
When these appear you may have to move faster than you would have wished. This creates a reactive environment.
Remember these are unexpected.
If you have been doing your forward planning and considered an adverse activity likely to arise, but you don’t expect it to occur with good management, you should have developed a contingency plan should the occasion arise.
External really covers all those nasty little items that you have no control over.
Budget cut backs would be one you might come across derived internally from external market forces.
Another would a change in the law affecting the project.
These nearly always move the goal posts in some fashion affecting the definition of the vision.