What if you encouraged your teams to take initiative?
26 April 2011
Read by 2601 persons
Encouraging initiative and developing creativity within a team isn't something you can just decree. It involves creating a conducive environment and new management habits. Here are some ways to do it:
You might solicit opinions, encourage new ideas, or even require your team to prepare proposals... but the result is often the same: your employees don't show much creativity. The problem is that encouraging initiative can't be mandated. First, you need to overcome employees' fear; they're not always sure if they're allowed to take initiative or if it falls within their responsibilities.
Creating a trusting environment:
This involves building trust. Trust allows employees to open up and express their views. It also reassures employees who remember past failures. Who hasn't been reprimanded for taking an initiative that didn't quite work out? Simply having refined an idea and seeing it dismissed without consideration is enough to discourage an employee.
A team's lack of initiative can also stem from the manager's unacknowledged personal fears: some fear being surpassed by highly autonomous and driven employees. Others might even want to take credit for their team's creativity. Both behaviors stifle initiative. What's really expected of a manager is that they support their team and help it grow. It's better to manage a creative and dynamic team than an overly disciplined team, inhibited by restrictive rules or procedures, that doesn't progress.
Improving skills:
While a manager might expect an experienced employee to contribute new ideas, it doesn't happen overnight. Encouraging initiative is a long process. It involves supporting beginners throughout their skill development. Initially, the manager might suggest that the employee prepare the next client meeting with them, in detail. Gradually, they'll ask the employee to prepare it independently, then review it together. Eventually, the employee will be able to prepare the meeting autonomously and innovate.
However, be wary of what might appear as support but is actually overly directive management, as it's difficult to expect initiative from employees in such a case. In a paternalistic company culture, managers tend to show new recruits how to work step-by-step. But essentially, they're showing that there's no room for alternative approaches. They create mere executors!
Setting clear objectives:
Other essential elements for encouraging initiative: clearly defining tangible objectives for employee tasks and fostering their ownership. They need to know exactly where they're going and how to get there. A manager is expected to define clear priorities and firm directions. Nothing is worse than doubt, uncertainty, or constant changes of course. If employees don't understand their added value, initiative will be scarce.
Managers who want to encourage initiative in their employees must first assess their skill levels. Don't throw your employee into the deep end, saying that's the fastest way to learn to swim. You also need to be sure that they have the energy to overcome their doubts and do more than just their job.
Based on the skill level of each team member, you can then precisely define the areas where they can enjoy a degree of autonomy, creating space for initiative. In this situation, the manager can agree with the employee to only speak if they encounter difficulties.
Encouraging initiative:
A manager's first instinct is often to evaluate the result, focusing on quality. However, before anything else, the effort of the initiative should be valued. This reflex needs to be replaced by praise for the effort, which doesn't prevent you from later discussing the quality of the result.
Another imperative: remember that an error of initiative is not a mistake. The right to err is a prerequisite for encouraging initiative.
Posted April 26, 2011
Article written by The ReKrute.com Team
You might solicit opinions, encourage new ideas, or even require your team to prepare proposals... but the result is often the same: your employees don't show much creativity. The problem is that encouraging initiative can't be mandated. First, you need to overcome employees' fear; they're not always sure if they're allowed to take initiative or if it falls within their responsibilities.
Creating a trusting environment:
This involves building trust. Trust allows employees to open up and express their views. It also reassures employees who remember past failures. Who hasn't been reprimanded for taking an initiative that didn't quite work out? Simply having refined an idea and seeing it dismissed without consideration is enough to discourage an employee.
A team's lack of initiative can also stem from the manager's unacknowledged personal fears: some fear being surpassed by highly autonomous and driven employees. Others might even want to take credit for their team's creativity. Both behaviors stifle initiative. What's really expected of a manager is that they support their team and help it grow. It's better to manage a creative and dynamic team than an overly disciplined team, inhibited by restrictive rules or procedures, that doesn't progress.
Improving skills:
While a manager might expect an experienced employee to contribute new ideas, it doesn't happen overnight. Encouraging initiative is a long process. It involves supporting beginners throughout their skill development. Initially, the manager might suggest that the employee prepare the next client meeting with them, in detail. Gradually, they'll ask the employee to prepare it independently, then review it together. Eventually, the employee will be able to prepare the meeting autonomously and innovate.
However, be wary of what might appear as support but is actually overly directive management, as it's difficult to expect initiative from employees in such a case. In a paternalistic company culture, managers tend to show new recruits how to work step-by-step. But essentially, they're showing that there's no room for alternative approaches. They create mere executors!
Setting clear objectives:
Other essential elements for encouraging initiative: clearly defining tangible objectives for employee tasks and fostering their ownership. They need to know exactly where they're going and how to get there. A manager is expected to define clear priorities and firm directions. Nothing is worse than doubt, uncertainty, or constant changes of course. If employees don't understand their added value, initiative will be scarce.
Managers who want to encourage initiative in their employees must first assess their skill levels. Don't throw your employee into the deep end, saying that's the fastest way to learn to swim. You also need to be sure that they have the energy to overcome their doubts and do more than just their job.
Based on the skill level of each team member, you can then precisely define the areas where they can enjoy a degree of autonomy, creating space for initiative. In this situation, the manager can agree with the employee to only speak if they encounter difficulties.
Encouraging initiative:
A manager's first instinct is often to evaluate the result, focusing on quality. However, before anything else, the effort of the initiative should be valued. This reflex needs to be replaced by praise for the effort, which doesn't prevent you from later discussing the quality of the result.
Another imperative: remember that an error of initiative is not a mistake. The right to err is a prerequisite for encouraging initiative.
Posted April 26, 2011
Article written by The ReKrute.com Team
