Initiative: #6 Leadership Trait
Initiative
The sixth and nearly final leadership characteristic we want to focus on is initiative. This is one of my personal favorite characteristics, but, ironically, this post has been the most time consuming for me in this series. I want to say it's because it took more time and attention to get it right. In reality, I think I was procrastinating. I hope you don't hold that against me.?
If you want to catch up on the series before diving in, check out the primer, "The Leaders' Journey, " or the first five installments: (1) Self-Awareness , (2) Trust , (3) Patience , (4) Identity , and (5) Compassion.
The definition of initiative is “the ability to assess and initiate things independently." True enough, but I would like to expand that definition. The United States Marine Corps, where I grew up in leadership, defined initiative with four key components:?
If we break down initiative into its component parts, I see several aspects that, when employed together, make up a complete picture of initiative in the professional sphere: independence, decisiveness, discernment, confidence, and creativity.
The Heart of Initiative: Independence, Decisiveness, and Discernment
Independence and decisiveness are at the heart of initiative in leaders. As they rise in the ranks, the ability to take action without direction is an essential trait of leaders. Leaders are bombarded by information constantly, and a committee cannot make every decision. Ever tried to develop a new product in a well-established organization with thousands of employees? Typically, it's like walking through mud. This is because decision-making authority has been so greatly distributed.?
This is not to say that distribution of authority is inherently bad as an organization scales. But it does slow you down. Without centralized planning and decentralized authority given to confident leaders who can make decisions at the appropriate levels, your operation will slow to a full stop. Sometimes you slow down so much that your organization dies as it can no longer stay relevant.?
I always prefer a junior leader to exercise good initiative but poor judgment over timidity in decision making. You can always pull someone back from rushing out the door, but it's much harder to kick them out. Good leaders grow in wisdom with experience, but, paradoxically, they will never gain that experience if they don't start making decisions independently.
As a leader grows, the hope is for their discernment to grow with them. Being proactive is essential to initiative, but it is discernment that helps you decide where to focus your energy. It is the same skill set we employ when assessing a business and proactively identifying opportunities to exploit and risks to avoid. Good leaders can respond wisely to a crisis; great leaders see it coming and take immediate action to mitigate the risk in the first place. This is the essence of initiative.?
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Growing Confidence and Initiative in an Organization
There certainly is an element of self-confidence that seems to be innate within people. It can manifest in relationships, finances, athleticism, and vocation. However, this does not mean it can’t be developed. Typically, self-confidence grows with success in whatever you put your hands on, which will never come without practice. Organizations must put people in a position to make independent decisions, even if it results in the "wrong" decision being made from time to time. It's the senior leader's job to ensure junior leaders are given extensive opportunities to succeed and fail in the business areas that can afford it.?
Our job as leaders is not just about leading today—it’s about growing and developing other leaders' confidence to be employed in the future. As the organization grows and you do your job, you will have a rich talent pool of leaders ready to excel in new positions with more responsibility and authority—and where they will inevitably need more initiative. If independence isn't fostered at a managerial level, then junior leaders will never be ready for director positions, and so on. This is especially challenging for senior leaders who often fear how poor decisions by their subordinates will reflect on them. For more on that, return to our blog post on trust. ?
Creativity: Initiative’s Force Multiplier
Finally, one of my favorite elements of initiative is how leaders approach problem-solving. I love creative problem-solvers. Solving problems is human; creating far-reaching solutions that turn risk or opportunity into a center of gravity for the organization is divine. Creative problem-solvers leverage vision, strategy, and zeal to develop new capabilities, products, and features that improve and enhance an organization, not merely help them stay alive.?
When identifying senior leaders at the VP level or above—the people who will shape products and company strategy—keep an eye out for the ideators who don’t settle for the status quo and who look at problems from angles that seem unique and novel. They are your force multipliers.
The Big Takeaway
Leaders need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Exercising initiative and decisiveness without direction means you will make some mistakes. But this is the only path to learning and developing the confidence you will need to lead further. A track record of good decisions is not all you need on your CV to rise in the ranks. Those decisions also need to be prompt, and that is where initiative comes in.
For us leading companies looking to grow and scale, we have to set the conditions for our junior leaders to get increased opportunities to grow in initiative, which means we have to make developing junior leaders a priority. I cannot begin to name the number of folks from middle management in large organizations that have virtually never received an ounce of professional leadership development. And it shows.
A USMC Officer or Navy Seal costs the US Government millions per person in professional development before they touch their first leadership position. We should all be prepared to spend a little time, money, and energy developing our people.?
In the next post, we will look at the final trait, truth. Until then, check out the chart below to see how initiative maps onto the other leadership traits and the fruit they produce together!
Leaders 100% take initiative! From my time in the military, initiative is defined in the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer as "I will exercise initiative by taking appropriate action in the absence of orders." ?? Great stuff!