Proactive Employees Are Great; A Proactive Culture is Better

In my twenty-plus year career, I have learned that there are two types of employees: reactive and proactive. Folks who fall into the former camp tend to wait until they are given instructions before they act on anything. They often do their job well, but not unless they’ve been told what to do. There is little direction or initiative. Unprovoked, they just wait.

The latter camp is full of the kinds of employees that every employer dreams of having. They take initiative on projects and search for opportunities to improve processes, share ideas, and make themselves and everyone around them better at what they do. Even when they haven’t been given instruction or direction, they move forward, ask questions, and get things done in a way that keeps projects progressing and businesses growing.

Of course every company would benefit from having more proactive employees, but just having those employees doesn’t answer a key question every leader should ask: Is this person here because they want to be here, or just because they need the paycheck? Hopefully the answer is that they want to be here, but you can’t be sure unless one thing is also true about your company: it demonstrates a proactive culture. A proactive culture not only rewards employees for taking action without having to be directed; it also celebrates achievement, allows for failure, and collaborates and innovates in ways that keep everyone engaged, committed, and focused on positive action. It allows employees to move beyond just the desire to collect a paycheck, and into an authentic desire to serve the greater good that is their employer.

Obviously it is one thing to say that we should all be striving for proactive instead of reactive cultures, and quite another to demonstrate how to achieve them. So let’s get down to the business of figuring out how to reshape toward a more proactive model.

First, we need to recognize that everyone—no matter who they are, where they come from, or what their generation—prefers positive and encouraging environments over those that dictate demands and react negatively to failure. Study after study has shown that people are more productive and creative when they enjoy their work. This is part of why Google allows its engineers to spend 20% of their time working on projects that fall outside their job requirements. Being able to pursue passion projects makes a person more passionate about their other work. Of course the other benefit is that side-projects at Google led to some of the company’s most groundbreaking innovations like AdSense and Gmail.

As it happens, this is also why Google has invested so much money in its luxurious campus and offers its employees so many amenities. When an employee is comfortable in their workspace, and when they feel that a large number of their needs can be met conveniently at the office, they feel a) more focused, b) like they have more time to dedicate to work-specific tasks, and c) that they are valued members of the team and the culture to which they contribute. All of these factors generate more openness to collaborate and innovate, and the whole system builds on itself, inviting these comfortable, inspired, and content employees to work harder, share brilliant ideas, grow the business, and improve the bottom line.

But you don’t need to be Google, or feature all their famed amenities, to succeed in creating a proactive culture. There are many strategies from a leadership perspective that require exactly zero financial investment. The primary effort needs to be in the messaging. If you can communicate that your employees’ input is always valued, and that you are excited to hear their ideas and willing to pursue them, then you foster a creative environment and invite greater readiness to innovate. The more you can show that you support them, then the more proactive they will be in doing their jobs, solving problems, and improving how your company meets its customers’ needs.

On the flip side, it is always better to avoid negative feedback in the event of failure, or even for outside-the-box thinking. If you’re the kind of leader who makes it clear that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things, and any deviation from that norm isn’t acceptable, then you’re stifling creativity while also causing a high percentage of your otherwise proactive employees to retreat into a shell. Employees need to feel safe about trying new strategies, taking risks, and even failing once in a while. Sure, many strategies won’t pay off, and some risks can lead to failure, but the response is what matters. Treat every setback and failure not as an opportunity to scold, but as an opportunity to learn and you’ll be shocked at the positive results it generates.

Next, encourage brainstorming wherever possible. Too many employers are content to create a team-oriented environment without actually following up on whether these teams are working as actual teams. The best way to do this is to involve yourself as a leader in as many open-door, cross-functional brainstorming sessions as possible. Give people an opportunity to collaborate and share ideas without fear of negative feedback and they will reward you with creativity above and beyond anything you or any of your most proactive employees could have achieved alone.

The consistent, genuine, and reinforced cultural message must include tips and advice on how to seek new opportunities and how to constantly look for new ways to improve. There is no such thing as a process in business that couldn’t benefit from improvement. Nothing is perfect. Everything can be better. Encourage your employees to always ask the key questions: What would our customers want us to improve? How could our workflow be more efficient? What small problems have the potential to become huge problems? What can we do better to improve the customer and/or employee experience? As your employees start returning to you with answers to these questions, the best step you can take is to accept every idea—whether it’s streamlining a supply chain or upgrading the coffeemaker in the kitchen—with open arms, deep thanks, and a pledge to take meaningful action to try to achieve the upgrade.

If you can stick to these messages, then you will find more of your employees engaging in more proactive work patterns. You’ll see more action, more people going above and beyond what is required of them, and sharing their ideas more willingly and frequently. When you start hearing your employees promote their own ideas and achievements while also speaking in terms of what could benefit the team, then you will know you are there. The profits will soon follow.