The 4 building blocks in developing initiative

Initiative has become a highly coveted, yet underrated leadership skill.

Taking action without being prompted. The opposite to reactive. Doing something on your own. Initiative.

In a world where just about everything can be provided for us and is at our fingertips, identifying and teaching initiative has become a coveted skill.

In the realm of leadership skills, initiative may be the long lost one. Initiative’s cousins include problem solving, creative thinking and confidence. A confident person takes the initiative.

Hiring for initiative:

Hiring for initiative means having an employee committed to getting things done.

Entrepreneurship requires initiative. No one started a business without taking initiative.

4 ways to develop initiative or teach it in others:

Self-confidence.

In the world of youth sport, building self-confidence in your athletes means putting them in situations in which they have a high chance of succeeding. It means teaching them the fundamental skills that will increase competence and success. In the workplace, few employers have the time to teach initiative, unless youth are a big part of the workplace.

Knowledge.

Knowledge breeds confidence. Improving and building a knowledge base on what to look for in a situation is a precursor to initiative.

Recognition

Recognizing a situation, and where action can improve the situation is another building block to initiative. Recognition comes from learning, knowledge and experience.

Ambition.

Initiative comes from a want to improve a situation. A person with strong initiative skills is someone who is intrinsically motivated.

Initiative is the one skill that can open doors and create opportunity. Developing it, finding it and cultivating it becomes a building block for progress in our own careers or in developing others.

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