Reversing Brainwash: Retraining Employees To Be Proactive

I was reading a book from an evangelist, who was alive during the Russian Communist invasion of Romania. That evangelist asked a Russian soldier if he believed in God. To his horror the Russian soldier responded by saying, “I have no such military order to believe. If I have an order I will believe.”

This struck me as truly sad; that a person’s belief, desires, and actions, could be determined by military orders. The Russian soldier had lost what it meant to be human. There is no greater inherent human trait than freedom.

Since I like to write articles about management, I began thinking, that there are so many employees who have been“brainwashed” to act on orders. If it is not in their job description, or within their scope of work, then they should not think about acting outside of these confines.

Sometimes, an employee may be brave enough to be pro-active, only to have their hands slapped. They neglected to get the signatures of approval by all senior management officials.

As a manager, I had an employee like this. She was a stellar employee, and an amazing person to have on my team. But one thing I noticed was whenever she had a great idea, she would come to me in a timid manner. Before she would tell me her comments, she would say a disclaimer. Her disclaimers would go something like this:

1) Tell me if I’m overstepping my boundary, but I think we should do this…..

2) I’m not sure if I should say this, but I have an idea for……

3) I…I don’t know….but….could we do this…..

Each time she approached me, I loved her ideas. I often let her take the lead on implementing those ideas. As time passed she became sure of herself, and confident in approaching me with more changes. The project that I was hired to complete, would not have been as successful if I did not have her on the team.

Over time, I groomed her to take on more leadership duties, and she has since taken over my position when I left that organization. She is doing a fantastic job in her new role.

While reminiscing with her over a cup of coffee, she thanked me for what I had done for her. She indicated that I gave her back the “spark” that she had lost, because her hands were slapped on so many occasions before.

I began to think, if I did not allow her to be proactive, and take the lead on things, then the project would not have been as successful. If I did not let her lead, I would have stifled her growth, and she may not have been promoted.

Her success was entirely her doing. I simply allowed her the room and space to be successful. She had everything she needed within herself. She only desired the confirmation that she could do it.

One of the greatest dis-service managers can do for their organization, is not allow their staff to be proactive and become leaders. When employees are proactive, they create value. When they create value, they promote improvement. And when we have an environment of continuous improvement, we create a successful organization.

As managers, our job is not only to complete projects and get tasks done. We are first people managers. We are to develop, encourage, and inspire people. If we lose this, we lose the ability to create a team of valuable individuals.

So, to all the managers who desire more from their jobs. Inspire your staff to be all they can be. You will NEVER regret it.