ENCOURAGING SELF-INITIATIVE IN YOUR EMPLOYEES

Self-initiative in your employees is extremely important, since it helps your company to progress, gain more profit and advance in technology. Employees, who take initiative, foster new ideas on how to improve the workflow, are proactive and find inventive ways to solve problems and are always trying to do more for the company. Unfortunately, not all employees are like that.

 

There are several factors to consider when looking for reasons why not all of your employees take initiative:

      • They are introverts and are reluctant to be more proactive, since that would put them in the center of attention.
  • They had a few awful ideas that you shot down and now their self-confidence is chattered.
  • They don`t want to take self-initiative, as they feel they aren`t appreciated enough.
  • They noticed, that people in your company who are more proactive, tend to do more work and don`t receive any rewards for their extraordinary accomplishments.

 

Now that we have our reasons why our employees don`t take more initiative, we can find efficient ways on how to encourage them:

 

  • Let people identify with your vision: make sure your employees care, address peoples` inner values what do your employees find important?
  • Set an exciting goal: it gives people energy to work on an ambitious challenge. Working towards a point on the horizon helps to stay motivated.
  • Provide positive feedback: even for employees who may lack initiative, look for the tasks they do perform successfully and acknowledge them.
  • Reward good behavior: if you reward self-initiative in the workplace, others are encouraged to follow suit.
  • Create room for experimentation: give your employees space to experiment; they have to have the capacity to work on new ideas.
  • Create a safe environment: people, who are proactive, make many mistakes on their way to success. It`s your job to encourage them to keep going.
  • Be the example: you are an example to many of your employees. Show them that you too take initiative and aren`t afraid to make a few mistakes on your way to achieving a goal. Share your experiences with them.

 

These are just a few ways how you can make your employees more proactive. Try a few and see if there`s progress. REMEMBER, A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP. 

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