How to be more proactive at work?
How to be more proactive at work? – It’s no secret that proactivity is one of the most desired and sought-after soft skills by companies. Therefore, the greater the proactivity of a professional, the greater the chances of growth within the company in any sector.
Although the market values this quality, the meaning of being a person who is proactive at work is still a little unclear, in this article, you will understand what this means and how to become more proactive in the corporate environment.
What does proactivity mean?
Proactivity is known as the ability to anticipate situations and act beforehand.
The concept began to be disseminated in the 1930s by the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist Victor Frankly after a series of behavioral studies.
The result was that being proactive makes it possible to make decisions more calmly and wisely, making a difference in the general context. A proactive person can anticipate changes, adapt to them, or perceive future problems and find solutions.
How proactivity appears at work
In a competitive business environment, as it is today, decisions must be made quickly and assertively.
This is where proactivity comes in since experts who expect issues and now contemplate arrangements have a more prominent possibility of finding lasting success in going with a significant choice than somebody who doesn’t work along these lines.
These people perceive, plan, and do things before anyone asks; they take the initiative within the team. Therefore, companies are increasingly looking for proactive teams.
Reactive person X Proactive person
Generally speaking, the market has two types of behavior: reactive and proactive.
Reactive: The person waits for something to happen before making a decision. For example, she expects to receive an order, expect a problem to arise, and to be forced to act.
On the other hand, proactively, the person acts as described above, noticing trends and acting before someone asks or the problem worsens.
In opposition to what it might appear, simultaneously being a receptive and proactive individual is conceivable. This is because, for instance, it is feasible to be responsive in the capabilities performed working, yet proactive in the home climate.
To identify, you need to have a lot of self-knowledge.
The main characteristics of a proactive person
Proactivity does not necessarily have to do with talent or gift.
All of us can develop and incorporate it. However, the person must have or develop some characteristics for this to happen. See below some of the main traits of a proactive person:
• Self-knowledge: Proactive people know their characteristics well, identify strengths, and seek to improve weaknesses.
• Search for assertiveness: they make communication clear to the point of being able to convince through well-founded ideas, presenting the best solution to a problem that may arise.
• They are creative: proactive people always try to devise at least one solution for every problem. They try other ways to get the result if it doesn’t have the expected effect.
• They are focused: in the work environment, a proactive professional maintains focus on the essentials, avoiding getting involved with peripheral matters, such as gossip and matters outside of work. If the place is not inspiring, take the necessary steps to ensure your productivity is as high as possible.
• They are responsible: proactive people take on the responsibilities of what is proposed and commit to the deliveries without blaming the external environment for any possible error, and when failures occur, they seek correction by identifying what happened so that they do not repeat.
• They have self-control: controlling emotions is perhaps one of the main characteristics of a proactive person. Using reason instead of reacting aggressively in a moment of stress is an essential skill.
• Vision of the future: someone proactive is always with their feet in the present, but with a part of the brain already envisioning the future and the possibilities it offers. This applies to plans and projects and anticipating and solving problems.
How to be more proactive at work
Just like any skill, proactivity can be trained day after day. See below a list of practices that can help in the process of becoming more proactive at work:
1. Self-knowledge
As you have seen, to know the best way to put proactivity into practice in your life, it is ideal that you have a minimum of knowledge about yourself.
To begin to understand yourself, practice self-observation during periods of your day. It’s natural to always be in a more automatic state and make decisions without thinking too deeply.
Try to understand your decision-making processes calmly. If you face a situation where you need to make a decision, understand your motivations in depth.
2. Think short, medium, and long term
Once you know yourself, start training you’re thinking to see the next steps. Thinking in the short, medium, and long term opens up space to perceive new opportunities.
Thinking about tomorrow and the coming months allows you to anticipate mistakes, think about new projects, and foresee results. With this information, finding the best way to act before receiving any order is possible.
This way, you can move from a reactive to a more proactive position.
3. Seek to know the environment you are in
Similarly, as it is vital to rehearse self-perception, you want to know your climate, see sufficient about the organization’s culture, and think about how to characterize outside limits.
This means finding out where there is room for proactivity at work, suggesting projects and changes, making decisions, and carrying out new activities. This lets you know how far you can count on your colleagues on your journey.
4. Don’t let fear discourage you
It’s expected to be afraid after foreseeing situations, identifying opportunities, and deciding. Fear will always exist in new situations, especially when making decisions. After all, leaving your comfort zone is scary.
Yet, don’t allow dread to deter you from making a move; consistently remember that it is an ordinary inclination. He will be available in the primary snapshots of our lives; the significant thing isn’t to allow him to stop us.
5. Be an essentialist
Being an essentialist is challenging for many people in the job market – sometimes even in their personal lives. But what does it mean to be an essentialist? This concept translates into eliminating excess and keeping only what is essential to complete a job.
Whether in career or life, there are moments when we constantly sin by keeping and accumulating more than necessary. After all, we always think we will need that thing in the future. However, this accumulation can be harmful, as it prevents us from seeing and maintaining what is truly essential.
Thus, the principal challenge is to be essentialist with what we need to accomplish the most ideal outcomes with lucidity and astuteness.
6. Know how far you can go
Are there limits to proactivity in the professional environment, company, or the job market? This answer is quite relative in each case, in each company, and in each situation.
The limit can always come up against your scope. For example, you may not be well received if you want to suggest a project for a different sector.
It’s likewise fascinating to check whether the group doesn’t feel outraged if you start to lead the pack in a particular circumstance. Most of the time, they will feel propelled, yet it is critical to comprehend the climate you are in.
Therefore, a dose of careful attention is ideal in these cases.
Understanding how far you can go and asking for and receiving feedback is an excellent way to deal. Always be open to this and act maturely if you receive negative feedback.
Read more:- See 7 steps to re-enter the job market
