Proactive employees tend to be more productive and happier because they feel empowered to innovate and get work done, increase customers’ satisfaction levels, and bring in more revenue.
Here are a few things you can do to develop more proactive employees.
Implement Open and Transparent Communications
If you want your employees to be proactive, make sure your organization implements open and transparent communications via cloud-based platforms and collaboration tools, as well as other social and sharing tools and methods.
For more insight, read “4 Reasons You Need a Transparent Company Culture.”
Embrace Employee Feedback
To encourage your employees to be more proactive, listen to their feedback, and address it head-on or incorporate it into your learning and development (L&D) or business operations. For example, if employees want to update a particular business process because it’s too labor-intensive, incorporate their feedback on how to fix or update it, and if employees want to address a certain repeated customer request, allow them to determine how to keep customers satisfied.
All in all, when your employees feel as if their feedback matters, they’ll be more willing to be proactive when a problem needs a resolution or something needs innovation without needing to be asked.
Encourage Flex Work
When employees can work where and when they want through flexible work arrangements, they feel happier and more empowered, are more productive, and are more proactive, as they can tackle tasks and address issues when they know they are the most productive.
Focus on Employees’ Strengths
When employees can focus on their strengths, they’ll do more of what they’re good at and be more inclined to be proactive when these strengths are needed and relevant to certain projects or tasks. So, to develop more proactive employees, focus on each employee’s individual strengths.
Endorse a Culture of Learning
Organizations that endorse a culture of learning in which employees are empowered to ask questions and learn are more innovative and successful because they’re full of employees who are encouraged to proactively learn new skills and solve problems.
Give Employees More Challenging Work
Employees will not remain productive or proactive if they aren’t consistently challenged and given problems to solve because they will get complacent or bored with monotonous tasks—redundant work leads to reactionary approaches, not proactive approaches. Proactive employees want to embrace new challenges and tasks, so offer them challenges that are within their skill levels and strengths.
Stop Micromanaging
Employees aren’t given the opportunity to be proactive when they are micromanaged because their every move is being monitored or scrutinized in some way, so to truly encourage employees to be more proactive, empower them to act and make their own decisions.
Overall, to cultivate proactive employees, offer more flexibility, and encourage them to communicate openly, provide feedback, develop their individual strengths, engage in more challenging work, and learn.