I am proactive. But my boss doesn’t allow me to be…
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Posted by RK Prasad, Co-Founder & CEO
Mon, Jun 29, 2009 @ 06:52 AM
I attended a day-long seminar “Overcoming Challenges in Today’s Times” conducted by the big man, Stephen Covey himself, at Hyderabad, India early this year. At the end of it, when Steven asked the participants if they have any doubts, a man got up and shared his concern that though he is very proactive, his boss isn’t and doesn’t allow him to be! Steven did not make it easy for him. He asked him a few questions and left him at that. Probably Steven wanted the man to be proactive and find his own answers.
As my understanding goes, being proactive means being able to take responsibility for one’s behavior, whatever it may be – positive or negative. The underlying rationale is only when you take responsibility for your actions you will learn from them and use them to your advantage. Personally, whenever I am proactive, in addition to learning, I find myself energized and free.
“Proactivity – First Habit of Highly Effective People”
Coming back to the man at the seminar, who represents all of us, one time or the other, his question belongs to all of us – can we be proactive among people who are not at all proactive? How can we take initiative when our boss doesn’t allow us to? How long will we take responsibility of our behavior and actions when others don’t take responsibility for theirs?
I will be very interested to hear your comments.
RK Prasad
CEO
Tags: Behavior, Overcoming Challenges, Proactive, Responsibility
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I am guessing that the orientation of your boss is one that is more Hierarchical than yours (Participative). These are ends of the continuum of the Cultural Dimension (Power Distance) identified by Dr. Geert Hofstede. (It also could be that he/she has a High Need for Certainty and you have more of a Tolerance for Ambiguity – this Hofstede dimensions is called Certainty).
I can provide you more information on how to be effective when working for someone with a Hierarchical orientation and/or Need for Certainty. If you are interested, please contact me.
Cass
Like the person who previously commented, it is likely that the boss and perhaps the organization is more hierarchical at this time. My experience has been that leaders and organizations become more hierarchical during difficult economic times. Decision making occurs more and more at the time. Unfortunately it is the opposite of what the organization really needs, especially during difficult times. I believe the individual has to have that direct conversation with his boss..not in an accusing manner, rather he needs to speak to what he is experiencing right now…a desire to proactively move forward with X, his current frustration which is immobilizing him and perhaps his fear…and the solicit his boss’ support to move forward in the best interest of the organization in a proactive and productive way. This allows the boss to provide context for the culture of the organization at this time, some mentoring and perhaps some insight that the individual has not though of or has not been privy to.
Thank you for sharing your views.
RK
Mr.Prasad,
Just now saw the discussion about this interesting topic and I felt like sharing my views
I have also attended Franklin Covey’s 7 Habits signature program along with my peers few months back and i am trying hard to practice it in my day to day life. Unfortunately lot many factors like job size, Organization culture, changing priorities, etc limits a person to practice this habit. So I have decided to implement all the 7 habits in my personal life before i try that in my professional life. This is similar to wat Mr.Covey says “Private Victory precedes public victory”
Last but not the least …
To practice some thing new, your span of control plays a key role because the priorities of an employee at an executive level is determined by their boss (most often) so its foolish to say plan your “BIG ROCKS” well in advance for their professional roles.
As an executive with responsibility for $2 billion in assets, $750 million annually in product, and over 1000 permanent employees (retired), and as an executive coach (active), I can say with confidence that there are a number of ways to work with a boss.
One key lesson I learned early in my career is that you do not have to be the boss to make things happen. Rather, you have to make it easy for your boss to do it (and even for him to take credit for it).
As an example, do NOT ask your boss to do something or make something happpen. Rather, prepare the letter (or procedure, etc) for your boss to sign. Make it easy. In order for this to work, however, your MUST be truly doing the work quality at your boss’s level, not at your level.
This brings us to the second concept — as a employee (at any level) you should strive to be producing at the quality of your boss and fully understanding the thinking of your boss’s boss. Only by understanding the thinking at that level can you then understand what your boss can/should be doing.
By doing these two steps, one can indeed be truly proactive in an organization!
Kamala – please read Chuck’s posting below yours. I think it answers your dilemma very well.
Thanks, Chuck.
Thank you so much Mr.Chuck for the valuable suggestions. You have very well understood the root cause and answered accordingly.
Thank You Mr.Prasad
Mr.Prasad and Mr.Manohari,
You are both very welcome.
Chuck Schroeder
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This is a very nice discussion.