In today’s fast paced business world a manager is expected to do more than manage. The successful managers who make it to the top of their careers understand completely that being proactive and taking the initiative is a required management skill to get to the top rung of the corporate ladder.
The fast paced world we live in especially the in business world has created what we know as the ‘Do It Now’ culture. This culture has now become mainstream even a way of life in many of the organisations and businesses. To be a successful and effective manager you need to adopt a proactive can do attitude. A manager who is reactive and waits to be prompted will soon get left behind.
There are many ways that you can get into the habit of becoming a proactive manager as follows:
1)Pro-activeness is created by ideas therefore, to be proactive you need ideas to act on. So, how do you go about getting ideas?. A good way to start is to carry a note book around with you so that you can write down ideas. Ideas can appear out of nowhere and they come to us everyday however, we quickly forget them because we never write them down. Review the ideas in your notebook on a regular basis as these can help you to come up with new projects, business ideas, solutions to problems and ways to save money. The important thing is to get those ideas down on paper before they escape forever.
2)One of the habits that many managers do is to procrastinate on certain tasks especially when it comes to relying on other peoples communications. You may experience having sent an email or a letter to someone who took a long time to reply to it. This probably made you feel annoyed that the other person has not replied to you in a timely manner. You never know but that person may have had the same experience waiting for you to reply to them. Get into the habit of replying immediately to every type of communication that you receive. In this way you will acquire the reputation of a proactive person who gets things done.
3)Being proactive also means that you know how to devote your time to your work effectively. Effective managers identity which tasks are a priority and worthy of their time. Those tasks that are deemed unnecessary or either disposed are delegated to someone else. In this way the effective manager only works on the necessary tasks that move them towards their business goals.
