Beyond Permission: Strategies for Proactive Leadership and Growth
A Guide to Taking Initiative, Building Trust, and Navigating Your Career with Confidence.
People are often waiting.
Waiting is often a form of asking for permission.
As a result, the average person spends large parts of their career waiting for others to take the lead, take risks, fix problems, make recommendations, and seize opportunities.
The truth is the most effective people who get ahead and rise to the top levels in business do not look for permission. And yes, this may mean they make more mistakes. I have made many mistakes over the years. I certainly wish that I had made fewer errors. But if you are growing and developing throughout your career, the reality is that you will make mistakes. Embrace these errors as stepping stones; each is an opportunity for refinement and progress.
š„ - Permission is not required
I have observed that the most successful people I work with see their relationships with their bosses very differently.
They aren't trying to avoid the person. They may not always agree, but they engage constructively with them. And at a minimum, they know where they stand.
They see the relationship as crucial to their success and manage it intentionally, knowing a common purpose binds them.
What distinguishes the most successful people is their skill in "managing up". They proactively communicate to show they are in control, thereby reducing unnecessary and inefficient back-and-forth or endless one-off questions. They take the initiative and empower themselves in several ways:
They rarely wait to be told what to do.
They ask for permission judiciously.
They aren't shy about making recommendations.
They often lead with phrases like "I intend to..."
They take action and report back - either immediately or
They take action and report back - periodically or
They take action and report back - simply upon completion.
This capability to provide the right amount of information and context is invaluable. It not only assists their boss but also fosters a sense of trust and confidence, leading to increased empowerment and autonomy.
A final point: there is an important distinction to make:Ā Managing up to curry favours and position for promotion is bad, although all too common in the workplace. Managing upwards to help your team accomplish its goals is good.
Leaders who are effective at getting promoted are significantly different to work for than leaders who are effective at developing their teams. Which type is more prevalent in your workplace?
šļø Challenge: At what level of initiative do you feel comfortable operating?
Effective followers of a leader are mission-focused, driven to win, not afraid to tell bosses what is and what is not working, and seek forgiveness rather than ask permission. With that in mind, let's take a look at what you are working on.
For each initiative, project or task that you are investing your time and attention on, run it by the seven steps and decide which is most accurate for your current way of working and interacting with your boss:
Did you get handed the task and told to "get it done" or "please look into this"?
Or
Did you ask your boss whether it was okay for you to spend time on that problem or opportunity?
Or
Did you recommend "we deal with this issue" or "seize the opportunity"?
Or
In your latest 1-2-1 with your boss, did you tell them, "I intend to have my team spend time on this"?
Or
Did you immediately inform your boss after addressing a new issue that you had done X to fix Y?
Or
Do you give regular updates on a fluid set of initiatives that you and your team are focused on, some at the start, some during, and some at the end of each project?
Or
In your regular catch-ups, you let them know that your team had completed the review and reached a conclusion that they are now implementing for a problem your boss wasn't even aware of.
What level of initiative are you most commonly working at?
š« - A quote that I am currently pondering
"There are no solutions, only trade-offs."
Thomas Sowell
From his book, "A Conflict of Visions." This quote takes me back to first principles. Often, people can't agree on the best solution to a problem because they aren't on the same page to start with. The very words they use have different meanings to each stakeholder. If you are experiencing a blockage when dealing with someone, perhaps even a conflict you are struggling to resolve, then one small step to create the breakthrough might be double-checking that you are actually talking about the same thing.
š§¾ - An absorbing and insightful (short) read
5 Tactics to Combat a Culture of False Urgency at WorkĀ is for all those people who are constantly firefighting, going from one short-term crisis to another, and struggling to protect time to do "real work."
The reality is that most businesses reward people who solve problems and do not reward people who prevent problems.
And that is because we remember and place undue significance on things that do happen while ignoring those that do not. Consequently, people discount causes that are absent - the things that didn't happen - and raise the importance of things that are present.
So theĀ arsonist firepersonĀ is rewarded - the highly responsive leader known as a fixer - often at the expense of theĀ insightful proactiveĀ leader who, without much fuss, ensures their team puts out future fires before they have a chance to ignite.
Who are the best defenders in football/soccer? The ones that make the most tackles or those that appreciate that tackles are a last resort - for when something has gone wrong - and hence rarely make a tackle because their positioning is perfect?
Yet another example of incentives rewarding certain workplace behaviour. This is increasingly making me think that a crucial C-Suite role that most companies lack is that of theĀ Chief Incentive Officer.
š¤ - If you did have the answer to this question, what would it be?
Are you willing to sprint when the distance is unknown?
Link to source.