Schedule times during the day for when you will look at emails and provide feedback be it simple responses or in depth answers. If it is colleagues passing by your desk just to chit chat then this can eat up your time and cause you to fall back on your work schedule. Some risk management might be needed here. Also use great judgement before selecting the “reply all” button. Observe trends in your industry. 2. Extra role responsibilities (i.e., those tasks outside of your stated job description) speak to an employee's organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The second question does not make much sense to me. How did it help you? Write to us in the comment section below and let us know. Let’s tackle them all. When is it due? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines proactive as “acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes.” It is further defined as “controlling a situation by making things happen or by preparing for possible future problems.”. Reactive leaders wait for problems to arise before addressing them, are often scuttling from crisis to crisis, without taking away lessons for improving the organizations and processes in which they operate. What is the next step after being proactive? Instances where someone drops the ball include missing a deadline, forgetting to do an important task, making a major mistake, being late for an important meeting or forgetting the meeting altogether, or when you don’t have an answer during a telephone call. Give yourself a cushion to cope with unexpected situations, surprises and last minute requests. The art of following up is part of the arsenal of a proactive person. Other ways of anticipating problems include reading online reviews about your company – what are the complaints and how can they be handled? Solve those as they come along, even if they mean sleepless nights, but not before. The following are illustrative examples of proactive strategies and behavior. This should have a brief message mentioning the dates when you are unavailable, when you will be available, who is to be contacted in your absence as well as their contact details or alternatively specify when you expect to read emails. Or are we talking about thinking in general? Our true inner self is proactive, never reactive. Acknowledging receipt enables the recipient to know that you received their email and when they can expect feedback. Give others feedback in a specific and respectful way. Do any of these apply in your case? Focus more energy and be vigilant on these areas. Work place friendships are important in boosting job satisfaction, morale and productivity. What is proactive thinking? Even with our best intentions to work as best as we can and be highly proactive, inevitably mistakes do happen. Within ones own role, for example, a person may find a more efficient way to complete one or more of their responsibilities. Developing how to videos and explainer videos; preparing step by step screenshot explanations to make it visually faster for others to understand processes and developing indexes, executive summaries and table of contents for documents to make them scannable or skimmable. How do you keep your calendar under control? They give you the freedom to make your own, conscientious choices instead of having to respond to a particular situation out of necessity. One of the most important things to note is the use of tone when responding to complaints, whether it is a response via email, phone or snail mail. They’re actively engaged, not passively observing. Handling requests and complaints in a timely manner is vital for good customer satisfaction. Therefore, you have to look at perspective here. Planning ahead entails knowing what you want to achieve and then structuring your activities in a systematic or sequential way around the time available. When you are back in the office double check to ensure that your auto responder is not sending emails, it can make you look disorganized. Know what others are working on and how you can support. For external emails make it a practice when replying to include your email signature with your name, title, company and contact details. At the same time it is important to nurture work relationships with colleagues and not brush them off when they want to talk to you. Develop steps for either preventing problems from reoccurring or steps for handling problems when they occur again. A broad formula for time management is to map out the daily tasks to do, begin each day by doing the most important tasks, have a time-frame for how long to work on a task and review it after you have completed it. Examples. Being proactive means controlling situations by causing things to happen rather than waiting to respond after things happen. In a way, this means predicting the future and acting accordingly before the events have even had a chance to happen. Did you find ThriveYard’s career resources helpful? Being proactive means thinking and acting ahead of anticipated events. People can count on you for your reliability. The impact could be negative or positive depending on the situation. Always include a clear email subject and begin by thanking the sender for reaching out. Manage this process well by letting the caller know you are transferring them to a specific person and explain why you are transferring them for example that person is a specialist who can assist them further. Estimate how much time it would take to complete tasks to have an idea of how your day would look like and stay focused as you complete the tasks at hand. You can quickly skim all the 25 tips on the table of contents below and then click on any tip to read further details. Endeavor to participate in brainstorming meetings to help come up with ideas to improve the company and support customers better. Outsourcing labor intensive activities e.g. Proactive vs reactive thinking. A proactive approach is any self-initiated action that prepares to handle the future. When confronted with change take time to analyze and understand the reason for the change, the impact of the change and how you need to adjust seamlessly moving forward. Make a mental note of the key points during a phone call or you can write them down. Following-up can be done through different avenues such as email, telephone, text, snail mail, meetings or social media. Be on the lookout for potential slip ups in tasks that you don’t enjoy but still have to do. Master the operations of the phone system and use its various functions seamlessly. You should also welcome constructive feedback that is aimed at making you better, more efficient and proactive. At the end of the activity, examine what you did against your initial objectives. When it comes to thinking, the difference between being reactive and proactive is all about timing. Being proactive builds your personal brand and reputation at work. Others include preparing manuals, templates, responses to frequently asked questions, setting up reminders, avoiding scheduling back to back meetings and scheduling short meetings. Additionally when thanking your customers and also when sending reminders for subscription renewals. Reactive vs Proactive Thinking. Now, this concept can be a little abstract for some. Extra role responsibilities (i.e., those tasks outside of your stated job description) speak to an employee's organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). If it’s something you will work on or research on before answering later then send a brief email confirming you will send feedback by a certain time or date. Covey uses existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl as a supreme example of being proactive even when it seems you’ve been stripped of every last bit of your autonomy. If you don’t keep an eye on it, your calendar could get out of control leaving you running around in circles. Strive for relevant and brief responses to emails and proofread your emails. Proactive development means solving many of the problems you already have or that arise over time before they become a major problem. Prioritizing begins by writing a list of all the tasks which you need to do then ranking them according to importance. Utilize your calendar as a deliberate scheduling tool. Taking initiative is the next logical step after being proactive. A reactive business strategy is one that will start to take care of an event only after it has already happened. repeating back critical information such as names, numbers and addresses. If you have kept someone on hold while you verify something or do quick research, reassure them from time to time that you are still on the line and working on their request. The best part of having a to-do list is checking off an item after you have completed it.