How to encourage Self-Initiative in Staff

Written by Linda Hurley - as published on www.mbanetwork.co.za



Successful companies and managers recognize that using the intellect of all their employees is the key to their success. To encourage employees to use self-initiative it is necessary to develop and support an environment that fosters this behavior.

Telling an employee that we expect they will use their initiative to solve problems and confirming that we believe they have the skills and abilities to do so successfully will give them the confidence they need to begin but we can do more.

Empowerment

Where employees have to seek permission for every action they take they will cease to think for themselves. Managers who check every piece of work undertaken by their staff inhibit the employees' ability to solve problems for themselves or initiate actions that improve service to customers. When we delegate the authority to allow employees to make decisions, within their span of control, they are encouraged to solve problems and find and put in place improvements to the way their work is done.

Learning

When people are empowered they make mistakes. Rather than punishing mistakes ask what could have been done differently. Take some time to determine how the experience can be shared not as a failure but as a learning experience for everyone. Treating mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures reinforces the message that the use of self-initiative is valued within the company.

Coaching

There are many solutions to each individual problem. If the answer is provided every time a question is asked the employee will not have the incentive to use their own initiative to resolve situations. Rather than telling employees how to do a task or deal with a dissatisfied customer encourage them through open questions to come up with a solution themselves.

Reward and recognition

Asking employees to use their initiative to provide a better, more customer responsive organization is asking for more than someone to simply answer the telephone according to a script or process a certain number of invoices in a specified time frame. The use of self-initiative requires additional effort and commitment to the organization and should be rewarded appropriately.


Rewards can be linked to annual assessments or be specific to certain tasks or achievements. Rewarding initiative will give the employee a tangible reason to continue to make the effort required to use their initiative. Publicly recognizing the use of self-initiative through a team celebration, certificate presentation or other appropriate means can help to spread the message to the whole organization that self-initiative is a valued trait.

Fostering self-initiative requires a workplace culture that supports staff to take control over their own work. Coaching and developing staff in problem solving techniques, protecting them from the ramifications of making honest mistakes and specifically rewarding the successful use of self-initiative will go a long way to laying the foundations for a responsive organization where every employee contributes fully to the success of the company.

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