* By Pedro Signorelli
Being proactive is a characteristic that I have very much in me and that I also admire a lot in others. And it is quite common for companies to prioritize proactive employees for hiring or eventual promotion, after all, those who are willing to do tasks without even being asked and do not wait to take some initiative stand out from the rest.
Proactivity is not as simple as it seems, as it is a soft skill that involves a series of factors: active search for opportunities, anticipation of problems and responsibility. This combination makes proactive employees more productive and engaged people, as they are constantly contributing effectively to the best results for the company.
On the other hand, I realize that some people confuse the concept of ‘being proactive’ with ‘being overloaded’. There is a glaring difference between the two, because from the moment we cross the border of proactivity and start to have more demands than we can handle, a huge problem will be created that is very difficult to get rid of over time.
And why? When we are overwhelmed, we are usually under pressure, trying to solve thousands of things at the same time. This will result in poorly done or half-done work, and worse than that, the chance of mistakes happening more frequently will be greater and you probably won’t notice, because you were trying to finish all the tasks you were responsible for.
We need to understand that to be proactive, we cannot embrace the world and try to do everything we see in front of us, because that will not work. It is essential to have a better understanding of the scenario to determine what is within our scope and what is completely beyond it. To do this, regardless of your position within the company, management by OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) can be useful.
OKRs make managers and employees more focused and clear about their respective roles, which ends up being beneficial for both the individual and the team and brings positive results to the company as a whole. After all, with a better vision of the work, it becomes possible to choose what we – proactive – can do at that moment and, thus, help with our skill and not the other way around.
Being proactive in what matters is the best we can do with our time and for the organization we are part of. We will be much happier this way, by combining productivity and engagement, delivering more results. What could be better?
Pedro Signorelli is one of Brazil’s leading experts in management, with an emphasis on OKRs. He has already moved more than R$2 billion with his projects and is responsible, among others, for the Nextel case, the largest and fastest implementation of the tool in the Americas. For more information, visit: http://www.gestaopragmatica.com.br/
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Alice Vieira
