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Be skilled at using informal strategies to get things done.
a proactive leader certainly is talking from experience. There are formal policies, procedures, and ways things are to be done. It is also true they sometimes do not work and situations come up where there is no formalized approach that will get from here to there in the time available to get there. Now and then though, people take this to mean they can ignore the rules, not pay attention to the formal processes. This definitely is not a proactive leader’s point. The informal approach supplements formal procedures and is not a substitute for them.
People also sometimes see the informal approach as a convenient way to bypass the chain of command, to shortcut processes they think take too long, to shop around for the decision they want, or to avoid jobs they do not like. This is not what a proactive leader has in mind either. For a proactive leader, the informal approach is simply one more strategy available to him within the formal context.
a proactive leader wants his team to use informal strategies, to talk with each other, to informally innovate when they need to, to avoid being too rigid about the rules when something unusual comes up that does not quite fit into the established procedures. They are responsible people who can and are expected to use their good judgment and common sense. a proactive leader liberally uses informal strategies himself, but you can have too much of a good thing.
Being skilled at using informal strategies includes knowing when to use them and when formal is best. If informal strategies are used too much or inappropriately, things become disorganized, efficiency and quality suffer. If they are used too little, the team becomes rigid and inflexible, creativity and innovation disappear, and the team loses its cutting edge. On a proactive leader’s winning team, the real skill in using informal strategies is in finding and maintaining the balance.
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Understand and tap the knowledge, skills, and resources of everyone.
You are not surprised?
That old cat is already out of the bag?
This proactive leader’s secret is no secret anymore?
a proactive leader is a sponge who goes around soaking up whatever serves his team’s purposes. Everyone’s knowledge, skills, and resources fit right in with his absorption strategy.
Here is what you may not know. a proactive leader is also a master at finding the specific know-how, particular skill, or perfect resource for the immediate purpose, whatever the need happens to be. He knows someone who either has or can get exactly what the doctor calls for, so to speak. When the success puzzle requires a new or unusual piece, a proactive leader reaches out, pulls it in, and slips it into place. What’s more, it is miraculously an exact fit, not just what the doctor ordered. It is a cure for whatever the condition happened to be.
How does he do it? He sees everyone he meets as a potential resource for his team. He then talks with them about what they do, their knowledge, their skills, their resources. Of course, they are normally pleased with his interest and happy to share with him. What they do not know is that he is listening and filing away anything that may one day be a piece for his success puzzle. He then remembers the potentially useful details he has learned, ready to tap them when the time comes.
Surprise of surprises. The proactive leader is using the listen and learn strategy again. It is beginning to look like that may be another one of those absolutely critical characteristics of effective leadership. As you consider your developing leadership style, you may want to snitch this strategy and incorporate it into your personal inventory of leadership tools. It will serve you well.