Taking Initiative at WorkTaking initiative at work is often mostly a matter of seeking appropriate job assignments and being instrumental in helping the department improve its services or quality. Below are some approaches all employees can take to show this type of initiative.

Make a list of the excuses you use to avoid taking action on the job. Find someone to whom you can be accountable and review the list closely with him/her; make a plan not to use these excuses again.

With an accountability partner, review, develop and share your responses to the following questions. Your ideas should be focused on areas, which have the greatest impact in the organization and department.

o What are the organization’s mission and goals?

o What kinds of things need to be done in our department to support the organization’s mission and goals?

o What constitutes performance and results in this department?

o What can and should I do to make a difference?

Make a list of the things you would change in the department if you could, and your reasons for changing them. Prioritize the list and plan to take the top items to the next step.

Become a valuable resource by offering your expertise and experience to others - they will come to view you as an expert in your area.

Taking Initiative at Work Employee & Organizational DevelopmentPage 1 of 2 – rev. 2/26/2014 Human Resources

Flesh out your ideas for improving departmental functions and services in a written proposal. Identify the costs and benefits of these ideas before presenting them. Do a negative-objection analysis, thinking through the questions and objections your proposal is likely to receive. Develop a sound response for each and collect the additional data and evidence you need to make your case. Develop a plan for how the ideas can realistically be implemented.

Seek informal support for your proposals around the department, by pre-selling your plan. Bounce off these ideas on a colleague first.

Seek positions of leadership, both formal and informal.

Volunteer for an unusual assignment or one outside your assigned tasks.

Seek out responsibility above and beyond the expected job description.

Stick tenaciously to an idea or project and follow it through to successful implementation; willingly assume some personal risk in taking on new responsibilities.

Take advantage of opportunities quickly. Realize that many opportunities are fleeting; act on them before someone else does, or before the chance to act slips away.

Go out of your way to help co-workers by volunteering to fill in for them when they are sick or on vacation.

Request opportunities to cross-train with co-workers-both inside and outside the department.

Taking Initiative at Work Employee & Organizational DevelopmentPage 2 of 2 – rev. 2/26/2014 Human Resources