Why Initiative Is Essential

You know what success looks like. You take initiative based on this vision, meaning you act with purpose to create your ideal world. This practice allows you to make good decisions, focusing the direction of all your efforts towards a single goal.

Initiative is an essential personal trait for you to have as a leader, but it's also important for your team. When your people start to take initiative, they have the same potential as you. They will own their responsibilities, resolve their own issues and present creative solutions to your team. 

Taking Your Own Shot

In golf, you have to play your own game. That's one of the things that makes golf similar to leadership. If you want people to improve their game, you can't take their swings for them. You communicate what success looks like, or create an environment where they can succeed.

You might explain the rules of the game. You might show them an example of better form. You might give them some encouraging feedback. You might even provide them with better equipment. All of the effective solutions have one thing in common: They focus on letting the person take the steps necessary to improve performance. Then, it's up to them to take initiative.

Starting with a Vision

Sharing your vision is one of the best ways to empower your team to take initiative. In this case, sharing goes both ways. You can't just talk — you have to help everyone generate a clear understanding of what success looks like. They have to own it.

A clear vision eliminates confusion and empowers people to make tough choices. Whether you've defined it or not, it informs all of your decisions as a leader. Once you can communicate it clearly, it will do the same for everyone else.

When anyone in your organization faces a tough question, they can go right back to the shared idea of success. Instead of asking you to make a choice, they'll ask themselves, "Is one of my options in line with our vision?"

Encouraging Initiative

Once you create and share your unique idea of success, you should see everyone taking a more active role. That might mean handling issues without escalating, solving their own problems or even contributing meaningful suggestions to the leadership team. Your next step would be to create a well-defined set of guidelines to make everyone's decisions more effective for the group - in other words, a culture. That's a discussion for a later date — this is more about getting things started. 

Initiative isn't mysterious. In fact, it's a natural state for many people. Your team members truly want to take the actions necessary to succeed and many actively pursue the freedom that comes along with making independent decisions. It will take some work as a leader, but you can activate and focus this existing drive in every member of your group.