Reactive versus Proactive Leadership

Imagine waking up, going through your morning routine, heading off to work, sitting down at your desk, and BAM!  You receive that email, the one where there is a problem, and you and your team need to fix it.  There are a few emails already flying back and forth, no one knows what is going on, and everyone is to blame.

<< Rewind

Imagine waking up, going through your morning routine, heading off to work, sitting down at your desk, and BAM!  You receive that email, the one where there is a problem, and your team has fixed it.  There are a few emails already flying back and forth, the responsible employees are communicating, and everything is getting addressed.

Which scenario sounds better to you?  Which scenario gives you a more positive feeling?  If it was the first scenario, it was nice to meet you and good luck to you.  If it was the second, welcome to tranquil leadership.  As with most things in the world, there are two ways to address leadership; reactively and proactively.

In a reactive mindset, a leader waits for things to happen.  They allow life to go on and adjust to issues, problems, and situations as they arise.  In a proactive mindset, a leader anticipates things to happen.  They research and understand life and make preparations in areas such as training, resource securing, and team building to account for future events.  In and of themselves, neither one is good or bad, but in the context of leadership and management, being proactive heads to a positive and peaceful place.

No leader will ever get fully away from being reactive from time to time.  We live in a world with human beings, and humans make mistakes.  We must react to the mistakes as they arise.  Strong leadership should strive to be as proactive as they can to minimize their time reacting.  Being proactive gives teams time to react.

Being proactive forces your team to be focused.  They are focused on the important tasks at hand, they design out the errors and problems, and they free up time to make adjustments to items they may have missed.  Being reactive forces your team to trail.  They are always behind on their work, they are always catching up on overdue items, and they are always putting out little fires that flair up from issues and problems.

Work on setting your team’s culture to be proactive; it will make your life a whole lot easier.  Work on the important tasks, get and stay in front of problems and bake in solutions, and anticipate questions and concerns ahead of time.  No one will ever completely eliminate the need to react, but by working to be proactive, you will minimize the need and time commitment in reacting.  Being proactive will make reacting to problems much quicker and easier.

And of course, there is always being inactive…nope.