Two polar bear twins, old enough to hunt for food for the first time, head to the edge of a floe. The brother sits at the edge, waiting for a succulent seal to jump on the ice by itself. The sister, on the other hand, knows that she has to dive into the ocean in order to have a meal. She jumps in and swims in the vicinity looking for a prey but finds nothing. She takes a second round, but to no avail. She jumps back on the ice to catch a breath. Her brother laughs at her for doing all that hard work. The sister decides to try her luck once again and dives into the water. This time, she finally emerges with a juicy seal. She eats to her heart’s content and heads back home. The brother continues to wait for his food to come to him but it never does. He is forced to go to bed hungry.
Polar bears don’t wear shoes but if they did, whose shoes would we imagine ourselves in? The brother’s or the sister’s?
Taking initiative means to drive oneself to do something even if nobody has asked us to do it. It is a sought after leadership quality. Taking the initiative or taking the first step that nobody has taken before does require effort and comes along with a risk factor but its benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
If you are debating with your thoughts on whether to take a decision, the following pros might help influence your decision:
1. Taking initiative helps you remain in the track of your objective. Instead of having somebody else take decisions for you and steer you away from your objective, you can win control by taking your own first step.
2. Once you’ve taken the first step and things go well, you’ll notice a boost in your confidence which will in turn drive you to charge forward.
3. Nothing can take the place of the experience and the valuable insights that you gather when you try something new. It’ll lead you to take better decisions in the future and maybe even avert you from possible danger.
4. Your first step, no matter how small, my serve as an inspiration for other people. The experience that you’ve gathered will put you in a position to help others.
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Taking an initiative often times requires you to step out of your comfort zone. Once you do that, you are pushing away the wall that you’ve surrounded yourself with, giving way to more possibilities.
Now that we know how well it can work for us, we just have to figure out how to make it work.
1. Cultivate the habit: Take initiatives as often as you can. Soon, you will find it getting easier than before. Not just that, you will also find this habit molding your decision making skills for the better.
2. Start small: Taking big risks right in the beginning can prove to be dangerous. Begin with small steps, get comfortable with things before you move to the next big step.
3. Take up more responsibilities: Work harder to upskill yourself while keeping in mind your saturation level. Soon, you might realize that you are a lot more capable than you thought.
4. Get better at problem solving: Practice being level-headed when facing a problem. Ask the right questions to get to a solution to the problem. Taking up initiatives becomes easier when we’ve strengthened or problem solving skills.
5. Share knowledge: Talk about your experience when taking initiative. Another person might chime in with experience of his own. Thus, making a good repository of ideas.
Once you make a conscious effort in taking initiatives, you’ll find that it has a positive effect on your leadership skills as well. Taking initiative separates great leaders from the usual ones. A leader who doesn’t take initiative is like a mere worker in the team
