“Proactive” is a contemporary buzzword. We used it as the leading word in the title of a book we wrote recently, but we pondered this choice carefully before committing to it. Like many buzzwords, this one is far easier to recite than it is to apply.
The idea of proactivity is simple enough: consider what negative outcomes might befall you in advance of an event and then take steps to preclude it from happening or at least mitigate the damage it might cause if it does occur. In the same way that product developers have applied other techniques to product development, such as early supplier involvement, early manufacturing involvement, or having marketing participate continuously throughout a project, so developers have also applied “proactivity” without thinking about it as such. Now that some of the older approaches have lost their competitive edge, we are looking for the next opportunity for improvement, which is to propagate this notion of’ “proactivity” throughout all aspects of the project.
This is appealing enough. But it goes against the styles of many managers. Their style is reactivity or as it is more commonly known, firefighting. The idea of firefighting is to let a problem fester until it becomes a crisis, and then swoop in and fix it. Firefighting is popular because it is exciting. Furthermore, it is a win-win situation for the firefighter. If the fix works out, the firefighter is a hero. If it doesn’t, the firefighter can’t be blamed, because the situation was virtually hopeless to begin with. Notice that it is to the firefighter’s advantage to actually let the problem become worse, because then there will be less blame if they fail or more praise if they succeed.
Most of us deplore the firefighting style, yet we tacitly perpetuate it by rewarding firefighters for the miraculous things they do. The methodical work of prevention done by others goes unnoticed. Consequently, the firefighting style can be difficult to eliminate, especially in cultures that thrive on action and excitement. In contrast, in Japan, a crisis is evidence of failure: Japanese culture favors a more proactive approach to problem solving.
If this weren’t enough, there is another, more practical difficulty with proactivity. It naturally focuses on the future. In our competitive environment, many managers are having enough difficulties in the present without looking into the future to find even more problems. The thought of investing now to prevent tomorrow’s problems, while attractive, simply will not happen with the overload of today’s problems. Today’s problems are a certainty: tomorrow’s are only a possibility. Of course, ignoring tomorrow’s problems today means that there will he plenty of work to do in the future to deal with those crises. The approach of denying future issues is self-perpetuating.
As you can see, being proactive is more difficult than simply wearing a badge with a slogan such as, “Be proactive.” However, it is still a worthwhile goal, since the benefits of proactivity are significant. Here are some things you can do to become more proactive:
(c) Copyright 2013 Preston G. Smith. All Rights Reserved.
