Are You Proactive or Reactive?

Only a few people actually make things happen. Most people simply react to the events which occur in their lives. As a leader, you really don’t have a choice but to be someone who makes waves; someone who changes the world through his decisions and actions.

Proactive managers welcome challenges as opportunities to demonstrate creative problem solving while reactive managers approach challenges with fear. Proactive managers anticipate problems before they occur and take steps to head them off. Reactive managers wait for problems to happen, react with surprise and frustration then look for a scapegoat.

When you think about it, most of the problems we encounter in life are predictable because most have happened before. When we exceed the speed limit we get pulled over. When we are overserved at a bar, we say stupid things and feel bad the next day. When we don’t apply discipline to our children they grow up without a sense of responsibility.

Every one of these problems is both predictable and preventable. The same is true in business. When we show up late for a service call, we get to deal with an angry customer. When an employee ignores safety rules someone is going to get injured. When we act indifferently toward customers we lose their business.

When things start to go badly a reactive manager wonders, “Why does everything always happen to me?” The proactive manager looks immediately for the cause of the problem and resolves to make changes so that the problem does not happen again. Whether the solution is more training, enforcement of key company rules or correction of a bad employee attitude, the proactive manager takes responsibility for allowing the problem to occur as well as the fix.

Let’s say you have a productive employee who repeatedly chooses to ignore company policies. The reactive manager says, “I sure wish John would follow the rules but I can’t afford to lose his productivity.” Out of fear the manager does nothing, although he promises himself he will address the issue in the future. Since there are no consequences to his actions John continues to ignore policies. What’s worse, other employees see that John is not confronted and begin to pick and choose which rules they will follow. Ultimately, the issues boil up into a crisis and the manager is finally forced to react.

In the same circumstance the proactive manager evaluates the situation like this: “Yes, John is productive, but he would be much more productive if he followed company policies. We cannot tolerate employees who choose which rules to follow. Either we change the rules or we change the employee.” What follows is a counseling session with John who is told he is crossing a line which will not be tolerated. John gets to decide whether he wants to remain an employee or not. Regardless of which path John takes, the manager is clearly in control. Other employees either notice a better version of John or they get to meet John’s replacement. In both cases their respect for the proactive manager increases.

Over the years Tom’s has faced numerous situations where employees, some of them managers, refused to follow company policies or to live up to the company’s high standards. Most of the time personnel changes were necessary. Difficult decisions almost always cause short-term organizational pain, but in every single case the company has emerged stronger and better.



If your employees are running you, you are a reactive manager. Choose to be a proactive manager and not only will you gain respect from your employees, your managerial life will become much simpler and your financial performance will dramatically improve.