{"id":43883,"date":"2021-07-31T07:35:41","date_gmt":"2021-07-31T11:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=43883"},"modified":"2021-08-09T07:46:40","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T11:46:40","slug":"proactive-mindset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Instill a Proactive Mindset in Your Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How can you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-develop-leaders\/\">develop leaders<\/a> by helping them have a proactive mindset? How can a change in language make a big difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A proactive mindset helps people take ownership in their work. It goes hand in hand with authority to make decisions and promote progress. It can be as simple as declaring an intention to do something\u2014rather than asking permission or waiting to be told to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more to learn how to instill a proactive mindset in your team members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Use Proactive Language to Adopt a Proactive Mindset<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>During an engineering propulsion drill, Marquet learned how a passive leader-follower mindset on <em>Santa Fe<\/em> could lead everyone off course. So he instituted a change in the crew\u2019s language to create a proactive mindset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The engineering drill involved a simulated problem that shut down the submarine\u2019s reactor. The crew had to locate and fix the problem, then restart the reactor. While it was shut down they would use a small electric engine for propulsion at a very slow speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marquet ordered an engine speedup to make the exercise more challenging. However, he didn\u2019t realize that <em>Santa Fe\u2019s <\/em>backup engine differed from those of other submarines in his experience and lacked a speed-up function. The officer on deck knew this, but he passively passed Marquet\u2019s order to the crew, who couldn\u2019t implement it and so, just sat there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To create a more proactive mindset among the officers and crew in the future, Marquet decided to require them to actively state what they were going to do in a given situation, rather than ask for permission or wait for an order. They would announce, \u201cI intend to\u2026\u201d spelling out their intentions and he or their superior would respond, \u201cVery well.\u201d Then they\u2018d proceed with their plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mechanism: Turn Followers Into Actors by Changing the Language<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Requiring crew members to announce their proposed actions by stating, \u201cI intend to &#8230; \u201c pushed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a> downward. It required officers and crew to adopt a proactive mindset and take ownership of a situation and decide what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone became actors; they stopped using \u201cfollower\u201d phrases such as: \u201cMay I have permission to,\u201d \u201cI\u2019d like to,\u201d \u201cCould we,\u201d \u201cWhat should I do about,\u201d and \u201cDo you think\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marquet further extended this concept. He\u2019d found that instead of just saying \u201cvery well,\u201d he had a tendency to revert to top-down management by asking a lot of questions. So to counter this, he asked officers and crew to elaborate on their reasoning when stating their intent, so he wouldn\u2019t need to ask questions, just concur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Requiring a fuller explanation had the added benefit of pushing them to think at a higher level. This was, in effect, a leadership development program. The \u201cI intend to\u201d procedure was a significant factor contributing to an unusually large number of promotions among <em>Santa Fe<\/em> officers and crew over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than one person handing down orders to 134 followers, <em>Santa Fe<\/em> had 135 motivated and engaged crew members thinking about what to do and how to do it. Followers became leaders as a result of a proactive mindset.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can you develop leaders by helping them have a proactive mindset? How can a change in language make a big difference? A proactive mindset helps people take ownership in their work. It goes hand in hand with authority to make decisions and promote progress. It can be as simple as declaring an intention to do something\u2014rather than asking permission or waiting to be told to do it. Read more to learn how to instill a proactive mindset in your team members.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":43892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,34,14],"tags":[439],"class_list":["post-43883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-communication","category-management","tag-turn-the-ship-around","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Instill a Proactive Mindset in Your Team - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Foster a proactive mindset in your team by training them to declare an intention to act rather than asking permission or waiting to be told.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Instill a Proactive Mindset in Your Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Foster a proactive mindset in your team by training them to declare an intention to act rather than asking permission or waiting to be told.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-31T11:35:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-09T11:46:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/proactive-mindset.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"364\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"How to Instill a Proactive Mindset in Your Team\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-31T11:35:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-09T11:46:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/proactive-mindset.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Turn the Ship Around\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"Communication\",\"Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/proactive-mindset\/\",\"name\":\"How to Instill a Proactive Mindset in Your Team - 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