www.lifehack.org: For us to know how to be proactive and not reactive, we first need to know what these terms mean. When we are reactive to problems, we react to previous events instead of attempting to anticipate future ones. When we decide to be proactive, we choose to act on a situation before this situation becomes a crisis.[1] Managers must be “strategically proactive,” as I like to say, so they can do their regular day-to-day work and still have time to spend on improvement efforts.
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Being proactive vs reactive is something that I have generally struggled with, even though I recognize its importance. In many ways, it feels 'easier' to wait for things to develop or happen for you and respond rather than 'waste' the time trying to plan for things that may never happen. However, as the Eisenhower quote in the article states, the planning is "indispensable". First, long-term thinking may seem tough especially in a school environment. However, as students, knowing what our ultimate goals are helps inform our choices while we are in an educational environment now. Second, understanding others is critical to success as a leader. It's not enough to just know what people are doing or their strength; genuinely understanding the people you are leading helps anticipate their needs on the team. Third, the obvious tip to develop organization skills is pretty self explanatory (and also covered in classes at CMU like PRM). Fourth, the article pitches the 80/20 rule. This can be applied across so many things, but the article notes that for us it means spending 80% of our time on our actual work, and 20% on team improvement and planning. The fifth point states being open to ideas, which again seems a bit obvious but nevertheless is important. A leader is really the sum of their team, so being open to their ideas is at the core of leadership. Finally, the article notes being calm, especially under pressure. In times of stress or crisis many will look to their leader for direction or a steady hand. I think this is generally fine, but I think it can often be frustrating when leaders act as though nothing is wrong while the team is stressing out. In that case, it just seems like the leader is putting all this work on the team without doing anything themselves, losing their relatability. Being calm is important, but it is also important not to forget the human element of team dynamics.
This article is at its core trying to get them ready to be less reactive, but there are lots of good ideas in here that need to be heard by people that problem solve and have to work with other people. The ones that jump out at me are having a calm demeanor and seeking to understand others. I think those are more than just things to keep in mind when attempting to plan, but all the time. Being calm is something that people don’t normally say out loud, but is so important. The best problem solvers and leaders are the ones who stay cool, and we’ve all been there when someone has a screw up with their plan and they flip out instead of finding the solution, which is never helpful. Seeking to understand others is also huge just in life because so much of our miscommunications and dislike for other people seems to me to come from a place of not understanding.
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