MONEY & ENTERTAINMENT

You have worked hard all year, you were very often successful, and now you expect for recognition. But despite the achievements and your trust, you think that all the efforts will be canceled because of your lack of initiative. You know that you have given no proof of initiative and think whether or not this is a problem. Many people see the initiative as something mysterious and that is because they do not understand how initiative could be measured. Unfortunately, the initiative is usually taken into account very seriously by your boss, especially at the end of a year.

Many people do not understand what is initiative and that is because it does not mean reaching a goal, but simply passing a barrier and do what you think is right without requiring 100 times the advice and without keeping 100 meetings . Even if nobody asks you to do something, if you have a solution to a problem in the company for which you work, take initiative and try to solve that problem.

There is nothing magic, but you just need to think all the time about the good of the company and be willing to help and where there is virtually no place you or not is your job. You have to realize when there is a need for initiative. How well do you understand the needs of your boss and the ones of the company? Can you do those things that really matter? The initiative is reduced practically to making those necessary steps to your company and not to waste time with unimportant matters. To make distinction, try to figure out what impact an action would have on your team colleagues, your boss or the company. If you get to an answer that tells you that such action would count very much and would be beneficial to all, do it.

There is no time or there are not resources
If this is so, be prepared to work hard and try to find colleagues who do the same thing, but without the resources available of your boss.

The boss does not realize the importance of a problem
Do you make a more accurate analysis of a problem? If you do that it means something and you can also solve that problem.

It is not ok to act
There are often reasons of any kind which make so that things to be done in a certain way or not. Sometimes those reasons are not good, but maybe it is better if you would not insist.

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Ask for approval and then get to work
Request the approval of your boss. It does not make sense to follow a project that will never be approved by the superiors. Prepare a presentation of your project and try to find a little time to discuss the mini-project to your boss. Only after you have the feedback that you wanted you should start to put all end to end, but only if this feedback is positive and you have the direct boss’ approval.

An action plan well organized and detailed answers the following questions:

In whose benefit is it?
Given that it is a project that you initiate it is necessary to have support to go further, especially if you involve other people who have to give up part of their spare time.

How does the plan address the need from which it started?
Do so that everyone understands the whole picture of what you do. Why it tries to fix and how it tries to do that.

Which are the specific tasks and targets?
What is the role of each person in the project? What things must each person handle? What responsibilities will everyone have?

How to measure the project success?
Everybody wants to know when the project will be done, and what success or failure for this project is. If the project is successful, what will happen? In case of failure, what will happen?

What are the expectations?
Does the company management expect for more or less from this project? How do you convince them to take a position? If your boss expectations are too small, your project will not be considered as one of importance. If expectations are too high, maybe it will be difficult to satisfy them in a short time and then appear conflicts and disappointments.

Accept and consider the advice of your boss
So you got the approval to carry this project further, but the boss has certain specifications to do, or perhaps some preferences. It would be a shame not to take into account that these tips, because most often, that is why he is your boss...because he has good ideas and has a very good overall view.

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