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Mistakes can be good. It's not a philosophy that employees will hear very often, but it is one that organisations should embrace if they want to remain competitive, says Professor Sharon Parker, from The University of Western Australia Business School .

‘Australia's success within a rapidly changing economy depends on a proactive workforce engaged in making things happen instead of watching things happen,' argues Professor Parker. ‘Proactivity is important in uncertain and unpredictable environments where it is not possible for the supervisor to know and specify all that employees must do. You have to be able to think ahead and use your initiative to succeed and innovate in the uncertain environment.'

Yet because proactive behaviour can be risky for individual employees, Professor Parker explains that most will only engage in such behaviour when organisations are able to create a safe environment in which people feel able to experiment and put their head above the parapet.

Professor Parker's expertise is drawn from both academic and professional experience. In addition to having spent many years studying organisational behaviour, she also spent three and a half years as Director of the University of Sheffield's Institute of Work Psychology, where she managed a team of 25 employees.

‘One thing I learnt from that role is that it's challenging trying to get people to be proactive,' she says. ‘You can't just say, "be proactive". It's a long-term process of supporting changing, encouraging people to take responsibility, and role modelling.

‘Every employee is different. Good leaders understand motivation for individual people. Some people have a lack of confidence to be proactive, so leaders need to create opportunities for them to engage in proactivity on small projects. Other employees aren't so interested in the job, but you can still try to incorporate those person's passions and interests outside of work into the job. For example, if they're enthusiastic about personal fitness, they might enjoy organising a corporate health programme.

‘At the end of the day most people do want meaning in their jobs. Recognise that people and teams are different and need to be motivated in different ways.'

The role of the team leader extends beyond motivating employees. Professor Parker explains that immediate managers can have a profound influence on their team's proactive behaviour. ‘Leaders should create a safe atmosphere and environment where people speak out and aren't ridiculed, where mistakes made from trying new ways are a chance for learning more than blaming, and where people are given responsibility and autonomy,' she says.

‘A safe environment means that people can be different and still be respected, can have a different opinion and it can be discussed without it becoming a personal war. It's important because if you want people to be proactive, you're asking them to go out on a limb, take a risk, propose a new way of doing things and not everybody likes and welcomes change - they're putting themselves on the line a bit. It's coming from them. For that reason it's really important that people feel they can be forward with ideas and discuss them without being ignored or having the ideas squashed by a supervisor who feels threatened.'

Of course, leaders are not solely responsible for proactive work behaviour. Individuals and organisations also play a role. ‘Some people are more inclined to be proactive than others' explains Professor Parker. ‘Traits such as proactive personality, openness to change, wanting to learn, and future-oriented thinking can all make a person more or less naturally proactive.'

Where a person is naturally proactive, the most common form of proactive behaviour they will engage in is person-environment fit. This often occurs when a new employee seeks to fit better into their role, or when a worker seeks feedback on their work.

Professor Parker says that this type of proactive behaviour has been partly brought about by the nature of modern career trajectories. ‘Once upon a time we stayed at organizations for 35 years, whereas now we have boundary-less careers,' she says. ‘We actively seek out feedback, and think about what skills we might need in five years to take charge of our own career.'

But, warns Professor Parker, proactive personality concept is only part of the story. ‘All people can be proactive if they are motivated to be so,' she says. ‘A classic mistake that organisations make is finding proactive people and then putting them in the wrong environment, where there is no autonomy and innovation is discouraged  - they're soon going to be less proactive.'

Organisations that attempt to encourage proactive behaviour often introduce self-managing teams. Professor Parker has recently completed a study looking at teams of production technicians at a UK petrochemical processing plant during a period in which the organisation was trying to introduce team self-management.

‘In general,' says Professor Parker, ‘the research suggests the more self-managing teams are, then the more engaged, enthusiastic and proactive they are.' Surveys showed that having a team of proactive personalities is - unsurprisingly - good. However, having a mixed team of highly proactive and less proactive personalities won't produce such great results. The study showed that teams composed of individuals who are wildly different in their proactive behaviour tended not to have such positive atmospheres and were less proactive as a result.

Whilst Professor Parker strongly advocates autonomy and self-management in the workplace, care must be taken. ‘Organisations also need to ensure that they provide teams with information, knowledge, skills and understanding,' says Professor Parker. ‘Teams need to understand the boundaries of their autonomy, what they can and can't do without authority. Empowerment was a big craze ten years ago, and organisations used it as an excuse for dumping loads of responsibility on people. But it should be about giving teams influence over their decisions, and giving them the skills and information to make quality decisions. Empowerment is not downsizing and forcing less people to do the same amount of work; nor is it about open-ended decision-making rights.'

Proactive behaviour is a great tool, but only if it is used wisely. ‘Wisdom is soundness in mind and virtue,' says Professor Parker. ‘So what I refer to as wise proactivity involves making sound judgements in the type of change one wants to bring about, as well as how one does that. So it's not just about self-interested change; it's about making a better world, a better place.

‘I'm positive about the future - more and more organisations are recognising the importance of having staff who make things happen, and are seeking ways to cultivate proactivity in their work places. There are challenges though too, especially in the public sector where there is more emphasis on bureaucracy and perhaps more fear of mistakes that might embarrass the government. Good workplaces have individuals who are growing and developing, both themselves and the organisation.

It's official - mistakes can actually reflect better workers. Tell your boss the research said so.

Professor Sharon Parker was speaking at Breakfast by the Bay on 22 September 2010. Her presentation was entitled ‘Building and Leading a Proactive and Productive Workplace Culture.' The event was jointly hosted by The University of Western Australia Business School and The University Club.

Media Reference

Heather Merritt
Director, External Relations
UWA Business School
T: +618 6488 8171
E: [email protected]

Verity Chia
Communications Officer
UWA Business School
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