We analyze it using the example of team development in IT.
The article was written based on an internal meeting, where most of the team spoke. The skills listed seem to be obvious. But according to our own recruiting and partners from large companies, finding them in the market is not so easy. Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion.
By definition, proactivity is a very broad concept. Conventionally, within the IT industry, it can be decomposed into several components, which will be discussed further. With any of these qualities, you can "go too far." It is important to remember this and, striving for perfection, do not go to the other extreme.
Initiative
Companies that want to grow expect their employees to give feedback on what's wrong inside in order to fix it. You see some problems on the project and come up with suggestions on how to solve them. Do not wait for the boss to notice the problem, but act proactively.
When trying to show initiative, it is important to remember that we are working as a team. Activity should be bred only within the framework of its field of activity. There is no need to explain to the cleaning lady in between coding sessions that she does not wash the floor like that, and to the director that he does not manage that way. There are questions directly related to your work and some related areas, and there you look for the imperfection of the world. How far you can move away from your profile into related ones is rather determined by the culture of each particular team and company. But getting into something completely different from your own business is worth it only if you are clearly asked about it.
The attitude of the employee to the initiative is the moment that should be evaluated both ways. Not only should recruiting be checked in candidates, but also the candidates themselves should be checked in the companies for whose vacancies they apply. If you want to work for an oppressive director within a rigid framework, look for those who do not tolerate any initiative from below. And vice versa.
Independence
You are independent if you can do some research yourself to get an answer to your question, find the right sources of information, read the documentation and figure out the problem.
There are questions, the answers to which cannot be obtained without the help of colleagues (for example, if they relate to “secret knowledge” about the project). And then there is the concept of expediency. Even if we are not talking about a specific project, an independent search for an answer can take three times as long as asking a neighbor on the table. And the top of the skill here is to quickly and adequately assess how to act correctly: distract a colleague or seek an answer on your own. The broadening of horizons into related fields of activity helps to achieve this mastery. The front-end must understand how the release is assembled and delivered, what generally happens on the back-end, etc. Then it becomes clear where to knock with the next question. And it will be easier to formulate it (as you know, a correctly formulated question is already half the answer).
By the way, independence is a must-have skill for remote work. Probably, following the results of a months-long experiment due to a pandemic, everyone has already understood this.
Ability to see someone else's position and point of view
One of the most important qualities is the ability to recognize that besides yours, there are other points of view. And they may be correct. And other views on the problem, different from yours, have the right to be no worse.
If you are a developer, talking to an analyst or a tester, you need to remember that they have different tasks and a different background. You are deep in your specialization and they are in theirs. This is almost the same as talking to a foreigner - you either need to learn his language (immerse yourself in the work of colleagues and be able to speak with them in their language), or explain it in your own language, making sure that you are understood correctly.
In a live conversation, it is quite easy to feel whether you have been understood or not. When it comes to documentation, it's better to imagine that untrained Juns are reading it. The more information there is, the easier it will be for colleagues to understand later. At the same time, there is no need to spread “thought along the tree”. More informative!
A separate aspect is the ability to speak with a client without causing him discomfort. Do not expect from the business technically competent explanations and detailed technical specifications. Business hires a team so as not to think about it. Therefore, you need to understand the client's desires, expressed in ordinary language, and “translate” it from the technical one, if it is required for making decisions. It is even better to form a general context with the client, within which you understand the features and limitations of the problem, and the client feels that you have realized his problem and are ready to offer a solution.
By the way, the aforementioned broadening of horizons into related areas and communications helps a lot to develop the ability to delve into other people's points of view.
Flexibility and adaptability
The ability to understand and accept someone else's point of view leads us to another human quality - the ability to adapt to a situation. Perhaps you think your solution is the best one. But if a motivated decision was made to take a different architectural approach, you will have to adapt to it.
Flexibility is an important quality in IT, where projects and tasks are constantly changing. In fact, this endless series of different tasks gives development.
Ability to bring an idea to implementation
When implementing a feature, it is important to be able not only to set the task for coding, but also to finish writing the code, and then not forget to test it, since everyone makes mistakes. At the end, the solution should work exactly and not require someone to be distracted from their affairs and “clean up their tails”.
Ideally, of course, bring the solution to the end user. But here everything depends on the details of the work of a particular team. Sometimes developers have access to production - and then, indeed, your decision needs to be communicated to the consumer, accompanying at all stages. And sometimes a feature is sent to the testing department and the developers don't see it anymore. In this case, all that is available is to "pierce" the ready-made option already in production - just in case. And in general, you need to understand your responsibility for this feature, help if later support questions arise.
Ability to keep in touch
Although ideas about feedback have already sounded in the paragraphs above, the importance of communication should be noted separately.
You do not work alone, but in a team, so it is important to make sure that you are understood correctly by colleagues and clients.
You need to see how the team reacts to you: where it is waiting for initiative, and where it is not.
We should try to write clear documentation.
Feedback in all its forms helps to adjust the direction of work, not to go far into a dead end and not to forget that there are several points of view on all tasks.
Stephen Covey, in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” emphasized proactivity as one of the most important characteristics of successful people. Perhaps this definition can be expanded to include IT specialists. If you want to develop and go up the career ladder, you will have to become proactive. Choose for yourself where you want to go in life further, do not go with the flow, do not look for excuses and reasons in the world around you. Do a little more than is expected of you, suggest solutions, and explain why it will work. This will help you gain more weight with your team and your customers, while opening up new doors for you.