Proactivity in psychology: what is it in simple words

Greetings, friends!

Events are constantly happening around us that require our response. And you've probably noticed that all people react differently to new circumstances, demonstrating different degrees of readiness. The ability to always keep the situation under control, to readily perceive any surprises and respond adequately to them is called proactivity. Today we will analyze in detail what proactivity is, how it manifests itself, what benefits it gives and how to develop it.

What is proactivity?

Proactivity is a special proactive style of behavior and decision-making, in which a person does not obey external circumstances, but takes an active position and chooses what to do now. Such a person performs every action on his own initiative, ahead of external circumstances and making important decisions as quickly as possible.

A proactive person is not afraid to take full responsibility for his life. If something doesn't go according to plan, he doesn't need to come up with explanations or blame the circumstances. He himself formulates the conditions he needs and himself creates the circumstances that are optimal for him.

Proactivity is usually compared with reactivity - another style of behavior in which a person also behaves quite actively, readily accepts challenges and quickly responds to new circumstances. This is also a strong-willed type of character, and it is difficult to blame such a person for laziness or lack of organization. The difference between them is that a reactive person readily reacts to external circumstances, while a proactive person himself creates and directs the course of events.

The author of the term “proactivity” is considered to be the Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl. It was he who first used the word “proactive” to describe a person who does not look for reasons in circumstances and people around him, but takes full responsibility for his own life.

He used this word in his book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which he wrote while in a Nazi camp. While imprisoned, Frankl secretly provided psychotherapeutic assistance to newly arriving prisoners, secretly from his jailers. We can say that he had a unique opportunity to observe how different the behavior of people who find themselves in a critical situation can be. And it is in such circumstances that proactivity manifests itself most clearly.

Principles and Examples of Psychology

Every person can become proactive. The development of this skill is based on a clear understanding of its basic principles:

1. Freedom of choice as a response to a stimulus without an emotional reaction.
2. A thorough analysis of the implementation of the upcoming task and the prevention of possible problems.
3. Conscious responsibility for every step taken towards achieving the goal.
4. Make quick decisions in any situation thanks to flexible thinking.
5. Constant analysis and improvement of your own behavior.
6. The correct formulation of questions that allows you to make predictions, that is, “what if...?”, and possible answers.

Proactivity and equanimity should not be confused. The latter implies the absence of a reaction, while the former also implies successful avoidance of the stimulus. You can understand the difference using a simple example: “in 15 minutes you need to walk 1 kilometer from the intended point A to point B, but it started to rain and the road was practically washed away.”

An unperturbed person will walk calmly, even knowing that he will be late. Jet, seeing the slush, simply won’t go and will say that the rain is to blame. A proactive person will check the weather forecast in advance, wear appropriate shoes, plot a route on a map, meet the designated time, or finish the journey earlier.

Proactivity in life and work

In psychology, there are many tests and exercises that allow you to quickly check the presence of this skill. The simplest one is the question “Who is to blame for the boy tripping over the bench?” Children from three to four years old blame the bench, and those older than six blame the child who did not notice it on the way. It seems, what does this have to do with children? Adults who blame circumstances and others essentially remain immature and not proactive.

Setting goals or objectives and achieving them

It's even easier to understand what we're talking about using the example of a fish seeing bait on a hook. She can swallow it and swim on. This is the freedom of choice to be proactive. The decision is always yours. The less emotion there is, the easier it is to decide what to do. Their absence as an irritant allows you to completely ignore problems, moving further towards your goal.

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How does proactivity manifest itself?

The main principle of proactivity is that a person always has the opportunity to freely choose how to react to current events. In this case, three main types of reaction are possible:

1. If a person meekly accepts new circumstances without trying to improve them, this can be considered a passive life position. Such people do not strive to improve their lives and simply live in circumstances “sent to them by fate.”
2. If a person reacts quickly, but at the same time gives in to circumstances instead of trying to change them, this is a reactive position. Being quite active, such a person still shifts responsibility for his life to certain external factors.
3. A proactive person always strives to influence circumstances. Using the natural right of free choice, he follows his line and changes the world around him in accordance with his needs. He firmly knows that all the circumstances of his life are the result of his actions.

Proactive or reactive: test

Proactive/reactive attitude is easily assessed using a simple test. In it you need to select phrases that a person uses in different situations.

You need to try on both options and choose your preferred one. And evaluate the results.

You should not strive to choose those combinations that never flash in your head or sound out loud. This is not true. And it won’t help to give a true definition of the type of behavior.

What if there are “reactive” phrases in the list?

Work with it.

There is a simple algorithm for increasing proactivity, and if you follow it, you can achieve a lot.

The Benefits of Proactive Thinking

Truly proactive thinking is quite rare. Fortunately, with effort in the right direction, it can be developed. To understand how important this is, let’s consider the main benefits of proactivity:

1. Ability to set goals and achieve them. Most of us spend our whole lives pursuing the goals that our parents, mentors and society set for us. A proactive person sets his own goals for the coming months, years and for life.
2. The ability to always see additional opportunities.
   The tendency to find many opportunities for advancement or development in any life situation is a hallmark of proactive people.
3. Complete control over your life.
   Circumstances rarely influence the plans of a proactive person. He decides for himself in which direction he will move, thanks to which his whole life depends only on him.
4. Understanding that there is always a choice.
   A passive (and even reactive) attitude towards life teaches a person to submit to circumstances. Those who are used to making all decisions on their own firmly know that there is always a choice.
5. Development of creative thinking.
   Proactive thinking is regularly in a state of brainstorming. And this, as you know, is the best way to develop creativity.

A proactive person can easily be recognized by having his own opinion (do not confuse having your own opinion with the habit of arguing about any issue). It is difficult to impose any beliefs on him; since childhood, the mode of passive acceptance of other people's opinions has simply been turned off. Such people know how to say “no” when it goes against their interests. Such features are well felt by others and inevitably evoke respect.

Instead of output

The essence of a proactive and reactive approach to life is clear.

Some act.

The second ones groan.

There is no need to comment on who achieves the goal.

All that remains is to decide which path is yours. And give examples of your own proactive and reactive behavior, if you manage to catch them in current affairs. Simple analysis, but will it work? Write in the comments.

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Proactivity in the works of Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey (1932 – 2012) is a successful consultant in the field of business management and personal life management. He was a very energetic man who traveled all over the world and continued to work until he was very old. The book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” which every person interested in self-improvement knows, brought him the greatest fame.

Proactivity in this book ranks first among all 7 skills that the author considers the most important for an active person.

Explaining to readers what proactivity is and what it depends on, he argued that all people are naturally proactive. But already in early childhood they are faced with responsibility for their actions, which they do not want to accept. Accustomed to avoiding responsibility, such children grow up to be reactive or even passive people, inclined to shift the blame to circumstances and others, and look for reasons and explanations.

A proactive person readily accepts responsibility and makes efforts to find the best way out of any current situation. When making decisions, he prefers to be guided by established life values, rather than by momentary feelings and emotions. When choosing how to act, a proactive person tries to anticipate how events will develop.

According to Covey, the most famous proactive person in history was Mahatma Gandhi, an Indian public and political figure who is revered as a saint in India. Despite the lack of political status and material opportunities, he was able to become a very influential person and an incredibly large-scale historical figure.

Every time we encounter a problem, we must understand the reason for its occurrence. The thought that we are the problem is unpleasant. This forces us to look for external reasons - it’s much easier. At the same time, you often want to relax and wait until external circumstances become more favorable. But it is important to consider that people who tend to wait for favorable circumstances usually wait for them all their lives.

To become practical, you need to understand that the most suitable circumstances are now. The reason is obvious: today we have much more time left than we will have tomorrow. And favorable things that should happen tomorrow will not go away and will still happen, even if you start acting today.

How we win with proactive management

Reactively managing projects is dangerous - it can damage the company's reputation and sometimes bring the project to a state where it is easier to start from the very beginning. Proactive management provides us with a number of advantages:

• The ability to set priorities and get the important things done first.
• The ability to calculate resources and prepare participants in various events within the project in advance.
• The ability to adjust the plan after the start of work.
• The ability to add new tasks that appear along the way.
• The ability to have additional time, analyze current results and quality of work.
• The ability to plan and control in such a way as to solve emerging problems at the stage of their inception.
• Additional time to strengthen the team.

How to develop proactivity?

Having figured out how a proactive person differs from a reactive one, we clearly understand which strategies of thinking and behavior are winning. But in order to become more effective, it is not enough just to know what proactivity is. It will take some time to master this skill. Let's look at the basic rules and exercises that will help with this.

Analyze

Imagine yourself as a scientist studying a problem before starting to solve it. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Write down the steps required to solve the problem.
2. Gather all the necessary information.
3. After analyzing, determine which actions are not effective.

Now you can remove unnecessary actions and leave only those that will lead to solving the problem with minimal effort. By the way, one of the most convenient tools for setting priorities in life is the Eisenhower Matrix.

Focus on what you can influence

We tend to keep in our thoughts all existing circumstances, including those that are impossible to influence. This is an unproductive approach, since mental resources are spent extremely irrationally. Throw away grievances, disappointments and other meaningless experiences. Think only about how to influence the situation. This is a key rule that must be followed in all life situations.

Ask yourself the right questions

A reactive person usually asks himself the question “Why did this happen?”, A passive person usually asks himself “When will this end?” Both of these types tend to look for external reasons and blame others. The main question of a proactive person is “What should I do right now?”

Prevent problems

An important feature of the thinking of proactive people is the ability to anticipate consequences. When making decisions and taking actions, they are always aware of what this will lead to. Start developing this ability in yourself. The following steps will help with this:

• make a list of the most important areas of your life;
• think carefully about what problems exist in each area;
• Now think about what actions will help solve them.

There are many simple actions, avoiding which we accumulate problems. This approach will help you identify all the important little things and learn to take them into account in order to solve your problems in the long term. This opportunity should not be neglected, because proactivity is the ability to act now in order to solve problems in the future (including the distant future).

Example: a reactive person, faced with health problems for the first time, reviews his diet and begins to exercise. A proactive person does all this today, even if he is in excellent health. He just likes to be healthy, and he knows what needs to be done to maintain this health.

Start exercising, eating right and sleeping at least 7 hours a day. Plan a budget, create a “financial cushion” for yourself, regularly allocate time to communicate with loved ones, friends and acquaintances. Many people neglect these actions, considering them of little use. But they are an indicator that a person is thinking about his future and is able to behave proactively to avoid typical problems.

Watch yourself

Reactive people usually react only to events that cannot be ignored. A proactive person is more attentive to himself, thanks to which he promptly notices emerging difficulties. To learn this, regularly ask yourself the following questions:

• What challenges am I facing?
• How do I react to them?
• What thoughts come to my mind first?

This simple exercise helps to develop self-observation and learn to respond to important events in a timely manner.

Rethink your observations

You probably have an idea of ​​the typical problems that arise in your life, as well as ways to solve them. In such cases, our brain tries to save energy and perceives ready-made solutions as something unchangeable. But it is likely that you will be able to find a much more effective solution to some common problem. Just take the time to understand it and be observant.

Start making proactive decisions

To do this, you can use a simple action plan:

• define and formulate the problem;
• understand and consider its reason;
• make a list of possible solutions;
• Consider each option, its advantages and disadvantages.

After carefully analyzing the solution options, you can choose the best or several best (if they are not mutually exclusive).

Proactive Problem Management

There is proactive management of resources, change, sales, etc. In each case, different tools are relevant, but the goal is the same - to prevent failures, effectively cope with tasks, and fulfill obligations.

Let's take a closer look at the process of proactive problem management.

The process consists of two operations:

• Trend analysis.
• Planning preventive actions.

Trend analysis involves monitoring the infrastructure and identifying unusual events. It is preceded by the process of defining norms. Deviations are analyzed for signs of errors and vulnerabilities, in connection with which preventive measures are planned.

Information collection should be carried out with established regularity, the information should be as complete as possible and cover the entire infrastructure.

Information should be as structured as possible and easy to analyze. The more competently the monitoring is organized, the less need there is for a professional analyst. Typically, experienced managers with professional intuition, which cannot be taught, are able to identify trends.

Planning preventive measures involves actions to eliminate detected deviations and prevent their occurrence. There will always be more and less critical deviations. Measures are planned after determining the criticality of the detected problems and are applied as more important ones are resolved.

Corrective actions require a number of operations, including the initiation of problem solving, testing the result, organizing training, and working to improve existing procedures.

Proactivity is ineffective due to interference within the team

As already noted, entire teams can act proactively – in creativity, politics, business, and sports. Accordingly, the success of implementing planned actions and the very quality of goal setting depend on the coherence of the entire team. And if at one stage or another there are discrepancies or direct sabotage, then the entire project risks failure. But even for this kind of threat, there are methods of insurance and preventive work throughout the entire work cycle. This set of measures includes means of increasing motivation and strengthening team spirit. In addition, the very models for implementing such projects are initially endowed with the properties of flexibility and adaptation with protection from various types of threats.

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Proactive Customer Service

While this approach may still require a lot of thought, it is important to understand that approaching the customer and solving their problem before they even ask about it or even realize it exists is a great way to optimize the customer journey and reduce their overall effort. . And, importantly, it also helps reduce the load in the contact center.

Customer service is traditionally reactive rather than proactive

While many contact centers are becoming proactive and trying to anticipate customer needs, there are still many who prefer to do things the old fashioned way and only interact with a customer when they ask for it.

This is not the worst approach, but it is by no means the best. It is most effective to choose one of the following three approaches:

• Proactive service – informing the customer about a problem as soon as it arises. For example, “We have a delay. To minimize this, we are taking the following actions.”
• Proactive service – informing the customer before a problem occurs. For example, “We will have to turn off your water.”
• Proactive service is informing the customer about the changes you have made in the past, with an emphasis on how the customer can benefit from it in the present and future. For example, “We have made these changes for your future convenience.”

While most companies on the cusp of innovation and change favor proactive service, you can successfully combine elements of all three approaches as part of your overall customer service strategy.

Three Points to Consider Before Moving to Proactive Maintenance

We'll give some examples of how best to implement proactive service later, but first we'll talk about three key things to think through before you start developing your customer service strategy.

1. Are you ready to conduct active explanatory work in the company?

Because the technology has already been developed, customer service employees often want to start implementing it quickly, without thinking about whether other departments in their company are ready for it. But we must not forget about this, because a proactive approach will affect the entire cycle of interaction with the client.

Therefore, it is necessary to carefully analyze the entire customer journey, see which departments are encountered along this path, understand how the planned changes will affect their work, and whether they are ready for these changes. This issue becomes especially important if external agencies are among the counterparties along the customer journey.

Translator's note.
Such external contractors may include, for example, an outsourcing contact center.
2. Is a proactive approach right for your customer engagement model?

If your company's main selling point is solving emerging customer problems, and this is how you really retain customers, proactive service may work against you.

Proactive customer service is by no means a one-size-fits-all model, and some organizations prefer to respond to customer requests that have already arisen as the most effective way to interact with customers.

Additionally, unless your organization is committed to building stronger relationships with customers—and customers don't necessarily want to have that relationship with you—sending lots of proactive notifications can become redundant and intrusive.

But if your strategy is based on long-term customer relationships and building customer loyalty, ensuring a smooth and efficient customer journey, then proactive service may be just what you're looking for.

3. Are you ready for a cultural shift in your company?

The shift to proactive service can have a profound impact not only on the culture of the contact center, but also on the culture of the entire organization and how you manage data.

Take a utility company for example: if they switch to smart metering, the amount of data they have will increase dramatically. This will allow them to become proactive.

For example, there are 375,000 smart meters installed along the Thames. Previously, only two meter readings were taken per year, and therefore customers contacted support about this twice a year.

Now, with the ability to transmit five billion data in real time through smart meters, there is much more data available and predictive algorithms can be used.

With more data, you can better assess customer needs. However, the ability to not only proactively send notifications, but also interact with customers accordingly is a huge change for the entire company. Therefore, you must soberly assess whether you are ready for it.

Benefits of Proactive Customer Service

To make an informed decision to move to proactive service, you need to clearly understand what benefits this transition can provide for both customers and the company.

Benefits for clients

• Raising awareness
• More informed choices
• More respectful relationships
• Possibility of changing plans according to circumstances
• Creating new opportunities
• Managing cascading events
• Taking into account emotional reactions
• Increasing brand trust

Benefits for the company

• Reduced maintenance costs
• Demonstrating empathy
• Reducing compliance risk
• Reducing reputational risk
• Increased satisfaction
• Possibility of collecting more data
• Sending personalized messages
• Increasing brand trust

Four Mistakes to Avoid When Implementing Proactive Maintenance

The experience of implementing proactive maintenance shows that brands, trying to quickly get the benefits mentioned above, make the following typical mistakes.

1. They don’t show customers the benefits they receive.

We need to make it clear to customers how they can benefit from our actions. We remember that clients will leave if they do not see the value of what they receive from the company.

Let's take the classic example of a pothole. If we just cover it with boards, everything will be fine because users will be able to see exactly what actions we took, what positive effect those actions had, and it will be easy for them to understand how they can benefit from it.

But if this road is repaired gradually, users will not be able to see that there was a pothole and appreciate the effort that went into repairing it.

2. Not keeping data up to date

In proactive servicing, we often send notifications to customers when they reach a certain part of their customer journey. These alerts are generated by predictive algorithms based on a wealth of data, so it is important to keep this data up to date, consolidated and, where possible, automated, as shown in the figure below.

3. Lack of coordination of proactive messages

A great example of using proactive messaging would be to notify a customer when a product they've viewed multiple times online is on special offer.

This can be a good way to increase revenue and engagement, but only if done correctly. If you bombard a customer with messages, if he simultaneously receives notifications about an upcoming delivery, a customer survey, and an account update, he will experience nothing but irritation.

If a customer receives three or four pop-up messages from your brand per week, they may become tired of you and send the messages to spam. Then you will lose a good communication channel with the client.

So when choosing a proactive strategy, make sure that you include all relevant departments in the process so that you are not intrusive or overwhelm your customers, and that they only receive the most useful alerts.

4. Sending alerts to dissatisfied customers

In the previous example, we discussed how to increase profits by notifying customers in advance of relevant special offers. But can we be sure that these messages are still relevant to these customers?

After all, some of them may already be dissatisfied with our brand, and an “annoying” pop-up window may be the last straw that will force them to switch to competitors. Perhaps a different type of message, such as offering a discount, would be more appropriate for these customers.

Therefore, when choosing our proactive strategy, it is necessary to divide customers into detractors, passive supporters and promoters or similar groups depending on their level of satisfaction.

3 Good Examples of Proactive Customer Service

While mistakes are inevitable when moving to proactive maintenance, many companies have found success along the way.

Here are three areas that make great use of a proactive approach.

1. Proactive alerts

When we think about being proactive, the first thought that comes to mind is the pop-up messages that appear on our phone.

These notifications are often triggered by customer service apps, SMS and email, and cover a range of topics from courier arrival times to bank statements.

2. Proactive self-service

Translator's note.
Self-service is not a completely accurate term. In the original, the title looks like this: “DIY Proactive Service”. DIY is an acronym for Do It Yourself .
There is no established translation of the term into Russian yet. Let's not forget that some of the proactive tools can easily be bought on Amazon for £20.

For example, a customer can buy a water meter, attach it to a pipe, and their phone will tell them if there is a leak. Here's proactive service, or rather, customer self-service.

And the company, seeing a change in normal water pressure, can send messages to all concerned to notify them in advance that the water will be turned off or that there is a leak in the area.

Such preventive measures can save customers from troubles associated with existing breakdowns and lengthy repairs.

3. Eindhoven Airport

Eindhoven Airport is an excellent example of the effective use of proactive maintenance. Here's how they do it.

Stage 1 – “Awareness”

After analyzing passengers' preferences, the airport can recommend flights to places they have never been before.

Stage 2 – “Coordination”

If the flight departure is delayed, the arrival time of the minibus or rented car (car sharing) will be adjusted automatically.

Stage 3 – “Optimization”

Let's say a customer is sitting at the airport and is told that their flight is delayed by 35 minutes.

Through the self-service app, customers will receive various offers that they can avail during this 35-minute delay. Let's say a client wanted to have a meal at a restaurant. In this case, the restaurant automatically starts preparing his order. As a result, when the client sits down at the table, the ordered dishes are already waiting for him.

So, are you ready to invest in proactive maintenance?

As discussed above, getting the most out of proactive customer service requires major cultural changes throughout the organization as a whole. So you need to think carefully about what value your customers provide to you.

If customers are nothing more than transactions and numbers to you, then you are unlikely to get much benefit from implementing a proactive service. Only if you value long-term customer relationships can proactive service pay dividends.

Proactive person: behavioral characteristics

A proactive person, possessing some important personal qualities, becomes more successful than many other people.

There are different areas in which a person can be proactive:

• work and professional activities,
• family,
• children,
• hobby,
• sport.

You can manage everything at the same time, or you can devote only one area to proactivity, for example, work.

Of course, the employer will positively evaluate the person’s determination, dedication, and initiative. Then the question arises: how are things going in the family, do you have time for yourself, your favorite hobby and sports? Sometimes there is a gap in other areas of activity.

Therefore, it is important to keep a balance and respond to incoming external requests in a timely manner.

There is a good example of how a proactive person can behave.

Imagine the situation:

An economic crisis has broken out, money is depreciating, inflation is rising, prices for food and other goods are rising. Ordinary people become poor, criticize the authorities and the government, accumulate anger and complain.

A proactive person at this time analyzes the situation for the possibility of obtaining additional income in order to cover his own needs and the needs of his family. He has no time or desire for empty talk and expression of dissatisfaction; he finds a way out and begins to act.

From a practical point of view, it is precisely this approach to solving the problem that is effective, shifting the emphasis from blaming the government to productive and effective one’s own actions. The emotional reaction to a problem that has arisen in a proactive person is repressed when making an internal choice in favor of other values.

Proactivity increases productivity by keeping busy

This is not entirely true. Being proactive doesn't necessarily mean using more time to work. Employment in this case is determined by the quality of rational use of temporary resources. That is, there is enough time left for rest, which allows you to recover and return to work with full strength.

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But how can proactivity affect productivity? Through the same planning for the future, thinking about optimal operating models and strategically applying opportunities. This proactive approach allows you to save resources while completing tasks efficiently.