Every time we hear the word ‘initiative’, we wince.
Like ‘loop back’, ‘synergy’ and ‘alignment’, it features on every Corporate Jargon bingo card. Organisations claim to want proactive self-starters, but don’t use their own initiative to explain what that means. Or they hand the definition to individual leaders, leaving the rest of us to guess whether we’re meant to be following directions or questioning them.
We all know initiative is important – it’s what separates effective self-leaders from passive followers. What we often don’t know is what it looks like in practice.
Initiative ≠ individual
Anything left open to interpretation is open to misinterpretation. And, when it comes to initiative, misinterpretation is rife.
Many of us assume it means acting without being told what to do: spotting a problem and fixing it. Seeing a gap and filling it. Getting sh*t done without support or input. Going it alone.
So we do exactly that, and get a nasty surprise when it lands badly. What feels like initiative often looks a lot more like going rogue – stakeholders stare straight past the hard work to see new problems, unnecessary risk, and someone who’s deliberately kept them in the dark.
When initiative is literally in the job description, why does it backfire? Well, the problem isn’t initiative. It’s applying it without reading the room.
Five levels of initiative
There are lots of different frameworks that define proactive behaviour. They’re usually symbolised by a ladder: the higher you climb, the more trust and autonomy you hold. We’ve pulled from a few and added our own Powrsuit twist to deliver a simple picture of what initiative looks like at different levels.
Your starting point depends on your role and organisation. Skip a level, and you risk stepping on toes; start too low, and your career might stall. And, moving up doesn’t mean ignoring the lower levels – impressive problem-solving won’t count for much if your own deadlines are sliding.
Level 1: React
Usually reserved for entry-level roles where you’re building trust that you can deliver a defined piece of work reliably and independently. At Level 1, it’s about following directions and doing the work that’s assigned to you. Initiative here looks like:
Asking good questions to get context and clarity
Completing tasks without the need for reminders or rework
You’ve proven your ability to execute; now you need to look beyond your to-do list. Outside your immediate focus areas, you’re probably not exposed to enough context to know what needs addressing, what’s already being worked on, and what’s just a distraction. So, initiative at Level 2 is about paying attention and speaking up, but not solving. It looks like:
Sharing issues early, before they grow
Volunteering insights (“I noticed X”, “I’m seeing an uptick in Y”)
Proactively checking in on decisions and updates that affect your work
At Level 3, critical thinking is key. You no longer ask what to do; you make recommendations. The final call still sits with someone else, but you give them everything they need to make it quickly. Here, initiative looks like:
Looking beyond your functional area – understanding other teams’ priorities and how decisions affect them, and including their insights in your thinking
At Level 4, you don’t wait for permission before making a decision. You do, however, treat collaboration as part of the work – bringing the right people and information together before acting. You communicate early and often, and create space for ongoing input. Initiative at this level looks like:
Exploring better ways of working (e.g. AI, automating repetitive tasks, and questioning processes/meetings that exist out of habit)
Representing stakeholder views when they’re not in the room
Improving your decision-making with frameworks like two-way doors
At Level 5, you create the conditions for initiative in others. You’re not necessarily the most senior, but you are actively shaping organisation or team culture, helping the people around you know when and how to act. Here, it looks like:
Defining what initiative looks like for your team or organisation
Creating a safe space for making mistakes and failing
Spotting systemic patterns, not just individual problems
Developing other people’s judgment so they need less direction
Narrating your thinking and approach so others can learn
Build trust, one step at a time
Initiative lands well when it’s delivered at the right level. It’s about building trust in your ability to think critically and reliably deliver the right thing at the right time – without handholding, ignoring existing priorities, or leaving a mess for others to clean up.
Like any ladder, you can climb the levels quickly – but only after you have a solid footing on the rung below.
30 second action:
Forward this article to your manager, with this note: I’ve just read this article about initiative and think I’m operating at Level [X]. I’d love to know where you see me and what you think the next level looks like?
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Are you a good follower? We spend most of our careers reporting to a manager, but no one teaches us how to be good at it.
