Bob B. Nelson - 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work

PRAISE FOR 1001 WAYS TO TAKE IN INITIATIVE AT WORK

At last, a book that can actually raise your workplace IQ! 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work is a comprehensive, yet practical guide to taking charge of your job, instead of letting your job take charge of you.BOB ROSNER, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED COLUMNIST AND AUTHOR OF WORKING WOUNDED: ADVICE THAT ADDS INSULT TO INJURY

One of the critical competencies for employees at all levels of an organization is taking initiative. Read this book and learn how employees in organizations of all types and sizes have taken initiative to make a difference where they work and how you can, too.PATRICK A. DAILEY, SR. MANAGER, ORGANIZATION LEARNING, NOKIA, INC.

The power of employee initiative is not a myth. Bob Nelson captures the essence of what this movement can do for individuals and for an organization as a whole in his book 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work. Employees know best how they can do their best work. In so doing, they become agents of their own change in improving their personal lives, their jobs, and their workplaces.MARTIN EDELSTON, PRESIDENT, BOARDROOM, INC., PUBLISHERS OF BOTTOM LINE/BUSINESS & BOTTOM LINE/PERSONAL NEWSLETTERS.

The success of any enterprise is predicated on the balancing of the needs of its constituentscustomers, employees, owners/shareholders, strategic partners and community. Bob Nelsons book shows how employees who take the initiative to act in the best interests of the company and its constituents create value not only for their organization, but for themselves personally and professionally.DIETER H. HUCKESTEIN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & PRESIDENT, HOTEL DIVISION, HILTON HOTELS CORPORATION.

Its this simple: iVillage.com is the largest Internet site for women because every employee stepped forward with their ideas as if the success of the company depended on them. Because the truth is, the success of the company does depend on every person, whatever your position, whatever your department. Its wonderful to have a book, full of inspiration and how-to, which celebrates initiative as a winwin for employee and company alike. Loaded with examples, tools and action steps, 1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work is the resource for creating an even larger army of self-leaders that will drive any organizations success.NANCY EVANS, PRESIDENT, IVILLAGE.COM

BOOKS BY BOB NELSON

1001 Ways to Energize Employees

1001 Ways to Reward Employees

1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work

365 Ways to Manage Better Page-A-Day Perpetual

Motivating Todays Employees

Managing for Dummies

Consulting for Dummies

Empowering Employees Through Delegation

Delegation: The Power of Letting Go

Decision Point: A Business Game Book

Exploring the World of Business

The Perfect Letter

We Have to Start Meeting Like This: A Guide to Successful Meetings

Better Business Meetings

The Presentation Primer: Getting Your Point Across

Making More Effective Presentations

Louder and Funnier: A Practical Guide to Overcoming Stage Fright

The Supervisors Guide to Controlling Absenteeism

The Job Hunt: The Biggest Job Youll Ever Have

BY BOB NELSON

Illustrated by Matt Wawiorka

WORKMAN PUBLISHING, NEW YORK

Many thanks to iVillage.com for the use of
excerpts from their 1998 career poll.
Reprinted by permission of iVillage.com.

Copyright 1999 by Bob Nelson
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced
mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying
without written permission of the publisher.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

eISBN 9780761153542

Cover illustrations by Burton Morris.
Interior illustrations by Matt Wawiorka.

Workman books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for
premiums and sales promotions as well as for fund-raising or educational use.
Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specification.
For details, contact the Special Sales Director at the address below.

Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
225 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014-4381
www.workmanweb.com

It takes many people to make a book and many dedicated people to make a good book. Id like to thank Peter Economy, business writer extraordinaire, researcher, and longtime friend, for his multi-year commitment to this project; Frank Kline, David Witt, and Rebecca Taff for their diligence in researching examples and clarifications; Sally Kovalchick, my gifted editor at Workman Publishing, and the many other tremendous individuals there who help create and distribute quality books, including Nettie Aljian, Laura Besserman, Peggy Boulos, Erin Cox, Katherine Detrich, Jeanne Emanuel, Andrea Glickson, Bruce Harris, Janet Harris, Lisa Hollander, Rena Kornbluh, Andrew Mandel, Jenny Mandel, Ellen Morgenstern, Jennifer Parmelee, Pat Upton, James Wehrle, and Peter and Carolan Workman; Lori Nunez for her typing assistance; and the hundreds of individuals who submitted items, responded to survey requests, or were interviewed for this book, including our Internet contest winner, Madelon S. Kuhn, who received $1,001 for her personal example of initiative far above and beyond the call of duty while an employee of 1-800-FLOWERS (featured on

The highest compliment one author can give another is: I wish I had written that! And that is exactly the compliment I gave Bob Nelson when I first read this book. In my own research, I have interviewed or surveyed thousands of managers on the topic of employee motivation. When asked what was the number one thing on their wish list for employees, they came back with the same resounding answer: I wish my employees took more initiative. When I asked human resources managers what, in their minds, makes an outstanding employee, the overwhelming answer was initiative. And among the tens of thousands of employees I have surveyed over the years, nothing was more important or more motivating than to take initiative, and to then be recognized for doing so.

In my book SuperMotivation, I talk about the greatest energy crisis in the world. This crisis is the enormous reservoir of human energy that exists in every human being, just waiting to be releasedbut that ends up being wasted because it was never used. Once lost, this energy is gone forever. The primary reasons for this energy crisis are not just a lack of initiative on the part of employees, but also managers who discourage, stifle, and even punish their employees for taking initiative.

I am convinced that the most successful organizations are the ones that actively encourage employees to take initiative, and the least successful ones are those that stifle initiative. Anyone can go through the motions, but the behaviors that all organizations need in order to be successful require employee initiative. Creativity requires initiative. Outstanding customer service requires initiative. High quality requires initiative. In fact, virtually every organization was started by one or more people who took initiative to create a product, meet a need, serve a client, and organizations continue to thrive only if initiative continues.