Simply to say, when you take the initiative in something, you do that without having someone tell you. It’s not reckless doing but a careful consideration with thinking and taking the advantage of suitable situation. Therefore, initiative staff is very valuable to any organization. Such staff includes those that:
- Are highly motivated.
- Are optimistic and enthusiastic.
- Are ready to act without waiting for order.
- Are self-starting and self-disciplined.
- Are doers and problem solvers.
- Are willing to accept responsibility.
- Are reliable and stable.
- Do their job in a correct and clever way.
- Learn to listen and adopt a questioning attitude.
- Know to ask the necessary questions.
- Set high standards.
- Doing the right thing in a right manner.
- Develop creative thinking activities.
- Adopt the “owner attitude”.
- Set goals for themselves.
- Are willing to take over more tasks after finishing one.
- Are active and dynamic and time-respectful.
- Know not to become a workaholic.
- Have a commitment to their work and aren’t satisfied with average results.
- Being ready to ask questions necessary to complete job perfectively.
- Undertaking more important tasks and making responsible for them
You can use Performance review phrases for initiative as follows:
Exceptional/Superior:
- Michael understands when and how he should take actions.
- We don’t need to supervise John too close. He is a very initiative person.
- John is a very creative person. He is skilled in finding the best ways to get a job done.
- John has a high sense of responsibility to his job. He tries himself to perfect his performance without anyone telling him to.
- John never feels satisfied with his performance. He always seeks new ways to improve it by himself.
- John is always ready to take over new tasks whenever it appears.
- John has excellent communication skills and is able to get the job done through the best use of people.
- John is very responsible for his job. We don’t need to tell him what to do since he gets the job better than us.
- Terry is very thoughtful. He always seeks for new better solutions to problem without waiting for others asking him to.
- John is a goal-oriented person. He himself is able to set priorities to accomplish his job well.
Exceeds Requirements/More than Satisfactory:
- Peter is not afraid to take risks and try new methods of work.
- Jennifer is willing to try new solutions that might increase the productivity of her team.
- Gwen takes initiative frequently and appropriately.
- David spends a lot of time on finding more efficient ways to perform his job.
- John strives to seek and take on new opportunities to promote his job.
- Dean doesn’t wait for other people told him what to do, he always seeks new tasks.
- John is a supporter of new ideas, goals and working methods no matter where they come from.
- Dean never waits for others to tell him what to do, he is an initiative man.
- For John, no supervision is required, I suppose, since he can work very initiatively.
- Terry always looks toward enhancing his own performance.
Meets Expectations/Satisfactory:
- Susan takes initiative when it is necessary.
- Tamara is ready to take risks in order to satisfy difficult customers.
- Nathan demonstrates satisfactory productivity without instructions from supervisors.
- Ingrid does not need to be told to perform her duties. She takes responsibility for her actions.
- John has poor abilities to establish priorities and courses of action for himself as well as skills in planning and following up to achieve results.
- John lacks the experience and qualifications required to perform the job effectively without specific orders assigned to him.
- Perhaps John has the qualification, however, he lacks initiative and active manner that it is risky to assign much responsibility to him.
- Andrew is too loyal to the company, always agrees with the manager and does not bring his point of view in the discussion.
- John is rather flexible. He has the ability to adjust to the ever-changing needs of the situation and willingness to do whatever is necessary to get the task done.
- John is keen on facing with challenging way and seeking to improve working environment.
- There is no need to put such a strict supervision over Terry. He is very flexible and initiative at work. He can manage on his own.
Provisional/Needs Improvement:
- Valerie is a productive employee but she is not striving to accomplish more than she is asked to.
- Clyde lacks the confidence to make decisions on his own. He is afraid to take actions without supervision.
- John is not as experienced and knowledgeable as he tells in his application.
- It seems too difficult for John to do his job on his own.
- It is typical of John to think inside a box and be afraid of risking doing in a new way.
- John is not decisive. He is not able to make quick decisions, take action and commit himself to completion.
- John does not seem to be an idea person. He is not ready to generate and recognize new solutions when performing a task.
- We much place a close supervision over John. If not, we will not know if he derails from his path at any time.
- John doesn’t create new ideas in his job, in contrast he wants to do things that have be done by others.
- John has trouble doing his tasks when he does not receive help or supervision from others.
Unsatisfactory:
- Jeremy is not willing to learn new work techniques. He becomes less competent every year.
- Terry becomes useless without a supervisor. He needs to become more initiative.
- John is an inactive person as he never wishes and is not ready to learn new skills or develop his qualification.
- John can hardly improve if he continues neglecting opportunities in front of him.
- John does not seem to be adjustable. He is not able to perform consistently under pressure to thrive on constant change and challenge.
- John is negative to seek out new opportunities to learn and grow his job.
- Terry has got trouble in handling new ideas. He refuses every recommendation offered to him.
- Terry is reluctant to new ideas and solutions. He keeps on applying old ones, though they are ineffective.
- Terry is very limited in his initiative at work. He rarely thinks out of the box. He also rarely accepts new ideas, too.
- We must take a close supervision on John if we wish to have him complete this work.
Self Evaluation Questions:
- Do you take active steps to promote your career?
- Can you resolve workplace problems on your own?
- Have you ever asked for a harder task?
- Do you visit professional development courses?
- How often do you reach your personal goals?
- Are you ready to work overtime?
- Are you willing to take more responsibilities?
- How often do you propose your ideas at table meetings?
- Do you have a career plan?
- Do you take extra tasks after finishing your main objective?
The samples of performance review phrases for initiative is a great/helpful tool for periodical/annual job performance appraisal. Note that, an initiative review phrases can be positive or negative and your performance review can be effective or bad/poor activity for your staffs.
If no matching phrase is found, you can also see a general list of performance review phrases and choose a more appropriate skill.
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