Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

September 30, 2025

Welcome to the Workplace Multiplier newsletter. Published Monday to Friday, equipping you to achieve your professional goals faster and without burnout or overwhelm by leveraging The Triple Win Method.

Being proactive isn’t a personality trait. It’s a skill.

P.S. Today, we conclude our month of September’s focus on empowering team leaders and department heads to build high-performance teams. I hope you are better equipped to serve your team and become better.

Now unto today’s conversation

Howdy ,

Most leaders assume people should already know what “taking initiative” looks like. But when we stop assuming and start teaching, the game changes. Today, I’ll walk you through how to build clarity and competence, starting now.

You Can’t Train for Growth by Giving Vague Advice

Not too long ago, I was chatting with a few frustrated professionals. Their managers kept telling them, “Be more proactive. Show more initiative. Be more innovative.”

But no one could tell them how.

This happens all the time in teams.

We use nice-sounding corporate lingo,  “take ownership,” “drive innovation,” “be more strategic”, but don’t translate it into clear action. And then we’re shocked when people don’t deliver.

So today, let’s flip that mindset.

Instead of telling people what to do, start training them in how to do it.

One Core Principle

Telling isn’t teaching. Teaching means showing, guiding, and modelling.

When you say “be proactive,” most people don’t know what that actually looks like. Especially your B and C players, who often need guidance more than pressure.

Let me give you an example...

5 Practical Ways to Train Initiative

Here’s how I made the shift from giving vague feedback to building real capability:

1. Define Proactive Behavior, Practically

Don’t just say “show initiative.” Give examples.

“Before meetings, review the agenda. Think about how you can add value. Prep your questions. Think about likely objections.”

Now they have a picture of what “being proactive” means.

2. Turn Feedback into Frameworks

When I inherited a team that regularly gave internal and external presentations, the quality was... rough.

Not because they lacked talent, but because they didn’t know how to present to the audience.

So instead of saying, “make better presentations,” I taught them this:

"Start by asking: what does the audience want or need to know? Then build around that."

3. Document Your Best Thinking

Build templates, checklists, and walkthroughs. It makes onboarding easier, raises quality, and scales your leadership.

"Here’s our checklist for a great pitch deck." "Here’s how to prep for internal reviews."

You remove guesswork and reduce hand-holding.

4. Repetition Is a Teaching Tool

Don’t assume you’ll say it once and they’ll get it. I repeated the same principle, think from the audience’s view, until it stuck. That’s not micromanaging. That’s coaching.

5. Teaching Trains You, Too

The more you train others, the better you get at your own craft. It forces clarity. And clarity? That’s contagious inside teams.

If you lead people, even just one person, remember this:

• Don’t just expect excellence.
• Explain what excellence looks like.
• Document it.
• Repeat it.
• Coach it.

You’ll raise the floor for everyone.

Don’t stop becoming better.

And keep winning at work and in life.

Tola Akinsulire

Your Strategy Workplace Mentor

One final thing: If you are still interested in joining the 3-day Leadership Multiplication System™ workshop, which kicks off today, you can still click https://bit.ly/TLMS-Sep2025 to get in.