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Being Proactive

Published by Pearson

Intermediate content levelIntermediate

Banish procrastination and harness initiative to achieve your goals

  • Being proactive is a skill you can actively develop to respond confidently to challenges and opportunities
  • Take the initiative to get things done competently and independently
  • Stand out in your career and potentially move forward faster

Proactive people take initiative. Others look to proactive individuals as leaders because they're more capable of facilitating success. In the workplace, it's important to develop a proactive attitude because it can improve your levels of satisfaction, competency, and chances of professional advancement. It is a skill you can develop.

Being proactive is all about moving forward positively. It means responding effectively to what is happening around you by focusing on what you can control rather than on what you cannot. Being proactive means planning ahead and anticipating change, rather than avoiding it. We are all prone to procrastination and stressors. Through stronger self-awareness and practical tools, we can learn how to handle these issues well and truly be in the driver’s seat of our lives. Being able to take on responsibilities and challenges independently makes you a stronger leader and a better employee.

Through this engaging training and interactive exercises, you learn practical techniques to boost and strengthen your skills, tap into and apply proactive behavior, and tackle current or future challenges with confidence.

Career Success Series

The Career Success Series from Pearson addresses essential skills for your personal and professional development in the areas of communication, presentation, critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, problem solving, and resilience. These skills are critical for any industry, any job title, and any career stage – whether you’re just starting out or have been in the workforce for years. Expert trainers deliver practical tools and techniques you can use to enhance your resume, excel in your career, or simply enrich your life skills.

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

  • The characteristics and traits of proactive people
  • The difference between being proactive and reactive
  • The locus of control and its importance to our ability to act autonomously
  • How to manage procrastination and stress well so that you can move towards your goals
  • Apply simple, actionable tools to take initiative and ownership
  • How to develop your own way of doing things that maximizes your strengths

And you’ll be able to:

  • Apply proactive behaviors to a range of contexts and scenarios
  • Direct your energy and actions towards things that are within your control
  • Put into practice helpful strategies to manage procrastination and stress
  • Work to your strengths and confidently push forward to achieve your goals
  • Build habits that reinforce proactive behavior at work and in life

This live event is for you because...

  • You want to demonstrate you can work autonomously and confidently
  • You want to move positively towards and achieve your goals and support others to do the same
  • You want to know how to deal with procrastination and stress

Prerequisites

Recommended Preparation

Recommended Follow-up

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

Segment 1: Why Being Proactive Is a Crucial Skill in Today’s World (40 minutes)

  • Welcome
  • Course objectives
  • Getting the most out of the course

What Does Being Proactive Mean?

  • Definitions
  • Traits and characteristics of proactive people
  • Why employers value this skill
  • Examples of proactive individuals/proactive organizations

The Difference Between Being Proactive and Reactive

  • The space between stimulus and response
  • Being proactive with immediate short-term situations
  • Being proactive in the longer term
  • Taking responsibility for every single action that we take
  • The difference between initiative and control

Case Study and common workplace blockers

Segment 2: The Locus of Control (30 minutes)

The Locus of Control

  • What happens when we operate within our internal locus of control
  • What happens when we operate within our external locus of control
  • Why we love to put energy into what we cannot control
  • How to direct that energy into what we can control for better results

Coaching case study Shifting Energy Exercise

BREAK 10 minutes

Segment 3: Managing Procrastination and Stress (30 minutes)

Procrastination

  • Why we procrastinate
  • Typical procrastination activities and excuses
  • Unhelpful rules and assumptions we hold that feed into procrastination
  • How to stop procrastinating and move forward – exercises/tips

Stress

  • How stress shows up
  • Good stress versus bad stress
  • Practical steps for managing stress triggers
  • Mindfulness and grounding exercises

Segment 4: Taking on Challenges (30 minutes)

Working to Your Strengths

  • Building awareness of your strengths
  • Adopting a growth mindset
  • The role of proactive communication: clarity, expectations, updates
  • What skills and qualities do you need to develop further?
  • Setting SMART goals

BREAK – 10 minutes

Segment 5: Boosting Your Proactivity Every Day (20 minutes)

  • Practical strategies to put in place
  • Using assertive language vs reactive or passive tones
  • Building proactive habits

Exercise: WOOP model (wish, outcome, obstacle, plan)

Course wrap up and takeaways

Q&A – 10 minutes

Your Instructor

  • Emma Sue Prince

    Emma Sue Prince is the author of 7 Skills for the Future (Pearson), translated into 10 languages, and a facilitator and coach specialising in the human skills needed to thrive in an AI-driven world. With an MBA from Cranfield School of Management, Emma Sue brings a practical, research-informed approach to developing capabilities such as adaptability, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and resilience—skills that are increasingly essential as technology reshapes how we work. She delivers highly interactive programmes for global audiences, including software engineers, data professionals, and technical leaders. Her sessions focus on helping participants navigate complexity, make better decisions, collaborate effectively, and maintain performance under pressure. Emma Sue’s work is grounded in both research and real-world experience. Earlier in her career, she worked on international skills development and training programmes across multiple countries, and she continues to design and deliver learning experiences for organisations including global law firms, universities, and healthcare systems. In addition to her facilitation work, she is a qualified coach, mental health first aider, and bereavement counsellor, bringing depth and insight to topics such as stress, focus, and sustainable productivity. Her focus is on a key question facing today’s professionals: as more of what we do is automated, how do we strengthen the uniquely human skills that create value?

Skill covered

Professional Development