Sharpen how your team moves and acts.
See what’s strong, what’s wrong, and what’s next.
Your Leadership Scorecard
You don’t need a KPI for everything, just a window into how your team behaves when no one’s watching.
This 5-minute check-up gives you 5 fast tools to:
- Spot strong initiative patterns
- Coach where it’s missing
- Build a team that moves first, not last
If you’re not measuring initiative, you’re not managing it.
No dashboards. No dusty surveys.
Just 5 quick gut-checks that reveal who takes charge and who waits for someone else to say “go.”
1. Rate Your Own Initiative
Ask your team to rate themselves 1-10:
- 1 = “I rarely act without direction.”
- 10 = “I consistently take initiative.”
Initiative is not a skill issue – it’s all about mindset, confidence, and clarity.
Low scores may signal fear, not laziness.
Try this:
- Keep it anonymous.
- Discuss themes, not people.
- Re-run quarterly and track the trend.
Bonus move: Ask, “What’s one time you took initiative recently?” Get real examples.
Proactivity is smartion: thinking ahead and acting with intent. When your team’s tuned into smartion mode, they open the door and invite solutions in rather than waiting for problems to appear.
2. Log Acts of Positive Disruption (PosRupt)
Most teams celebrate the fires they put out but not the PosRupt moments that kept sparks from turning into smoke.
Start a Positive Disruption Log.
Each week, teammates note where they challenged “the usual,” offered a sharper fix, or improved a process before it broke. These small PosRupt moments are the secret fuel of innovation.
Leadership tip: Read a few aloud in meetings. Recognition breeds Grinergy, and Grinergy is contagious.
(Grinergy (Grin + Energy): The contagious current of positive energy that fuels momentum. Grinergy spreads through laughter, kindness, and can-do spirit. It’s the secret sauce behind team chemistry.)
Leadership Tip: Turn standout entries into quick “Culture Wins.” Show the before, the bold move, and the result.
Bonus move: Download the PosRupt Log and implement it in your next team huddle.
3. Track the Self-Start Ratio
Who’s driving the action: your team or you?
Look at the past two weeks of projects and label each:
- Team-started (they saw it, they acted)
- Manager-assigned (you handed it down)
If everything starts with you, your team’s stuck in “follow mode.”
Leadership tip: Share the ratio. Make “self-starts” a badge of honor.
Bonus move: Ask what sparked those self-starts. You’ll start to see the DNA of initiative.
4. Count Solutions, Not Problems
Spot it? Solve it. That’s the reflex you want. Yes, like a Whack a Mole game! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bazinga!!
During meetings, track how many issues come with at least one proposed fix.
That ratio shows your team’s ownership level.
Leadership tip: Praise the combo: problem + plan. Model it yourself.
Bonus move: Make it a mantra: “Solutions over complaints.”
5. Use Peer Nominations
Let your team spotlight everyday leaders.
Ask monthly: “Who took initiative that helped the team?”
Slack thread, shared doc, or verbal shout-out – it’s all fair game.
Leadership tip: Share why each person was nominated. Visibility builds culture.
Bonus move: Rotate who runs nominations. It spreads leadership.
Ready to Roll?
Pick one of these to pilot this week:
- Kick off a meeting with the 1–10 scale.
- Launch a Positive Disruption Log.
- Review your last sprint and score the Self-Start Ratio.
Talk about what you see.
Turn insights into action.
Initiative is your culture, revealed and powered by a little PosRupt, a lot of smartion, and a steady flow of grinergy.
Want Grinergy without the hype? Start here.
The PosRupt Log keeps initiative in view – quiet fixes, bold moves, positive outcomes.
Download now and use it in your stand-up next week.