Initiative

At Level 5, initiative becomes cultural. You shape how initiative shows up across the organization—what gets noticed, supported, and multiplied. You don't just lead change—you create the conditions for meaningful change to emerge, scale, and sustain. You identify high-leverage opportunities, empower others to act, and embed initiative-taking into the org's mindset, systems, and leadership patterns.

Key Behaviors

  • Models and promotes a culture of proactive ownership
  • Identifies strategic inflection points and guides action
  • Grows others' capacity to take initiative with confidence and clarity
  • Shapes systems (e.g. planning, feedback, recognition) to reward initiative
  • Sponsors high-potential efforts and ensures they gain traction

Common Struggles

  • May struggle to step back and let others lead visibly
  • Can unintentionally create dependency through too much involvement
  • Might overlook the need to refresh or retire once-successful efforts

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Influence how initiative is recognized, supported, and scaled across the org
  • Make initiative safe, expected, and meaningful at all levels
  • Champion distributed ownership by building durable structures and trust
  • Help others see themselves as agents of positive change

Mindset Shift

From:

"I lead bold initiatives."

To:

"I grow a culture of bold initiative-taking."

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • What kinds of initiatives are rewarded here—and what's missing?
  • Who's taking initiative in quiet or overlooked ways?
  • What systems could make action easier and more repeatable?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Share origin stories and lessons learned from impactful initiatives
  • 2
    Codify and evolve rituals that invite contribution and ownership
  • 3
    Build feedback loops that help initiative efforts evolve with the org

Seek Feedback

  • "What helps or hinders people from stepping up here?"
  • "Where do we rely too much on individuals instead of enabling systems?"
  • "What's one way we could make it easier for new ideas to take root?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • Initiative is visible, distributed, and aligned with purpose
  • Others lead boldly because you helped clear the path
  • The org adapts more readily because people are empowered to act

Focus Summary

  • Clear the path
  • Share the power
  • Make initiative contagious

At Level 5, initiative becomes legacy work. You leave behind a culture where people believe they can—and should—make things better.