Employee initiative can make a marked improvement in performance and productivity, especially when knowledgeable employees demonstrate it in partnership with their supervisors. Until recently, however, it has often been difficult to achieve this. While most supervisors welcome constructive ideas and suggestions from their people, some resent it, even fear it, because they do not know how to handle it.

On the other hand, knowledgeable employees would like to increase their contributions to the organization, if they were encouraged to do so. Knowledgeable employees are well-intentioned people who know more about their specialties than do their supervisors. In fact, some even look down on their supervisors and resent what they will call cloudy management. So, instead of working together, they are often divided into two hostile groups.

Dr. Melvin Sorcher has a solution to this impasse. Drawing on his work in behavior modeling, he has designed a training program to mold supervisors and subordinates into a productive working team where ideas and suggestions flow freely. His program revolves around five situations that research has deemed to be most important ones in which employees need to develop their skills.

Dr. Sorcher, the creator of a training program he calls Taking the Initiative, focuses on five skills-building situations that encourages employees to demonstrate their initiative. According to his research, the five areas in which employees have difficulty showing initiative are:

· asking for clarification, or help.

· presenting a new or better idea.

· anticipating or solving problems.

· participating in performance appraisal discussions.