Proactive or Overstepping?

The story: They agreed to be more proactive. She messaged the VP directly about possible delays — before it became a problem, she said. He was horrified. Now they had a problem. She thought proactive meant acting early and escalating fast. He thought proactive meant handling things before they needed escalating at all.

What it means for organisations: Proactivity has a direction and a boundary — and neither is ever stated out loud. Does it mean acting sooner? Escalating faster? Solving before asking? The same instinct — getting ahead of problems — can look like leadership or like a breach of trust depending entirely on which interpretation the team was operating from. Agreement on the value is not agreement on where it starts and stops.