Encouraging Initiative in Asian Team Members

One of the highlights from our Leading Across Cultures FOBISIA Senior Leaders' workshop last Monday centred around a challenge many international school leaders recognise:

💡How do you encourage more initiative in a team that seems to wait for direction?

It’s easy to interpret this as hesitation, disengagement, or lack of confidence at first glance. But when we unpacked the scenario together, leaders quickly identified several cultural dynamics that might be at play: hierarchy, power distance, authority boundaries, role clarity, delegation norms, and collective vs individual accountability.

In many cultures, initiative is not simply about confidence, it is closely connected to clarity around authority. Acting without clear boundaries can feel risky or even disrespectful.

So instead of pushing harder for “more initiative,” we explored small leadership shifts that move collaboration forward, such as making decision boundaries visible; using coaching-style questions to empower thinking; celebrating experimentation, and normalising mistakes as learning.

Leading across cultures is rarely about changing people. More often, it’s about making expectations visible so people can step forward with confidence; it’s about creating a safe space so others can step outside their comfort zone with ease.

Thank you Dan Brown for making this workshop happen and bringing together such thoughtful leaders for the conversation.