Bogdan Terzi — the business expert on encouraging employees to take initiative

Bogdan Terzi is a business expert who, from his personal experience, has studied all the subtleties of running businesses in Ukraine and beyond. The advertising agency Amillidius that he started in 2010, within 8 years has grown from a start-up into a digital-marketing industry leader, with the number of employees increased ten times. Beginning as a group of soul mates, it has grown to a hierarchical structure of more than a hundred employees. Management of a team like that can be challenging and the head of Amillidius had to deal with a range of issues to reach the point where individuals would act as a single entity.  One of those obstacles was employee disengagement. Bogdan Terzi is sure that the company is not going to benefit from the employees who lack initiative. How to break the ‘not in my backyard’ mindset and why it is worth the time and effort? The business expert shares his vision further in the article.

The reasons why bottom-up initiatives are essential for business

“There are jobs where initiative is not required, but those are in the minority and mostly concentrated in the public sector” says Bogdan Terzi. The business expert also believes that business people are normally interested in earning more and so any optimization or innovation initiative should be encouraged and welcomed. Mr. Terzi emphasizes that initiative is a marker of a professional who really belongs.

“Why are people afraid of initiative? There are two reasons– they are either struggling to cope with the workload and just have no time to look around, or they fail to cope with it at all and do not want to attract the manager’s attention”– claims the CEO of Amillidius, Bogdan Terzi. A strong employee, who effortlessly performs the duties listed in the job description, is always interested in professional development. As they know that stagnation leads to a loss of professional skills and competencies.

How to re-engage disengaged employees?

Bogdan Terzi does not exclude the factor of negative top-to-bottom reaction that leads to employees’ fear of initiative. Or they just see no point in it. “A good leader should encourage the initiative, not punish, claims the Amillidius CEO. I inform my employees at the job interview stage that I appreciate innovations and am ready to reward them with incentives. I give bonuses to those people who avoid routine and are in constant search for new ideas for optimization of their activity”, shares the business expert.

Apart from monetary motivation it is crucial to satisfy an employee’s social and emotional needs and involve non-financial incentives that focus on them. A good employer should give enough praise and encouragement, not only for outstanding performance. “No matter how outstanding the performance of Amillidius employees is, I give no praise for that, as working to the fullest of their potential is their duty. Just as my duty is to pay their salaries on time. I do not expect any praise for that either” – says Bogdan Terzi.  However, if an employee outperformed and the company benefited from that, this must be appreciated. No verbal recognition or financial incentives should be spared.

Bogdan Terzi– expert in the world of business, finance and marketing

Having scaled up his own company, Bogdan Terzi channeled his efforts to improve the domestic business environment as a whole. Generously sharing his experience in marketing, finance and business management, he has gained a solid authority and reputation.His business and PR consulting services are in demand with big corporations and private entities. Visit the personal website of the expert for professional help and be the first to sign up for the unique training courses by Bogdan Terzi.