Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello,
I know that one meaning of "initiative" is the following;
"the ability to make decisions and take action without waiting for someone to tell you what to do". My question is do you say "take the initiative" or "take initiative" when using the word in the above context, in the following sentence?
"Mike is an excellent employee because he is able to "take the initiative / take initiative", as soon as he finishes one project he starts another one.

My intuition tells me that one is able (in English ways of phrasing things anyway!) to 'take the initiative' or 'show initiative', but not to 'take initiative'. The reason for the presence of the 'the' in the one phrase-sense but not in the other is that 'the initiative' is that (in)tangible "something" that everybody knows is there waiting to be taken or seized, whereas one's own initiative (note that 'one's own' is one of the ways the first entry in the LDOCE is phrased/"determined"/typified) may manifest in many different, individually-creative ways.
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/initiative

What about "taking initiative" as in "Mike is good at taking initiative". Does that sound wrong to you?

Hi JMA! 'good at taking initiative' may well be attested for all I know (I haven't checked), but I doubt if it is exactly typical - so I guess I'd call it atypical (rather than [plain] wrong)!

What about this:

"Employees need to learn how to take greater initiative at the workplace."
or
"It took initiative to do it."

Those do sound better, fine in fact, JMA!

Hello,
I want to thank both of you for taking the time to answer my question.
Best wishes