Last week I had the opportunity to work with a large group of leaders (managers at all levels of the organization) where we focused on empowerment, or more specifically, empowering others. I’ve also been meeting with several executive teams and leadership teams where empowering employees has come up as a significant challenge.

What are these leaders hoping for? If they truly want to empower their employees, they need to be ready to let go of controlling how others perform, let go of having to be involved in day-to-day tasks and decisions that can be handled by others, and help others grow and develop by providing them with more opportunities to take charge and work more autonomously.

How does one make that happen?

Here are a few tips to get started.

• Create a culture of trust and psychological safety.  Without that foundation, it’s going to be challenging for those who have never felt empowered to embrace jumping in. If someone fears they will be judged for doing something differently than their direct supervisor would, they will play it safe and look to their supervisor for direction and decisions.
• Communicate – set clear expectations.
  • Let your employees know you’re striving to create a culture where risks are encouraged
  • Mistakes are okay to make as long as time is used wisely to learn from them
  • Asking will be more of the norm rather than telling
  • Get aligned on roles and responsibilities
• Recognize the benefits of delegation – delegating is a strength, not a weakness. You, as a leader, don’t have to do everything, nor do you have to be the expert on all things.
• Invest in professional development – set your employees up for success. Leverage their strengths.

Why is it important to empower others?

• If you want to retain your employees, trusting them to do their job and to stretch further will strengthen their sense of purpose and will help them to see that their future career growth is a priority.
• By empowering others, new ideas develop, innovation happens, and positive change typically results.
• The direct manager will gain time to focus elsewhere.
• You will get more out of your employees – they will deliver better results if they feel empowered to do so.
• What else would you add to this list?

Looking for support to create a culture of empowerment? I support individuals, teams, and organizations to increase their effectiveness and drive optimal business results. Curious to learn more about coaching or training that can support you in driving a culture of empowerment? Let’s  connect.

“Leadership is about empowering others to achieve things they did not think possible.” – Simon Sinek