Empower Your Team For Greater Success!

One of the top leadership skills required today is the ability to empower their people. Not to be confused with granting authority, which shares decision making, empowerment goes far beyond and results in many benefits to any organization.

Employee engagement and feeling valued are critical to employees who desire to be part of a purpose-driven culture. When employees are empowered, they want to build and strengthen the company culture. The result is that empowered employees are more engaged and productivity rises significantly. Leaders can delegate more work and the empowered team members are able to learn new skills and contribute innovative ideas to the team. This can lead to cost savings that directly increase the bottom-line. 

In addition, empowered employees are intentional and passionate about having a path for career development. Today’s employees expect organizations to offer and provide training, coaching and development as one of the top priorities in order to retain them. Employees who grow in turn grow their book of clients hence growing the overall business. It is proven that if leaders focus on growing their people, their businesses will thrive. 

So why is empowering others so difficult for a leader? First, the leader must be willing to relinquish control and allow the team member to learn and even fail. Empowerment takes time, patience and intention. Knowing the individual team member and assigning relevant projects to that person is key. Do they want to grow and learn? Do they understand the long-term benefits of being empowered? And last but most importantly, it requires clear and concise communication. Without a clear understanding of the goal and objective of the work, the leader is potentially setting up the team member for failure. The key to empowerment is setting them up for success and for a learning experience. Leaders must be willing to accept new thinking,  a different method, and even new work processes. Investing the time in your team and empowering them will enable the leader, the team member and the entire organization to reap amazing rewards. 

Here are steps on how to become a more empowering leader and also empower your team for greater success:

1. Set Goals Together– Identify what you want to accomplish, why and how to measure success.
2. Provide Clear Communication– the leader should share clear directions about their expectations for the work. They can share what other resources are available and who else, other than the leader,  the team member can ask for assistance and support. 
3. Outline a Timeline– Define a timeline for the project and set milestones along the way for progress checks.  
4. Establish One-On-One Meetings– Meet regularly to check-in and review the progress of the project. Ask questions to obtain feedback and answer questions from the team member. If you wait until the end of the project to know if the project was completed accurately and it is not, only you as the leader are to blame.
5. Give Feedback– This is vital. You need to set up a safe environment for the leader and the team member. This will ensure that candid and ongoing feedback is given regularly. What is working? What is not? What did they consider to get to their conclusion? What other support is needed? What did they learn from the process? If a course correction is needed, the leader can give the feedback and ensure the project will get back on track. 
6. Establish a Trusting Relationship –  The leader sets the stage for building a trusting relationship by being open, honest and inviting two- way communication and feedback. Each needs to listen and seek understanding in order to have strong and successful engagement and feel empowered.  

Empowerment is an ongoing process that requires discovery, openness, and patient coaching. The skill of using open-ended questions will drive new thinking and learning for both parties. The rewards are reciprocal and powerful. As an empowering leader, you can build a purpose-driven culture where your employees will be loyal and productive. By doing so, you will meet the needs of today’s millennial workforce. They will not only feel empowered but also be more highly engaged. The result will be a faster-growing and thriving business for years to come.