One of the most impactful things you can do as a leader is to create an empowered team. When your team members are empowered, they are likely to be more engaged, more loyal, more tenacious, and happier overall. You may also see less stress and burnout (both in them and in yourself!) when you enable the team to take more active roles in their own destiny. Just be aware that empowerment is not an absolute preventative to stress and burnout.
Depending on the culture and environment of your business, and your own personal traits, it can be hard to figure out how you effectively empower people. If you’re the perfectionist it can be hard to let go and delegate tasks. Some companies are extremely regimented in process and procedure, which leaves managers (particularly those in middle management) wondering how they can allow teams the ability to make and follow their own decisions. If you are a middle manager who does not feel empowered yourself, you may struggle to see how you can foster that feeling in your downstream org.
So today we’re going discuss ways to both directly and indirectly empower your teams.
Direct Empowerment Techniques
Traditionally, empowerment among employees primarily comes from allowing teams to be self-sufficient, responsible, and with the authority to make and take actions on decisions. Tactics that directly support this more direct empowerment model include:
Set the team vision and overall strategic objective, but allow team members to create their own goals and tactics.
Once you define the vision (you can read more about that here), spend time communicating it with your team. Be clear in the goals you are looking for the organization to accomplish. From here, allow your team members to come up with their own goals that support your objectives, and give them the ability to set their own action plans to achieve those goals. As the leader, you may need to set the general guiderails, or define a specific outcome such as a number target. But for a truly empowered team, your job is largely to define, enable, and then get out of the way.
Delegate projects and initiatives, but allow team members to come up with their own structures.
There is more than one way to reach an outcome. Give your team the opportunity to flex their creative or organizational muscles to come up with different solutions or ways of working. Just as when communicating vision and goals, be clear on the project objectives or why the initiative is taking place so your team knows what is expected.
Share information & provide resources to your team.
Some members of leadership tend to hide or obscure information from their downstream organization. While there are things that members of management are not allowed to reveal or discuss for confidentiality reasons, sharing data and information allows your team to make more informed decisions and have greater awareness of things going on around them. This allows team members to feel like they are a part of what is going on, rather than things just happening to them. Highlight those positive outcomes! It helps when people feel they made a difference. And don’t shy away from the negative updates. That quiet person in the corner might have the solution you’ve been searching for.
Forgive errors and mistakes from poor decisions.
This does not mean that there should not be accountability within your teams. And some mistakes have greater repercussions than others. However, employees who fear constant reprisal are less likely to be autonomous in their decision making. Use mistakes as opportunities for learning, discuss what occurred and what could have gone better, and provide an opportunity for correction.
Solicit and act on team feedback and input.
Take the time to solicit feedback and ideas from your teams. You can do this in one-on-one sessions, focus groups, skip levels, or even surveys and suggestion boxes. Be sure to take action on the feedback you receive. It is frustrating and annoying to many employees when they feel that they are just shouting into the void. Even if some things are not feasible, it’s a good practice to discuss possible alternatives. And include employees in finding the solution to issues raised. For maximum empowerment impact, have the team member be in charge of (or at least a primary participant in) creating initiatives that address the feedback they supplied. Include them in related projects and initiatives.
And of course, give credit and acknowledge team members for those good ideas and successful projects! Active demonstrations of empowerment encourage others.
Indirect Empowerment
Direct empowerment tactics may be more challenging to enact when you are working with front-line employees in large organizations, particularly in industries or environments that require heavy regulation or rigid processes. If you are in an environment with regimented processes and procedures, clearly defined and monitored metrics, and little employee self-determination on day-to-day activities, you need to look at more indirect mechanisms for fostering empowerment.
With one exception… there is a direct empowerment technique that also works as an indirect mechanism.
Solicit feedback and take action.
Employee engagement and empowerment increases when team members feel they have a voice in workplace matters. So, as we noted above, solicit that feedback and take action on what you hear. Include team members in projects that address issues raised. Even if they cannot be part of the project, give credit and thanks to team members for ideas. You may not be able to empower everyone, but you can allow others to see what is taking place. Many employees will recognize a culture of empowerment, and that people are listening to their ideas!
Take time during (and outside of) employee one-on-ones to foster growth and development.
Growth and development alone does not directly lead to employee feelings of empowerment. However, knowing more about your team member’s strengths and weaknesses will aid you in finding opportunities for them. There may be team goals where their strengths allow them to take a more active lead position. Make sure that your discussions cover team member aspirations so you can help them look for those opportunities for growth. Work with them on identified weaknesses by advising on ways to build skills and knowledge, and support team members if they bring items to you that will aid in their personal development. This helps to demonstrate that you are empowering them as the directors of their own future, and not only on the next task due at work.
Involve team members in projects.
Even in regimented environments, projects still arise. Allow team members to take part in these projects, particularly if the idea came from them or is related to a suggestion they gave. Look for the projects that align to the employee’s strengths and / or interests. Even if they are not a decision maker, they may have excellent ideas that accelerate or amplify the project success. (Make sure you recognize these ideas!!)
A word of caution – don’t force project involvement. Some employees simply do not wish to take part in group or project activities. But for others, projects can be opportunities to have increased visibility and feel more self-determined in their daily activities.
Find creative outlets.
Having specific directions that must be follows for particular tasks does not mean that every moment and every action in their day is dictated! Look around (and encourage your team to look around) your environment for options. Maybe it’s designing cute graphics for a short-term team incentive. Or perhaps someone has an idea for office decoration. There could be someone on your team with an idea for an intra-office competition to raise awareness on something. Help your team members find other ways to practice autonomy that are outside of process-driven tasks.
Employee empowerment is a powerful (no pun intended) factor in an organization’s success. When people have a sense of self-determination, they are more likely to feel (and be!) valued by their employers. This feeling of value adds to their overall engagement and loyalty. Dealing with the question of how to empower employees can feel daunting. However, with some effort, and a little creative thought, you can build a culture that embraces empowerment.
