So you’re a line manager or a business owner and you’d like to start practicing principles of employee empowerment? That’s great, because empowering your employees will improve their productivity and lead them to develop an entrepreneurial mindset regarding their work.
As a result, your employees will be more likely to come up with innovative solutions to problems, which can translate to company growth, happy customers, and a healthy level of profitability. Here are six essential principles you can apply to empower your employees.
1. Let your employees know you appreciate them
There’s almost nothing that can provide a great boost of self-confidence for your people like letting them know their boss truly appreciates them and the work they perform. When you’re known as a manager who routinely offers words of encouragement or behaves more like a coach than a critic, you’ll improve the overall morale of your organization.
As a result, you’ll find that people enjoy their work and they’re more diligent about making sure that routine tasks are completed properly and on time.
2. Communicate your vision
There should be no question in the minds of your employees about the direction in which the company is heading. Overall business strategy, as well as day-to-day objectives to move forward with that strategy, should be clearly communicated to all employees.
Getting everybody on the same page is a way to ensure that everyone in the organization feels like he or she is part of a team working toward a common goal. Then they can focus their efforts with that goal in mind, and work to ensure that the company’s aims are ultimately met.
3. Trust your employees
A great way to provide a sense of empowerment is to show people that you trust them. Give your people a task to do, and let them complete that task without you applying excessive micromanagement.
If you let people do things themselves without constant monitoring, you’re sending a silent but unmistakable message that whatever responsibility you have delegated is in safe hands and you know that it will be accomplished. By “letting go,” you’re creating a business culture in which employees work for the good of the company and not just to make the boss happy.
4. Provide feedback
Your employees have been entrusted with tasks and responsibilities. Once they’ve completed them, let them know how well they performed. Did their work make it easier to reach company goals? Be sure to mention that, because it’s a great source of encouragement.
Did they make a mistake and create some opportunities for developmental improvement? If so, use tact in explaining what went wrong. Use the feedback as a means of explaining to your employees how their work affects the direction of the company so they can, if necessary, make corrections to ensure that objectives are met.
5. Don’t point fingers, solve problems
When a problem occurs, it’s very easy to blame a particular employee as the cause and leave it at that. Resist the temptation to do that. Instead, view each setback as a company setback, even if only one person was technically involved. Find out how the system broke and determine what can be done to improve it.
6. Reward your team members
Make sure that people are properly rewarded for demonstrating empowered behavior. Employees who think outside the box to solve problems should be publicly acknowledged, because that creates an incentive for other employees to do the same.
You’re also letting your employees know that their efforts do not go unnoticed, and they’re not performing a thankless job.
Originally posted on August 21, 2013 @ 10:10 am