How to Own Your Employee Empowerment

“[Employee] empowerment is created with owning the decision, not the need to be a part of the decision.”

– Nathan Jamail

Ahhh…employee empowerment, the sense of autonomy, recognition, and confidence we all want to experience in a workplace.

For employers, it is the trust that employees are well trained and capable enough to own their decisions and actions to the benefit of the business. For employees, it is the power entrusted in them by their employers that acknowledges their competency and aptitude for the job. It is the ultimate five-point play, a wonderfully symbiotic work relationship.

But why is it important?  Why are there so many training sessions, conferences and workshops dedicated to employee empowerment?  Why would your boss even give up so much power? Do you even want that level of responsibility? Should I have even had that third cup of coffee today? Ok…maybe that last question got away from us.

The thing is, successful employee empowerment is possible. We have worked with numerous organizations to help foster stronger relationships between employers and employees. In all cases, the results were clear; engendering empowerment is one of the best strategies for organizational development. Let’s jump into the who, what, why and how.

 

What is Employee Empowerment?

The Balanced Career provides a great breakdown, it defines empowerment as the concept of enabling or authorizing an employed individual to think, execute, control, and own the decision-making process in an independent way. Essentially, empowerment is self-driven and comes from within the individual.

In today’s dynamic society, employers and employees must form a mutually beneficial relationship, beyond salary, for a business to succeed.  Empowerment allows for management to focus more on their core functions, while employees are given the chance to own their actions more autonomously.

 

Why Encourage Employee Empowerment?

Simply put, employee empowerment creates a winner-takes-all situation. Employees will thrive as the job becomes more personalized through increased self-direction and developing better chances for their aspirations to meet organizational goals.

For the smart employer, this outcome means that management can focus less on policing employees and performing redundant administrative functions. Instead, attention can be placed where it should be – building better business operations, procedures, and strategies.  This does not, however, mean there is no inspection of expectations.   Employees should still be given expectations, and held to them, but also empowered to go above and beyond said expectations, especially in situations that include obstacles or problem solving.

Employees are the main executors within the organization; they often perform repetitive functions and are more likely to be acquainted with on-the-ground business needs. In many cases, resolutions require simple solutions well within their purview. By eliminating  the red tape bureaucracy  that can often clog the decision-making structure, the response time to issues and ideas can be more quickly executed.

As pointed out by Forbes, as more and more leaders grasp this concept, they come to realize that people are their best strategic assets. It is the employees who utilize the technology, products, and processes to generate output. Therefore, it is beneficial to leaders that employees truly feel empowered when contributing to the company’s goals.

 

How to give Employee Empowerment?

Like all successful team strategies, employee empowerment starts with TRUST. For the employer, this means understanding that their employees are capable of effectively resolving issues and becoming creative in problem solving.

What’s more, a leader must provide the opportunity for trust to be built with their staff. This can be done by allowing input and building a two-way communication channel where ideas and feedback can coexist.

 

Now for a short story time…

During a recent coaching session with one my clients, he mentioned that he felt some of his employees were less engaged.  He blamed it on ‘COVID fatigue’.

While this is something we are all currently struggling with, he still needed a workable solution to increase engagement.

To start, I recommended daily calls with each employee (he has six). He could stay up-to-date with their current tasks while giving them greater accessibility to communicate directly with him.

So as not to overwhelm him or significantly delay his own mornings, I suggested that he schedule three calls with staff members in the morning and three at the close of the business day. This strategy would allow for increased connectivity,  greater oversight and the ability to better monitor his employees’ progress.

Employees would also benefit as they would be able to use that time as a one-on-one coaching session for direct feedback and meeting preparations. Even more, it would encourage them to be more confident and prepared when taking on their tasks. So, although body language was absent, the calls had the potential to build stronger interpersonal relationships and make him a better leader.

The takeaway is that to increase employees’ engagement, a leader must increase their own engagement with their employees. Simply put, engaged leaders equal engaged (and productive) employees.

We want to help you become the best leader possible, learn how the Jamail Development Group can strengthen employee engagement in your organization.