I’ve never forgotten the way my first manager empowered her team. Even though I was just a rookie then, she made me feel so valued, I decided that if I became a leader I’d do everything within my power to empower mine. The benefits of employee empowerment have been well established. We know empowered employees are more engaged, experience greater job satisfaction, perform better at work, demonstrate more loyalty to the organization, and are likelier to trust leaders they consider more empowering. They’re also likelier to go above and beyond at work without feeling as if they’re being exploited. (One study found that when empowerment is low, only 4 per cent of employees are willing to go the extra mile, but when empowerment is high, 67 per cent are.) Empowered employees also tend to be more creative, feel a greater sense of control over their work, and believe that what they’re doing can make a difference. Bottom line: the more you make people feel empowered at work, the more invested and productive they’ll be. But how do you empower them? Here are five ways that have worked for me.
Cultivate Trust
After you’ve assembled a team of individuals who respond well to being empowered (this is important, since not everyone does respond well), and have clearly communicated your vision, the best way to empower your team is by cultivating an atmosphere of trust. One of the best ways to do that is by staying open to opinions and ideas. If you judge team members’ ideas, dismiss them, or pay lip service to them but never take action, they’ll catch on pretty quickly you’re not taking them seriously. You’ll effectively disempower them. But if you foster an atmosphere of trust where people feel free to risk sharing their ideas, you’ll also foster a culture where creative problem solving, and critical thinking become the norm.
Make Team Members Feel Valued
One of the reasons my first manager’s leadership style made such an indelible impression on me is because of the high degree of respect she gave me from the get-go. I will never forget my first day on the job. I was fresh out of university and had been hired to fill an entry-level position in the marketing department. After welcoming me that morning, she told me a few agencies would be pitching that day, handed me an agency brief, and asked me to sit in and help pick our new agency of record. It was scary to be tossed into the deep end but being treated like an equal member of the team so early in the game made me even more determined than I already was to make sure that I never let my manager down. Today, I make my team feel valued by helping them chart their careers, regularly scheduling one-on-ones with them to check in about their workloads, and seeking their feedback on how I can become a better leader. The dividends that flow from such efforts are incalculable.
Recognize & Reward Extra Effort
I always appreciated it when my superiors commended me for showing initiative. Their acknowledgement of my initiative made me feel that it had not gone unnoticed or valued and spurred me on to keep doing what I was doing. In other words, if you reward behaviour you’d like to see more of, you’re likely to see more of that behaviour in the future. To recognize, reward, and encourage the efforts of employees who show initiative, go the extra mile and take risks across all levels of the organization, I instituted a program whereby starting from the managerial level on up, I ask my employees to email me about team members who are going “above and beyond” or “exceeding expectations” in any way. I personally write those people a note of thanks. I cannot overstate the positive impact of that policy. Acknowledging the contributions of employees who go the extra mile and writing them a personal note of thanks lets them know I’m aware of their efforts and how much I value them. Acknowledging employees’ accomplishments can easily fall to bottom of your priority list. But if you take the time to celebrate their successes, contributions, and efforts to grow, I promise you it will be time well spent.
Be Willing to Learn From Your Team
Your team is your most valuable asset, so invest in it. Invest in professional development, which sends a signal that you value your team members’ contribution enough to support their efforts to keep learning. And invest in your team as people. Demonstrate your willingness to learn from them and your interest in doing so by leaving your office door open, burning shoe leather, and above all, asking questions. I ask my employees for their opinions all the time. But I don’t just ask. I listen to what they have to say and tell them what I can reasonably do to address their concerns. Then I follow through.
Make a Personal Connection
A lot of leaders deliberately avoid making small talk with their employees. Either they’re uncomfortable with making small talk, they don’t feel they have the time, or they simply aren’t very good at it. But I think that’s a mistake. If you make a habit of engaging your employees in a one-on-one conversation in your office, the cafeteria or hallway, enquire about their work progress, praise their accomplishments, listen to their complaints, and get to know them on a personal level, you’ll buy a lot of goodwill. If you show them that you care about them as human beings, as well as employees, you’ll create a workplace in which they feel happier and more productive. And we all know the benefits that flow from that.