Research has regularly demonstrated that when employees feel empowered at work, it is associated with stronger job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment to the organisation.
Follow the next steps to empower your employees:
- Delegate to develop
Delegate with the intent to grow and develop the capabilities and responsibilities of your employees.
- Set clear expectations
Define the boundaries within which your employee is free to act. By setting clear expectations, you’re giving your employees permission to take make decisions while ensuring the decisions are in line with company goals.
- Give employees autonomy over assignments
When you delegate, accept that this may mean your employee may complete the task differently than you would. Accept that your way may not be the only (or best) way to complete a project.
- Provide necessary resources
Offer tools, resources and be a sounding board for ideas.
- Give constructive feedback
Telling someone they did a “good job” doesn’t give them any direction for what to continue doing in the future. Be specific about the actions or attitudes you’d like to see repeated and the impact they had on others.
- Accept ideas and input
When possible, include your employees in decision-making and goal-setting. If they can’t be involved in these preliminary processes, be open to hearing their ideas and input. Not only can being receptive to new ideas help empower your employees, but it can also open up your organisation to great new ideas.
- Communicate the vision of the organisation
By clearly communicating the vision of the organisation and how a team and its individuals contribute to that vision, you are empowering your employees with the knowledge that their contribution is making a difference.
- Recognise employees for hard work
Showing appreciation for work well done makes it more likely that a person will do it again (and do it even better). It will also encourage them to continue to be innovative, take action, and solve problems.
