Four steps to empower your employees
What is empowerment?
In a professional context, empowerment is all about becoming stronger and more confident in yourself and your work.
As a manager, it's really a two-way street with you and your employee to get them empowered. In other words, you're responsible for it just as much as they are. It's something that will build over time and that you need to continually invest in the relationship for it to continue to bloom.
What does an empowered employee look like?
You have a lot of trust in them, they run with their work, and know when to check in with you otherwise. You've likely gotten in a good rhythm in your relationship dynamics where you can anticipate each other's needs. Empowered employees are likely your favorite employees.
They are willing, open, and ready to do a good job for the organization or project. They take ownership over their piece of the puzzle, coming up with their own ideas of how to execute. They are responsible and accountable for their work, and can make adjustments as needed. And they take initiative to take independent action and tend to jump in before others.
How does this apply to new employees?
New employees will naturally take some time to become more empowered in their role when everything feels new to them (the role, the company, the boss). New employees coming from another department internally will likely be able to become empowered quicker since there are less new things to figure out.
Signs an employee isn't empowered
They lack motivation and discipline
They're asking a lot of questions that they likely know the answers to
They aren't being proactive, they wait for you to tell them exactly what to do
You find yourself fixing their mistakes often and they aren't improving, even with feedback
You feel like they should be able to run with it on their own but they keep relying on you
Warning: your dynamics with a disempowered employee may become a repeated cycle
Since empowerment really is a two-way street with you and your employee, you have to be careful of the role you're playing in it. You both are participating in it and feeding off of each other.
A common example of how I often see it turning into a repeated cycle:
Your employee isn't empowered on a project so they don't take ownership
They come to you with more questions and mistakes
You lose trust in them
You start to micromanage or fix everything for them
They start to get discouraged, and they know that you'll fix things for them so they don't try any harder
You spend too much time in the weeds of the work
You get overwhelmed and don't know what to prioritize or focus on
You start to resent your employee for not stepping up more
Your employee starts to resent you for the constant critiquing of their work
Four steps to empower your employees:
1. Security
As a solid foundation, the employee needs to feel secure in their position (role or within a project) and in the company. Without this, nothing else matters. It is really hard to empower an employee who is worried about losing their livelihood or doesn't feel like their presence matters on the team.
How to create security:
Remind them of their value on the team and how their work fits into the bigger picture. They also need to see you as their advocate, where you will stand up for their needs and share their value to other people as well.
2. Clarity
The employee needs to see clearly where they and the team are headed. Helping them see the future vision of a project, team, company, or even a simple report empowers them with the buy-in to want to get to the finish line.
How to create clarity:
Talk through the future vision with them from the angle of "what's in it for them" so that they can be excited to get there too. You also want to share the "why" behind each project, both from the perspective of what will happen when we accomplish it, but also what could happen if we don't complete it on time or effectively.
3. Structure
I like to think of structure as the guardrails that helps employees know what they're responsible for and stay on track with a plan. This helps them have more accountability along the way.
How to create structure:
Setting clear expectations for your employee with very specific goals, measurable outcomes, and planned check-points along the way will really set them up for success here. You want to provide on-going support, be available for them, and ask them questions to help them think through their plan so they don't just rely solely on your perspective.
4. Confidence
This is about belief in themselves and the team itself. Once they have confidence, they're more likely to take initiative on their projects and may rely on you less.
How to create confidence:
It sounds simple, but reminding them of their strengths and acknowledging their wins goes a long way with your employees. Don't wait for the very end of a project either, continually provide positive feedback when appropriate to boost their confidence along the way. You can also encourage more team collaboration on projects for the team to naturally boost each other's confidence by focusing on what skills they bring to the project.
Want help building an intentional employee empowerment plan? Book a free discovery call and let's talk it through.
Brittany Canaski is a highly-rated Leadership Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hello Velocity where she builds confident leaders and high-performing teams. When she's not building her business, you can find her planning her next travel adventure with her husband, watching Formula 1 racing, or volunteering in her local community of Charlotte, NC.
