Empowering Your Employees

It’s often the hardest lesson to learn: don’t be a micromanager.  This is often very difficult for entrepreneurs just starting out as they hire a team.  They have a goal and vision for their company and want to make it succeed and oftentimes, they don’t trust others to help them get there.  That’s a big mistake.  Empowering your employees to help grow your company is one of the smartest things you can do as an entrepreneur or young business owner just starting out; if fact, it’s key!

Empowering your employees helps ensure that your business is harnessing the full potential of its workforce.  To do this, leaders have to make it known that they trust the team that stands behind them and that they value their opinions and supply them with the resources and confidence to handle any task thrown their way.

Empowering employees is not just good for a business owner but is good for the business as a whole.  Through employee empowerment, those that work for you are more likely to experience greater job satisfaction and in turn, do better at their jobs and help increase company productivity and profits.  To successfully empower employees, both managers and employees need to rethink the way they approach their jobs on a daily basis.  “Managers must be willing to allow their employees to make decisions and employees must be willing to assume greater responsibility.” 

A great way to empower employees is by communicating with them openly.  Helping employees set goals by vocalizing what is expected of them can really help get them going or as they say: “light a fire” under them.  Actively listen.  This helps eliminate misunderstandings and makes employees feel more comfortable sharing concerns or ideas and lets them know that their contribution to the company is valued.

Enter into a partnership with your employees.  Allow them to suggest ideas for improvements or ways work procedures or product design could be enhanced.  Giving your employees a certain level of authority makes them more invested in the success of the project or task at hand.

Set goals for your employees and offer incentives in return.  This is a great way to empower them.  When an employee knows a level of performance measurement has been set, they’ll be more likely to take proactive approaches to meet those expectations and feel like they are doing it not just for the company but for themselves.  Giving your employees a sense of self-worth goes a long way to empowering them to do their jobs better.

Allow your employees to uncover their strengths.  Give them tasks and see how they respond to them and learn what they are good at.  Once you understand this, you can continue to give them more work that gives them a sense of accomplishment.  This also allows your employees to enjoy their jobs more as they feel like they are making a contribution and a strong one at that.

Give your employees the skills and tools they need to succeed.  The more you help them grow, the more empowered they feel. Invest in corporate training programs.  This especially shows your employees that you are confident in their ability to pick up new skills and are then even more confident that they can grow with the company and add value to it.  New knowledge and skill sets of employees always helps enhance their contributions to the company as a whole.

Another great way to empower your employees is to provide positive reinforcement.  Publicly acknowledging the accomplishments of high-performing employees in front of their peers can boost their morale.  Remember praise goes a long way and always be sure to give credit where credit is due.

Show your employees that you trust them.  Take a chance on their abilities.  If you allow them to work on special projects or difficult tasks that are vital to company success this can go a long way to empowering them.  When you show them you have confidence in them, they are more likely to be more productive on a daily basis.

Allow your employees to think differently and take initiative.  If they come to you with a new idea or product design, listen.  You can really empower an employee by showing them that their thoughts are valued and that they indeed have good ideas that you are willing to take a chance on and implement into your business model.

While you always want to give your employees opportunities to shine, allow them to fail as well without repercussion.  Letting your employees figure out how to rectify mistakes on their own makes them feel empowered.

Most importantly, show your employees that you trust them.  Not just that you trust their skills and abilities but that you trust their insights and their minds.  Let them put on their “thinking” caps and create innovative ideas on their own.  Show them that you have faith in their abilities to think outside the box and be creative.

While it’s hard to put all your faith in your employees and steer clear of being a micromanager, it’s probably the best key to success when starting up a new business.  Fostering a cooperative and communal environment is a great way to help your company reach its ultimate goals and objectives.  When you empower your employees, you also empower yourself and that in the end, leads to greater success in the long run.

If you’re an entrepreneur reading this, what has been the greatest lesson you’ve learned by empowering your employees and what are the greatest techniques you’ve used to implement empowering them?  Leave a comment and let me know how you feel about what I’ve said here today.  I want to hear from you as I value your feedback and opinion a great deal!

Here are some articles you might want to check out about empowering your employees:

“Empowering Your Employees to Empower Themselves”: http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/04/empowering-your-employees-to-e/

“How to Empower Your Employees”: http://www.businessweek.com/management/how-to-empower-your-employees-12062011.html

“Top 10 Principles of Employee Empowerment”: http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementandleadership/tp/empowerment.htm

Until next time...