Empowered, engaged employees are invaluable assets. They take ownership, put in discretionary effort, solve problems creatively, and serve as brand ambassadors for your organization. But empowerment and engagement don’t just happen spontaneously, they require deliberate strategies consistently applied by leaders. If you want a fired-up team, use these practical steps.
Start with Trust
You cannot empower people if you don’t trust them. Empower yourself to let go of old control tendencies and give staff the benefit of the doubt. When you extend real trust from the start, it invites trustworthiness and higher commitment in return.
Provide Proper Training
Nothing disempowers people faster than being under-prepared or set up to fail in key tasks. Invest in comprehensive training so staff have the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to execute their roles effectively. Use a variety of learning methods, like job shadowing, mentoring, simulations, and self-study. The more capable people feel, the more empowered they will be.
Relinquish Some Control
One of the hardest things for many leaders is learning to let go and not micromanage every little thing. It’s natural to want to steer and insert yourself, but that’s disempowering. Once you’ve set clear expectations and guidelines, give staff members autonomy and breathing room in how they approach and sequence their work. The less you hover, the more they will step up.
Seek Their Input
Further empower your team by tapping into their intelligence, ideas, and lived experience. Seek their feedback and input on key initiatives that impact them. Use techniques like design thinking, brainstorming sessions, or open forum discussions to extract their insights in a structured way. Implement some of their suggestions and give them opportunities to be part of the execution.
Support Professional Growth
For employees to feel truly empowered in their roles long-term, they need clear pathways for advancing their skills and responsibilities over time. Have regular check-ins to discuss individual professional development goals. Provide access to training, job shadowing, stretch assignments, and other learning opportunities. When staff can actively upskill and expand their capabilities, it prevents career stagnation.
Be Radically Candid
Excessive negativity or toxic positivity both disempower teams by eroding trust and authenticity. Practicing candor by giving staff regular honest, unvarnished feedback (both positive and constructive) in a caring, supportive way is the answer. This establishes a culture of transparency and accountability where people know they can improve.
Implement Rewards and Recognition
Everyone wants to feel appreciated for their efforts and achievements. The people at Motivation Excellence recommend implementing robust rewards and recognition programs that frequently celebrate and incentivize staff for hitting goals, demonstrating important values and behaviors, or going above and beyond. Simple, sincere recognition goes a very long way.
Model Accountability
If you want staff to own their responsibilities, you need to walk the talk yourself as a leader. Be accountable – admit mistakes, fix errors, establish systems to track key metrics, and embrace a continuous improvement mindset. Leading with integrity and accountability empowers staff to rise to that same high bar.
Leverage Their Strengths
Take the time to understand each staff member’s unique strengths, working styles, and motivations. Then adjust your leadership approach to align with and leverage those assets. For some, it may mean more autonomy and trust. For others, more clarity and structured guidance.
Conclusion
Know that empowerment and engagement are ongoing journeys, not finite destinations. What works to motivate and energize staff today may need to shift over time as team members, business contexts, and management approaches evolve. Regularly assess engagement levels through surveys and conversations. Stay attuned to signs of disempowerment like lack of initiative or quiet quitting. Then proactively adjust your strategies to maintain an empowered culture for the long haul.
