There is only one true way employees can grow within your organization – empower them. Quickly.
You’ve likely invested significant dollars in searching for, recruiting and training the people who work for you, and your decision to hire was probably based on a high level of trust in their ability to fulfill the role they were hired for.
As one CEO once said to me, “I expect my employees to work themselves out of their position the first day on the job.” It just so happens that her company is not only experiencing rapid growth, she also boasts a smooth-running and stress free work environment for everyone. Her secret of empowering people as soon as they demonstrate an ability to be trusted through making wise decisions has proven to be quite effective.
Where most managers impose an arbitrary waiting period for handing out promotions or assigning additional responsibilities to employees, there are the few who give employees as much as they can handle, plus a little bit
more. These are the leaders who believe in giving employees the opportunity to flex their intellectual, analytical and creative muscles, and these employees feel a deeper connection with their managers, with the company and are more willing to give their managers more because of the level of trust placed in them.
Employees who are given these freedoms are also ripe for learning strong leadership skills. Empowered employees led by skilled managers with strong E.Q.’s are likely to adopt similar, if not identical leadership styles. This is why it is so important for anyone who holds a management or supervisory position to learn and practice the excellent leadership skills, such as:
Active Listening
Conflict Resolution
I-Messages
How to lead productive meetings
Additionally, when employees feel empowered, they are more likely to:
1. Have a stronger sense of ownership of their job thus motivating them to make better decisions
2. Feel and have a deeper engagement of self into the company
3. Have a greater sense of accountability for their decisions and actions
4. Think through and present fresh, relevant ideas
5. Have a greater sense of purpose which leads to delivering on expectations of the brand
6. Think through solutions to problems without feeling the need to include their immediate boss
7. Motive others in their work group
8. Become the company’s biggest, and most influential brand ambassador
9. Push the limits of the status quo in the spirit of continuous improvement throughout all areas of the organization
Of course, there are arguments for not empowering some employees. You’ll note that I explain why each is invalid…
1. Employees who are empowered (too soon) are prone to making mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes – including those who boast years of experience in their field or profession. Some mistakes are quite significant, and you can’t learn unless you make them. Empower employees, and monitor them closely in the beginning. Once they prove to you that they understand their role/position and that they have strong analytical skills, give them more and more freedom.
2. Some employees who are “given an inch will take a mile.”
As a manager, wouldn’t you rather be in a position of managing and directing over-enthusiasm than hooking up the jumper cables three times a day to get employees moving?
3. Not all employees can be trusted.
How many times do you hear about employees who have worked for a company ten, twenty, or thirty years and have been caught embezzling or stealing from their employer? Trust until you have reason not to trust, and create systems that minimize or eliminate any motivation to cheat or beat the system.
If you hire good people, it’s in your best interest to give them a chance to prove to you how good they really are.