For a business leader, to empower your employees is to give them the tools, resources, support and courage they need to do their jobs well. While constant monitoring and micro-managing may have been a popular management style in years past, today’s leaders are looking for ways to weave empowerment into the very core of their company’s culture, ensuring every employee is able to contribute their best work.
However, creating such a culture may require a significant shift from what currently exists in your organization. To build more collaboration, encouragement and positivity into your work culture, consider the following advice from the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council.
Let Employees Have Accountability
Accountability equals empowerment. It is the act of taking responsibility for one’s actions. It empowers employees to take pride in their work and ask what they can do to support the team. By nurturing this culture, you entrust employees to take action. Leadership and employees must be willing to self-reflect and assess how they view and respond to situations to support a culture of accountability. – Rowshan Reordan, Green Leaf Lab
Foster More Human-to-Human Interaction
I’m reminded of Steve Jobs’ wisdom in the early days of Apple. He deliberately created open conference rooms in the hallways so employees would see each other, interact and connect. This human-to-human interaction, rather than being locked away in a cubicle, led to more than just great employee interaction — it led to a feeling of community, common purpose and, in some cases, new innovative ideas. – Larry Dvoskin, Miracle Music Inc.
Trust Your Employees to Do Their Jobs
The number one thing you can do to create a culture of empowerment is to let your employees do the job you hired them to do. If you are constantly correcting, changing or looking over everything your employees do, they will never feel empowered. Trust is a key component to feeling empowered, and it allows your employees to react to situations as they see fit and also feel safe to make a mistake! – Nathan Green, New Level Radio
Create Opportunities for Employees to Succeed
Empowerment becomes culture through observed success. Create an experiment where each team member takes on an achievable new initiative or project that can be completed in one week. Build momentum by accomplishing small goals and have a reward system in place for those who succeed. – Tim Jack, Rise
Be Their Cheerleader and Mentor
Be their megaphone. Everyone needs autonomy and trust, but remember to lend a helping hand. Amplify their accomplishments on your platforms and networks. Implement practical steps to open doors for them to walk through, such as conferences, training courses or by simply offering your time as a mentor. Providing those types of opportunities can help create a powerful culture of employee empowerment. – Andy Hale, Hale & Monico
Eliminate Their Fear to Unleash Their Creativity
I tell all our employees that no one at our company has ever been fired for making a mistake. Making it clear that messing up will not end someone’s career makes it much easier for that person to think for themself, step out of their comfort zone and take risks. When fear is eliminated, creativity is unleashed — and innovation flourishes. – Vanessa Nornberg, Metal Mafia
Support Their Personal and Professional Life
Give employees the resources they need to feel empowered in and out of the workplace. There’s a lot of overlap between personal and professional life, and your employees will feel the most empowered at work when they have the benefits, flexibility and other resources to feel confident and secure outside of the workplace, too. – Evan Nison, NisonCo
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Encourage Open Dialogue
Employees who feel safe sharing ideas, concerns and feedback are more engaged and productive. Regular one-on-one meetings and anonymous feedback channels create a space for open communication, empowering employees to be active contributors to the company’s success. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
Put Greater Emphasis on Communication
Increase communication: weekly emails, weekly virtual meetings, quarterly in-person meetings. To truly build empowerment, you need to communicate. Once you establish a strong communication cadence, reinforce actions such as pushing decision-making down, offering learning programs and, most importantly, letting people fail without any fear, uncertainty or doubt. – Brendan Keegan, bFEARLESS Racing
Allow Employees to Spearhead Initiatives
Businesses have challenges and opportunities. Often, our own employees understand these better than anyone — sometimes even more than the C-suite crew! It’s powerful and smart to assign employees to spearhead initiatives. And I mean really run them — not just be a figurehead on a committee. Get that employee to zero in on the opportunity, develop a plan and execute it. You might be quite surprised! – Scott Cowperthwaite, AfterFiveMedia
Implement Regular Feedback Sessions
A business can create a culture of employee empowerment by fostering open communication and supportive feedback. One step to take is implementing regular feedback sessions, such as monthly meetings or anonymous surveys, where employees can share their ideas and concerns directly with upper-level management. This makes employees feel valued and involved in the decision-making that drives success. – Sonia Singh, Center of Inner Transformations
Decentralize Decisions
Decentralizing decisions empowers employees and boosts efficiency through faster action, better use of information, reduced management load, improved problem-solving, adaptability, motivation and productivity. Employees can act fast, address issues and adapt. Ownership and initiative rise. Frameworks, guidelines and training are key. – Dylan Fusco, Kamoti
Focus on Good HR Practices
Double down on core employee engagement and performance management practices that foster safety, consistency and clear communication. Too many organizations try to get fancy and do so at the expense of basic good HR practices like mid-year and year-end reviews and specific conversations about performance (positive, negative or just checking in). These go far and further than almost anything else. – Scott Curran, Beyond Advisers
Be Confident and Secure in Your Own Work
My team and I confront this daily working on film and TV productions. Success seems to be linked to the leadership listening to employees, allowing them to take ownership of their work and having their backs. This means leaders need to be confident and secure in their own work, and that will show through in the work of others. – Zena Harris, Green Spark Group
Ensure Everyone Is Heard and Valued
Empower employees by fostering a culture of inclusive listening. Ensure everyone’s voice is heard and valued, regardless of experience level or specific expertise, in addition to respecting divergent opinions. You must create dedicated spaces for those who might be hesitant to speak up and actively solicit their perspective on various projects or initiatives. – Jason Peterson, GoDigital Media Group
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