People Empowerment
Empowerment is defined as: “the giving or delegation of power or authority; authorization; the giving of an ability; enablement or permission.”
In today's business world, there is a strong movement toward empowerment and autonomy to allow employees greater authority and responsibility to take care of the needs of the client or customer and to provide employees with the means to make influential decisions. Moreover, empowered employees understand their role in supporting the overall vision by taking care of the needs of the customers and organizations they serve. Let’s discuss a few examples of employee empowerment in hopes that it will influence your leadership process and how you can entitle those around you to take ownership and responsibility, as well as stimulate growth:
Support - Upper management needs to be committed to supporting an employee-empowered culture. This includes developing an organizational definition of empowerment that includes well-defined boundaries and management training on how to coach employees. For instance, first-time supervisors may need to be trained on how to support and empower employees to respond to situations or clients' needs. Making sure that organizational support spans across all levels of leadership is essential in the success of an empowered culture.
Frontline Autonomy - Frontline employees get it. They deal with the day-to-day issues and know what customers want. Eliminate the “let me ask my boss” barrier by handing over a higher level of the decision-making power to frontline employees. This act of delegation may be something as simple as allowing an employee to make service recovery decisions. For instance, the Ritz Carlton authorizes front desk employees to make things right with a customer up to a set dollar amount. Another example is Kroger's "Pay it Forward" philosophy, where their staff is allowed to wave purchases up to $25 during checkout, when a form of payment is declined or situations arise that forgo immediate payment. No questions asked! What policies can your business put in place to remove friction and give employees a level of control and ownership?
Continued Education - Ongoing employee training is vital, especially to the success and overall improvement of a cultural shift in empowerment. Examples of these trainings might be how to negotiate, conflict resolution, or elevated customer care skills. The more tools you provide your employees, the more confident they will be with making the off the cuff decisions that impact your clients or customers and, ultimately, the success of organization.
Leadership's Trust in Employees - Delegating decision-making can be difficult, particularly for new managers. However, managers need to have trust and confidence that their employees will make the right decision. A manager that second-guesses an employee’s decisions can impact an employee’s confidence in their decision-making ability. The fact is...employees won’t make the right call all of the time, and that's ok. When they miss the mark, take the opportunity to coach and mentor them on a more appropriate response. This leadership practice is commonly "misinterpreted" and requires the most discipline by upper management. For a great resource on this, I recommend The speed of Trust, by Franklin R. Covey
Clear Boundaries - Employees need to understand the expectations and boundaries for decision-making. They should have clarity on what it means in terms of their authority (or lack there of) in any given situation. For example, an employee may be given the ability to correct a customer issue up to a certain dollar amount. Without boundaries, there is room for confusion and, worst case scenario...room for inconsistencies within the company culture.
Planning, Planning, Planning! - As the good'ol saying goes; "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Creating an environment to empower employees requires focus and coordination. Implementation should have a timeline attached and all aspects of the plan should be written so everyone understands the timing and process. Organizations with strong empowerment models show that productivity and customer satisfaction improves as a result of an empowered culture.
There's no arguing that empowered employees are loyal, committed and potentially more productive. When employees are given the tools and resources needed to successfully manage or lead their own projects, work toward their goals and drive their own career, the benefits are endless.
Empowered employees are more likely to:
Go the extra mile
Follow best practices
Be more productive
Have good communication
Embrace change
Have a “can do” attitude
Provide better customer service
So I ask, why wouldn't you empower your teams? The outcomes may surprise you.