Every human wants to feel needed.
As leaders in our organizations, we suffer from this desire as much as the next person. The problem is, it leads to us getting in the way, trying to control too much and ultimately hindering our ability to grow.
I get it. When an employee comes to you with a problem, it feels great to be able to help. We all want to be that person who can help solve the problem and move the task forward. The problem is, as soon as you have more than two people in your organization, you become a bottleneck. Your employees are coming to you with every decision required to keep things moving and at some point, everything gets bogged down.
So how do empower team members to do their own decision-making? It all comes down to your style of leadership. Encouraging employee autonomy means helping your employees build trust in themselves so they can make a positive impact on your organization. And you can do this through empowering leadership.
What Is Empowering Leadership?
You want your team to have the confidence they need to drive your organization forward. To do that, they have to understand the direction your business is going. That’s why the first step in empowering leadership is consistently communicating your mission, vision and values.
The more you can make these three things part of your workplace culture, the more your team can align themselves and their roles with them, which empowers them to think strategically for your business.
An empowered team is an autonomous team, and an autonomous team can have a tremendously positive effect. It creates a network of support for you as the owner so you can work together with different departments to go further, faster.
Think of it like a rowing team. If you were the only person in the boat with a paddle, you’d be moving at a snail’s pace. To compete and win, you need everyone in the boat to have their own paddle and know how to use it.
Unfortunately, to keep the analogy going, too many businesses forget to hand out paddles when onboarding new employees. One of the keys to employee empowerment is giving each person the tools they need to be successful — whether that’s a piece of technology, specialized knowledge or access to certain company resources. If your team is equipped with the right tools, they’ll learn and grow in the directions that interest and motivate them, which makes your company stronger.
Before we move any further, I just want to make one thing clear: Empowering leadership does not mean that you leave your employees completely alone (theres a big difference between empowering and abdicating). You should still be available to help, support or mentor as needed but shouldn’t need to micromanage everyone on your team.
How Does It “Activate” Employees?
Empowering leaders make their teams feel like they can take control of situations and offer valuable feedback (both to clients and company leadership). Oftentimes this mindset is developed through teaching leadership skills such as strategic thinking, people management and time management.
When your team feels more confident in their abilities, it makes them more willing to take on new challenges at work. As an added bonus, an empowering leadership style clearly demonstrates that you trust their judgment, believe in their unique skills, are invested in their success and want to help them continue growing. This creates a sense of psychological safety in your organization that makes it more likely that people will share their true feelings and pitch new ideas. This is “activating” them — empowering them to move forward through their own momentum.
4 Ways to Be an Empowering Leader?
Every leadership style requires a lot of thought and intentionality. To help you develop your own empowering leadership style, consider these four steps you can take to start empowering your team.
1. Always State Your Vision
I start almost every team meeting by restating our company mission and vision. Sure, it’s the ten millionth time some of my team has heard it, but it’s important to continually reiterate why we’re here and what we’re striving for.
The goal is that every employee will internalize this message and strive to help us achieve it through their work. Reminding people of these messages helps them ensure they’re positioning themselves toward organizational goals and gives them a focus point to guide their efforts. Plus, it opens a convenient way for them to ask questions, offer feedback and create a conversation if they feel like it’s needed.
2. Coach Your People In Context
There are lots of ways to empower people in your organization and what works is dependent on who you are as a leader and your employee’s personality and skill sets.
Personally, I like to spend time helping people develop a mindset that will allow them to manage responsibilities without my oversight. Here’s what that means.
- Help them understand me and how I make decisions. Especially when the person you’re coaching is an early hire, they need to understand how you approach tasks and issues. This gives them the ability to field things as they come in because they know how you’d approach it. They might not make the same decision you would have every time, but if they understand your mindset, they’ll at least be in the right book, even if it’s not the exact same page.
- Build context. When you give someone a task or initiative, tell them why you’re giving it to them and how it helps move the company forward. This gives them autonomy to fully own the task and move it forward in the right direction. They’ll have the information they need to shift and change while still achieving what you initially set in front of them.
- Set boundaries. Boundaries give people more freedom. There’s an old study about kids at a playground without a fence. They stayed close to the center of the playground and didn’t use the space fully. But when there was a fence, they played right up to the edges of it. They were comfortable fully using the space because they knew exactly where their boundaries were. The same is true for our employees. If they know the boundaries, they can operate more fully within their roles.
- More than one path to success. Recognize that your way isn’t the only or best way. I know you’ve heard it a hundred times by now but we have to recognize that our way isn’t always the best way. Even if it is the best way, we can’t always be there to tell people the best way to do something. Be okay with things being done a different way. You may even be surprised by what your team comes up with.
3. Give Permission to be Wrong
None of us like to mess up, but the truth is that we do.
For some reason we, as leaders, would rather it be us messing up instead of someone else. It’s like owning a self-driving car. Are they potentially a safer option? Yes. But we would much rather be in control of our own fate than trust it to an automated machine or statistics.
The problem with this, in any organization, is that it stunts growth. You can’t possibly be available for every decision and even you can’t possibly make the right decision every time.
If you’re hiring the right people, they’re already going be hard on themselves for missing the mark, so why would you join in? If the person is putting in the effort and recognizes what went wrong, then all you need to do is collaborate with them on how to avoid that same mistake in the future. Maybe it’s a process that can be changed, maybe they need to adjust something they’re doing or maybe it’s another hire you need to make. Regardless, creating a culture where your people have the “permission” to be wrong will catapult the growth of your people and your business.
4. Let It Go
I know it’s tough. Especially in those initial stages of growth when you’ve been so involved in every aspect of your business, it’s hard to let someone else make the same (or different) mistakes that you did. And of course, you’re concerned about those mistakes affecting the profitability and growth of your company. I get it!But the truth is that if you don’t let some things go and help your employees stand on their own two feet, you won’t grow and you won’t be profitable.
To continue with the playground analogy, imagine you’re a parent at a playground letting your kid run around and have fun. For the most part, you can trust that the environment is safe and watch your kid run (and fall a few times) as they meet new people and experience new things. But the second they start heading toward danger — the street, a toy without railings, thinking about jumping off the top of a play structure — something kicks in your parent heart and you’re suddenly in a full sprint to save them.
Coaching a team requires a similar mentality. As long as your team is operating with the clear boundaries you’ve set and exploring options in the definition of success you’ve established, then you have to let them figure things out on their own. They need the autonomy to figure out what works for them and you. However, when you see they’re heading for a mission-critical mistake, it’s important to jump in and save them.
That’s how people learn what does and doesn’t work for their role, your company and your clients. You likely learned through a similar process, so why expect your team to learn differently or perform perfectly the first time?
The TL;DR: Mistakes are part of being human. Use your team’s mistakes as growth opportunities both for them and your business.
Activate Your Stellar Staff
You need a team you can trust to help you grow your business. Trust to do their jobs well, trust to try their hardest, and, yes, trust to make mistakes. Through an empowering leadership style, you can teach your team to be creative problem solvers and critical thinkers who drive your business forward.
As I mentioned before, it takes time and intentionality to develop your leadership style. If you want to learn how I did it, check out my email series “Get Out of Your Own Way,” or reach out to me directly. I’m always happy to chat!
Tyler Pigott: June 13, 2023
