Becoming a Better Boss Secret 11: Empower Your Employees!
To empower means to give official authority, to enable, to promote the self-actualization of others.
To empower others, you will need to give them tools to help them to be problem solvers and feel they are in control. Here are three ways you can empower your employees.
TEACH
Teach your employees to be problem solvers. Insist they come to you with suggestions to solve problems, instead of complaints. Give them a map to follow in solving problems – a template. You can use these classic steps (below) in problem solving, or modify the steps to meet your needs.
CLASSIC PROBLEM-SOLVING STEPS
- Identify a problem.
- Define and analyze.
- Work at finding the root cause.
- Explore solutions.
- Implement the solution.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the solution.
Teach employees to describe problems with specific facts. Remind them that simple solutions are often best. Help them to understand their role in solving problems.
ASK QUESTIONS
Help employees solve problems on their own by asking the right questions. Try using these prompts in guiding your discussion:
- Can you describe the problem? Be specific and tell me the facts.
- What is the simplest solution you can think of to solve this problem?
- How will this solution take care of the problem? How will it help us?
- What steps are you willing to take to put this solution into motion?
- What help, support, or involvement would you like to receive from me?
HELP EMPLOYEES FEEL IN CONTROL
- Give employees multiple and structured ways to communicate.
- Be honest with what you know, don’t know, and can’t say.
- Make meetings feel safe.
- Act on feedback.
- When possible, create employee teams to solve problems.
- When you delegate, do it right! (Refer to Secret #7!)
- Always follow up.
For more information, check out Becoming a Better Boss – Your Guidebook to 25 Fundamental Management Responsibilities is now available at Amazon.com!