Empowering leaders give their team members the freedom to act and decide about their work in the organizations. Instead of micro-managing, they encourage team members to be self-managing. They expect that employees will, at times, challenge their authority and seek to be more involved with their team as part of the learning process. Team members who are empowered typically feel a sense of autonomy and momentum as they towards team goals.
In order to create a culture of team empowerment, leaders and team members must trust each other. That way, they can depend on each other to take action in ways that are helpful to the team and the organization.
There also must be clear communication between the leader and the team members. This way, the team members know where they have the authority to make decisions, and leaders give team members autonomy in areas that fit their skillset and their capacity.
Done well, empowering leadership is tremendously helpful in developing healthy teams. Empowerment helps team members own their work, which can result in increased productivity, happier employees, and healthier workplace culture. Empowered employees tend to deliver their projects with more care and can be more effective in their work.
Studies have shown that empowerment also tends to increase the trust between team members and their leaders. One study showed that team members who felt that they had empowering leaders had greater faith in their leaders and were more likely to put in effort without fearing that they would be taken advantage of.
Despite these benefits, empowering leadership doesn’t work as well when team members lack the expertise to effectively make decisions. Empowering without providing adequate support is likely to result in stressed team members and a decline in product quality.
Most team members react positively to the increased freedom and trust from leaders that comes from empowerment. However, increased freedom given to an untrustworthy employee can be problematic. Unscrupulous employees may seek to “reciprocate” the increased freedom and trust in ways that benefit the company but are unethical, such as concealing damaging information from clients.
Despite these shortcomings, empowering leadership often helps employees to be more creative and proactive. Below are some steps you can take to implement empowering leadership in your own workplace:
Learn to delegate tasks with the intent to develop team member’s abilities.
Make sure that there are clear boundaries and expectations concerning where your team members are free to act.
Give team members autonomy to decide how to complete their tasks and realize that your way of doing things probably isn’t the only way.
Make sure positive feedback is specific and helpful, and show appreciation for their work. Be clear about what team members are doing well, and explain the impact it has had on others.
Make sure your team members have the resources they need. Instead of solving every problem a team member presents to you, consider teaching them to problem solve by offering to be a sounding board, coaching them, or giving them tools.
Engage in participative leadership.
Help team members see how they are making a difference by connecting their work to the organization's mission and vision.
Chew on this:
What’s one area where you can empower your team members and give them more freedom to take action?