Progressive businesses are always on the lookout for ways of being more competitive, creating efficiencies, driving growth, and improving business performance. To achieve this, businesses often look for process improvements, lowered costs, increased prices – often overlooking one of the most impactful strategies to gain a competitive advantage – empowering their people!
“Leadership is about empowering others to achieve things they did not think possible” – Simon Sinek
Empowerment is granting individuals or groups the authority, confidence and resources to make decisions and take actions, providing a sense of autonomy and responsibility.
What are the benefits? There are many!
- Increased productivity – empowered team members are more invested in their work, engaged and motivated to perform their best.
- Enhanced innovation – when people feel trusted and supported, they are more likely to propose innovative enhancements or solutions.
- Better decision making – employees who have been given the autonomy and authority to make decisions get things done! This can have a significant impact on your entire team, customers, productivity and efficiency.
- Higher customer satisfaction – again, employees with the autonomy and resources to make decisions that impact clients or customers, including addressing any customer concerns or complaints, are usually more engaged and motivated to provide efficient, timely and effective customer service that customers love.
- Increased accountability – when an employee understands the impact of their work, and are given the responsibility and autonomy for their actions, this can lead to more diligent and conscientious work.
- Team collaboration – empowerment leads to a sense of ownership and accountability, with team members feeling a sense of responsibility for their work, and also the work of their team members.
- Positive work environment – an empowered team tends to create a more positive and supportive work environment.
- Improved employee retention – employees who feel valued and trusted are less likely to seek employment elsewhere. The costs to hire and retrain new team members has a significant cost attached to these activities.
- Development of future leaders – giving team members the opportunity to take on responsibilities and make decisions builds a pool of skilled and confident future leaders.
If you would like to find out more about how to empower your team and reap these positive benefits for your business, join us for our next Leading Teams Workshop: Empowering Your People, on Thursday 22 August at 12.30pm. This workshop is full of practical tips on how to establish a framework and guidelines within which empowerment, autonomy and effective decision making can flourish.