{"id":21689,"date":"2020-12-17T09:45:32","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T13:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=21689"},"modified":"2020-12-27T18:37:07","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T22:37:07","slug":"how-to-empower-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-empower-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Empower Employees to Assume Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/employee-empowerment\/\">employee empowerment<\/a>? Do you want to know <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/culture-of-empowerment\/\">how to empower employees<\/a> in your organization?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>First Things First<\/em>, Stephen Covey discusses how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-empower-employees-as-a-leader\/\">empower employees<\/a> to take initiative and make their own decisions. His empowerment approach centers on three key practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to learn how to empower employees to take the initiative and assume autonomy in their projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Empower Employees: Three Key Practices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In most organizations, employees aren\u2019t empowered to make their own decisions and aren\u2019t given the freedom to take initiative on their own projects. This is bad for the job satisfaction and professional growth of the individual and also bad for the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are the leader of an organization, there are three things you can do to empower employees to take initiative and make their own decisions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Create an empowering environment<\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/seek-feedback\/\">Seek feedback<\/a><\/li><li>Engage in servant leadership<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s explore each one in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Create an Empowering Environment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are four conditions of an empowering environment: trustworthiness, self-motivated team members, systems aligned with goals, and accountability.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Allowing individuals to tap into these endowments makes them feel empowered, improving the company\u2019s culture and the quality of its output. Each of the four conditions falls into your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/circle-of-concern-and-circle-of-influence\/\">Circle of Influence<\/a>, to varying degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Condition #1: Trustworthiness<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Members of a group need to be trustworthy for everyone to feel empowered. <strong>A person\u2019s trustworthiness is created by combining her competence and character. <\/strong>A person\u2019s character includes the ability to face problems in a direct but compassionate way, the ability to see a number of different alternative solutions to a problem, and the ability to live an integrated life in which public, family, and private lives are aligned with principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A person\u2019s competence includes not only job-specific knowledge and skills, but the ability to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-look-at-the-bigger-picture\/\">see the big picture<\/a>, alternate between different viewpoints, and work well with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are equally important &#8212; a person may be honest and kind, but if she\u2019s not competent, you can\u2019t trust her; conversely, a person may be skilled and knowledgeable, but if she\u2019s not honest, you also can\u2019t trust her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cultivating your own character and competence is one of the best ways you can spend your time.<\/strong> Do this by asking yourself questions as you set your weekly goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What skills or knowledge do I need to gain to be better at my job? What skills or knowledge do I need to gain to work well with others?<\/li><li>Am I dealing with issues head-on?<\/li><li>Am I interacting with others in a compassionate way?<\/li><li>Am I continually on the lookout for a variety of solutions?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Condition #2: Self-Motivated Team Members<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>To feel empowered, you need to feel self-motivated. You\u2019re responsible for your own work in a high-trust culture. The Stewardship Agreement keeps everyone accountable without the need for hovering supervisors to tell you what to do and to check up on your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether you\u2019re the leader of the group or not, <strong>you can help others feel empowered by reinforcing the agreement and holding members accountable for the desired results.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are leader, ask yourself: Do I let others use their own methods rather than forcing my own on them? Do I give people enough space? Do I constantly check-in?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re a group member, ask yourself: Do I wait to be told to do something, even when I already know what needs to be done? Do I take initiative and come up with my own systems and ideas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Condition #3: Systems Aligned with Goals<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When systems don\u2019t align with the purpose they\u2019re supposed to support, no one feels empowered. For example, if you want your kids to take more responsibility around the house (the goal) but you\u2019re constantly telling them what household chores to do and how to do them (the system), your system isn\u2019t aligned with the family goal. If encouraging cooperation is your organization\u2019s goal but the system rewards competition, again, your system isn\u2019t aligned with your goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you\u2019re not in a position to change the systems at work, take charge of the systems in your personal life.<\/strong> You can also help create them on committees at work or in community service projects. Find ways to align your systems with your goals wherever possible. Ask yourself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Which systems are keeping me from reaching my goals?&nbsp;<\/li><li>Which systems can I improve?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Condition #4: Accountability<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Accountability requires checking your current status against the stewardship agreement. <strong>The stewardship agreement is the primary tool of accountability, so make sure that it includes the specific criteria for determining responsibilities and assessing results.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Requesting feedback from others also increases your accountability, although praise and criticism from others is not the primary way you should determine if you\u2019re doing your job well or not. (More on feedback, below.) As you continually check your decisions, actions, and results against the agreement, you\u2019ll develop discernment, and your conscience will be able to tell you how you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Seek Feedback<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The second thing you can do to empower yourself and others is to seek out feedback. This is one of the most powerful things you can do to build both your character and competency. It\u2019s also one of the hardest. It requires humility. This humility allows you to see your blind spots, let the perspectives of others change your own, and understand how others view you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Feedback should always focus on a person\u2019s performance rather than her character. <\/strong>Feedback should be specific and based on the criteria established in the stewardship agreement. Furthermore, feedback should be \u201c360 degree feedback,\u201d coming from every stakeholder, including employees, investors, customers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/bargaining-power-of-suppliers-understanding-michael-porter\/\">suppliers<\/a>, and the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you get feedback, review it carefully. Then, return to the person who gave it to you and thank them. Ask them to help you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/action-plan-on-how-to-achieve-goals\/\">create an action plan<\/a> to address any pieces of constructive feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One good way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/ask-for-feedback-at-work\/\">ask for feedback<\/a> is the \u201ccontinue\/stop\/start\u201d method:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Continue: What am I doing as your parent that you\u2019d like me to continue doing?<\/li><li>Stop: What am I doing that you\u2019d like me to stop doing in the future?<\/li><li>Start: What am I not doing currently that you\u2019d like me to start doing?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can seek <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/effective-feedback-in-the-workplace\/\">feedback at work<\/a> or at home. For instance, as a CEO, you might find that your employees want you to spend less time managing and working on projects and more time clarifying the vision for the company. As a parent, you can seek feedback from your children \u2014 they might surprise you with their maturity and thoughtfulness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Engage in \u201cServant Leadership\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cServant leadership\u201d is the idea that you lead best by serving your subordinates. This only works if the four conditions for empowerment, detailed in \u201cCreating Empowering Environments,\u201d are in place. You can\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-let-go-of-wanting-to-control-everything\/\">let go of control<\/a> if doing so leads to chaos. But once you\u2019ve created a high-trust environment, <strong>you should spend your time engaging in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/quadrant-2-7-habits\/\">Quadrant II<\/a> activities like creating a shared vision, building relationships with your staff, getting feedback, and mentoring others.<\/strong> Your goal is to help others develop the skills and knowledge to take initiative and work independently. In the long run, this is much more effective and much better for the company than telling employees what to do or doing things for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For many leaders, giving up control is the hardest part of empowering others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Instead of telling employees what to do, ask them what you can do to help them achieve the desired results.<\/strong> Instead of giving instructions, make suggestions. Ask, \u201cHave you considered X?\u201d Don\u2019t solve problems that employees can solve themselves &#8212; when someone has a problem, ask, \u201cWhat do you recommend?\u201d rather than giving a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re required to give performance reviews, you can give the review form to the employee ahead of time and have her fill it out herself. Then, you can review the form together and discuss your own performance as a manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re a parent, consider taking your child to her next parent-teacher conference, allowing her to talk about the assignments and goals and respond to her teacher\u2019s feedback. Ask your child what you and the teacher can do to help her reach her goals. This empowers her, reminding her that her education is <em>her<\/em> responsibility, not her teacher\u2019s or parent\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Empower Employees: <strong>Common Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating an empowering environment isn\u2019t easy. Here are a few of the most common questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>My Boss Doesn\u2019t Know What a Win-Win Stewardship Agreement Is. What Should I Do?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>You can create a stewardship agreement with your boss without her knowing what it is. You can start with a meeting to clarify your responsibilities. Say, \u201cI want to make sure we\u2019re on the same page regarding my responsibilities and priorities. Would you mind checking this list and telling me if you\u2019d like me to rearrange my priorities, or if you see my responsibilities differently?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the next meeting, ask to clarify the organization\u2019s guidelines and policies. This is Step 2 of developing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-law-of-influence\/\">a win-win<\/a> stewardship agreement. Tackle a step at each meeting. <strong>It might take months, but you can arrive at an informal but concrete agreement without ever using the words \u201cstewardship agreement.\u201d<\/strong> If your boss makes a request that doesn\u2019t align with the agreement, politely refer back to the list of priorities she confirmed and ask her what changes she would like you to make to that list. This reminds her of your joint priorities and may result in her deciding that her unaligned request isn\u2019t important after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>My Boss Doesn\u2019t Want to Empower Me. What Should I Do?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, people just want to keep doing things the way they\u2019ve always done them, and there\u2019s little opportunity for you to change the system. Your boss may not be interested in giving you more responsibility and encouraging you to take initiative.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In some cases, if your Circle of Influence is small, it\u2019s best to find a new job. But in general, <strong>you can almost always work on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-empower-yourself\/\">empowering yourself<\/a>, building your skills and knowledge, and in doing so change the way others see you.<\/strong> The more competent you are, the more likely you are to be seen as someone who can handle more responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Empower Employees When They aren&#8217;t Interested ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Meet employees where they are. <strong>If they don\u2019t feel comfortable taking on more responsibility or taking initiative, don\u2019t force them. <\/strong>But be clear about how much you value their talents and about your hope that they\u2019ll eventually feel more comfortable with responsibility. While creating the stewardship agreement, establish expectations and specify how you\u2019ll continue to give them opportunities to take initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also ease employees into empowerment by asking them to help create the mission statement and declining to solve problems for them, instead, asking, \u201cWhat do you recommend?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Empower Employees When I Can&#8217;t Trust Them?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1. Examine the way you perceive the people you don\u2019t trust.<\/strong> Ask yourself, \u201cDo I believe this person can change?\u201d If you\u2019re approaching your colleagues or employees from a position of distrust, that\u2019s coming through in your interactions. Assume that the people you work with aren\u2019t trying to be incompetent or manipulative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Support the people you don\u2019t trust.<\/strong> Find ways to foster the development of colleagues or employees. Use the stewardship agreement to decide together which expectations are realistic and which resources and professional development opportunities could help improve performance. Also, help people access their \u201cinner compasses\u201d by asking them how well they feel they\u2019re performing, based on the agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is employee empowerment? Do you want to know how to empower employees in your organization? In his book First Things First, Stephen Covey discusses how to empower employees to take initiative and make their own decisions. His empowerment approach centers on three key practices. Read on to learn how to empower employees to take the initiative and assume autonomy in their projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1567,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,30],"tags":[176],"class_list":["post-21689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management","category-work","tag-first-things-first","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Empower Employees to Assume Autonomy - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you want to know how to empower employees in your organization? Leadership expert Steven Covey shares his three practices. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-empower-employees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Empower Employees to Assume Autonomy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do you want to know how to empower employees in your organization? Leadership expert Steven Covey shares his three practices. 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