How to empower your teams

Empowerment is a key theme within our teams at PK, and it’s the top reason I use to explain their high performance.

Not only does it produce great work, but it also helps us find and develop the best people because it will mainly be motivated and ambitious self-starters who will thrive in this kind of environment.

However, this environment only works when there is a strong sense of accountability within the team. So again, this comes down to developing the right kind of people.

Empowerment without responsibility will be a disaster. Empowerment with a feeling of accountability leads to everyone acting like leaders and taking ownership of their actions. Fantastic.

So why is empowerment so crucial to success? I have three key reasons.

1. Motivation — being autonomous and self-directed is one of the critical elements of internal motivation, so the best way to motivate your team is to get the hell out of their way.
2. Trust — managers who promote a culture of trust, usually by being open to hearing feedback and listening to new ideas, will send the powerful and empowering message that honest mistakes are acceptable as long as we learn from them. This feeling amongst a group is fundamental in getting to the truth faster when things aren’t going to plan.
3. Creativity — our teams are highly overqualified for following tick-box exercises, and it is vital to unlock and promote the freedom for creative thinking. If people are not feeling empowered, they will be too scared to think outside of the box and deliver the quality creative thinking we need.

That’s the why. But in terms of HOW to create empowered teams, I would break it down into four key pillars:

1. Do not micromanage
2. Give freedom, but be present
3. Build a culture of trust
4. Champion your team

Do not micromanage.

As a manager, it is your responsibility to delegate work to your team and, more importantly, support them and give credit when people take the initiative on new ideas to encourage this behaviour to continue.

Give freedom, but be present.

There is an essential balance between giving your team freedom and offering advice and support when needed. Develop the skill of knowing when to step in and offer advice at the right time, so you avoid stepping on people’s toes and blocking them from coming to conclusions on their own, as this will stifle development.

You can follow a simple process to do this:

1. Assess: What is your understanding of the team members’ ability to complete the task?
2. Adapt: Identify the management style that will be most effective for this team member
3. Collaborate: Ask what level of support is required. Is it from you or another team member?

Build a culture of trust

Reinforce the high level of trust you have in your team; this is important if you want them to have the confidence to feel empowered to make their own decisions, rather than look to you for an answer.

One specific way of doing this is giving your team authority to make certain decisions in particular scenarios and expanding this as and when you feel comfortable.

Another way of doing this is to replace giving directions with asking questions. Doing this shows your team how much you value their thinking whilst also displaying vulnerability, which is another of the critical pillars of building trust.

Champion your team

Always ensure you are giving positive reinforcement to your team, particularly when taking on extra responsibility or leadership activity. Also, make sure everyone else in the company knows about it by singing their praises to the broader team.

Your team’s confidence will grow to the point that they will not accept micromanagement and they will crave more responsibility. When your people reach this point, give more ownership of specific tasks and let everyone know why you are granting this additional responsibility. This act will provide them with a stronger sense of value within the team and drive further motivation (in addition to alleviating your workload).

For more thoughts on management, leadership and effectiveness at work, come say hey on Twitter.

Resources

• re: Work — Guide to Empowering Your Teams (blog)
• Harvard Business School: How to Empower Your Employees (blog)
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
• Black Box Thinking: Marginal Gains and the Secrets of High Performance
• The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
• The Pursuit of WOW!
• Business for Punks: Break All the Rules