“The Power of Leadership”

We often hear managers use the word “empowerment”.

Many managers tell me they have empowered their people. However, when I visit with their people, they disagree. They tell me that they are asked for their suggestions, but no one really listens. It just becomes another wasted exercise where suggestions are asked for then the leaders tell us what we are to do and how to do it their way.

If this is how you operate in your company, you are better off not even asking to start with. If you ask for suggestions and ignore the suggestions, you have done more harm then not asking.

When we lead empowerment exercises we ask that our clients send an advance message to the target employees. This works best if you choose groups of employees at the same level, having multiple groups addressing different levels of employees. The message can be as simple as: “What are the most demeaning, annoying and time draining rules that I must work under?”

When you meet with the groups to review the results, you must be ready to act on some of the suggestions or be able to clearly and realistically explain why a particular rule must be as it is.

If you have not done such an exercise before or have done such an exercise but failed to act promptly, you may have to run the exercise a number of times until you gain the confidence and trust of your employees.

“There are three types of leaders: Those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who wonder what happened!” … Author unknown.

Have A Good Day!

Russ

Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF, Chairman & CEO
Sunny Hong Zhang, Managing Partner – China
Shawn M. Miller, Managing Partner – USA