How Can We Get Empowered?
Do these questions sound familiar?
- How can I encourage people to make decisions when management is absent?
- How can I encourage calculated risks so our company stays current?
- How can we act as a team, instead of individuals striving for separate goals?
The answere is in one word... EMPOWERMENT. Empowerment gives confidence, strength, and trust in your own authority. Successful businesses especially know the impact of an empowered team.
Learn the 5 P's of empowerment to support motivated people who'll bring long-lasting results:
1. Permission... to make decisions and take risks.
- Help people see how they're setting up roadblocks to their success. You may hear people saying, "I'm not ready yet," or, "I don't know enough." If I waited until I was ready to make the perfect keynote speech, I'd still be waiting!
- Encourage calculated risks! These positive statements should become standard in your workplace:
- "Everyone fears new things when they are on unfamiliar territory."
- "The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it."
- "There are three kinds of people - those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those who wondered what happened!"
2. Protection... even if they make a mistake.
- Make sure the penalty for failure is not greater than the penalty for doing nothing. Part of growth is learning from our mistakes.
- Make sure you stand by your coworkers, even when they fail. If they make a mistake, ask this very important question, "What did you learn, and how would you handle it differently if this situation came up again?"
Check for the remaining P's of empowerment!
Joyce Weiss, author of Full Speed Ahead and Take the Ride of Your Life!
www.joyceweiss.com
© 2009. All Rights Reserved.
