A strong leader empowers their people. An empowered team will always out perform a team that is led by intimidation. But empowerment is both an art and a science. It is usually a mixture of intuition and fact that guides us to begin empowering others. It is also a skill that you should never stop developing.
Here are three key reminders on empowerment:
1. Recognize you can’t empower everyone. This is usually a mistake of an inexperienced leader. Many have a desire to become an empowering leader, and immediately want to empower everyone on the team. It does not work. Not everyone is ready, able, or deserving to be empowered.
2. Choose people to empower carefully. If you want to empower someone, their success becomes your success. Invest in people that have the knowledge, skill, and desire to be empowered. If someone only possesses two of these three traits, they will be lacking in their success.
3. Invest your time and energy in their success. This is the most critical step. Many times we empower, but fail to follow through. Consider the first time you empowered your son or daughter to drive the family car. How did you know they were ready? How did you train them? How did you help them and transition them to be a successful driver? I am sure you did not just throw them the keys, say “here you go”, and walk away. When you empower anyone, you must take the time to verify they are ready, prepared, trained, and have a proper transition plan before they are on their own.
The rewards for empowering others can be great. Every empowering relationship should result in a win for both parties. You cannot maximize your leadership without it. As James B Stockdale has said, “Great leaders gain authority by giving it away. “