5 Things You Should Be Doing to Empower Your Employees

It is a no-brainer that empowered employees will be happier at work, more productive and enjoy better relationships with management. Even the most ridiculous of micro-managers wants empowered employees, but aside from said micro-management standing in the way, management may not know how to empower their staff. Any leader would love to have a staff of take-action workers who can drive themselves, but they need to get out of the way for that to happen.

Leadership wants to empower a workforce who will ultimately perform in line with the company’s expectations and standards in mind. A lot of leaders don’t know how to get their staff to that point, and without proper guidance, how would they? Aside from training, there might not have even been a chance to create a workplace environment conducive to the empowerment of the workforce. It’s never too late to try. The benefits to empowering employees are well worth it. Here are a few ways to start empowering your employees today!

Encourage Them to Voice Their Opinions

Yes, they have opinions, more than you probably think. Open up the lines of communication by soliciting feedback. All too often leadership keeps communication to the bare minimum. This usually happens because as information trickles down the line, it is shared on a need-to-know basis. When employees get the whole picture, and all of the “Whys” and “Hows” are answered, they get a better grasp on their role in the company. This enables employees to form their own opinions and participate in informed discussion. Facilitate dialogue by making sure your workforce is fully informed and encouraged to engage.

Define Clear Expectations

Would you like to know the key to employee engagement? The secret sauce to productivity? Here it is –make sure you and your employees know exactly what it is they’re supposed to be doing. Sounds simple right? A ridiculous amount of issues in the workplace could be solved by clearly defining boundaries, goals and expectations. Employees do their job a whole lot better when they know what their job is. Furthermore, when everyone has a role, it promotes efficiency and eliminates redundancy.

Read more to find out the other three…

Originally posted on Recruiter.com on October 3, 2013

photo credit: Sky Noir via photopin cc

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.