Giving your employees agency in their roles means allowing them some control over what they do at work. It shows them that you value their knowledge and skills and trust them to do their jobs. It ensures you get the most from them every day, too. So let’s take a deeper dive into how to succeed in empowering employees and why it matters.
Reasons for empowering employees
First, let’s explore the benefits of giving your employees agency in their roles.
You hired them because they know what they’re doing
At the end of the day, if you/your hiring manager were successful in your hiring process, you hired the best person for the role.
Which means they’re knowledgeable and experienced.
And therefore, know what they’re doing.
By taking away the agency they have in their role, you imply that you don’t think they’re capable of doing their job.
If someone isn’t meeting their targets, talk to them and go over their objectives to ensure you’re both on the same page. This will also help avoid getting into micromanagement territory because you’re worried things are going wrong.
Open conversations can help improve things when it comes to empowering employees. Micromanagement will just negatively impact employee morale, engagement, and performance, leading to your employees leaving.
They’re on the ground
Your employees are the ones on the ground, engaging with your prospects and customers every day.
They know how much time they’ve got, what they need to do, what their capacity is, etc.
I’ve seen and heard too many stories where management wants things done faster than is humanly possible. The risk of burnout is fine so long as the task gets done and looks good to the outside world.
Except it’s not.
Because if employees don’t have their health, you don’t have a workforce.
And you’re not going to attract the best talent if word gets out that you have a toxic workplace.
Half of employees are passively or actively job-seeking according to recent Gallup data. That’s a significant portion of your team you risk losing if you’re not proactive about empowering employees.
When we feel in control, we do more
When we feel heard and in control, we get more done. That’s because we’re happier, more confident, and more empowered.
Even small things like asking employees for their opinions helps them to feel like their voices matter and therefore want to put more effort in at work.
It provides a better employee experience
Empowering employees provides a better employee experience. It builds their confidence, helps them grow in their roles, and enables them to become a stronger part of your team.
It creates a culture of psychological safety
Employees perform far better in cultures where they feel psychologically safe. It also leads to better business outcomes. Employees can take more risks and aren’t afraid to make mistakes.
In the wise words of Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, “A mistake can happen. Just don’t make the same mistake twice.”
This shows a culture of experimentation—how else can you reach the top?—alongside a culture of learning from mistakes.
Those are key elements to a business growing and creating an environment where employees can own what they’re doing, feel supported to challenge how things have always been done, and help your business reach the top.
When designing your strategy for empowering employees, building in psychological safety is a sure bet.
Micromanaging sucks
Almost everyone has been micromanaged at some point. Micromanaging second-guesses the very reason you hired an employee, alongside giving them reasons to doubt their own abilities and damaging their confidence. So then their performance will suffer.
As a result, they won’t put as much effort in because any decision they make will be questioned, challenged, or changed. So why bother even trying?
Not to mention, micromanaging makes more work for the micromanager. If they have to review everything an employee does, it gives them considerably less time to focus on their own work.
Strategies for empowering employees
Now that we’ve looked at the why, let’s consider how to go about empowering employees:
Seek out their opinions
If you really value employees and their opinions, don’t just say that you have an open-door policy. Most people are never going to take you up on that.
Likewise, don’t just throw together a lesson on radical candor and forget you ever had it. How your business operates says a lot more about how you really feel about employees’ opinions than a one-day workshop.
Actively seek out employee feedback, even if—especially if—it’s uncomfortable. That’s the only way you’ll continue to build employee trust.
You could send employee surveys, organize AMAs with leadership, or use an employee listening platform to support your efforts around empowering employees.
Collect anonymous feedback
If you really want employees to feel safe, you need to offer them the chance to provide anonymized feedback.
Most aren’t going to voice their true opinions for fear of reprisals, especially if they’re from a marginalized group or worried they’ll lose their job.
For some, sucking it up and dealing with the consequences is less of a risk than what could happen if they challenged the status quo. That’s another reason you want to ensure their voices are heard and you establish a culture of psychological safety—it’s the only way employees will feel able to speak up.
Let them get on with it
Sometimes, even if you disagree with how an employee does something, you have to leave them to get on with it.
After all, didn’t you hire them because they know what they’re doing? And, when it comes to empowering employees, isn’t what matters the end result?
Create team connections
Connecting your employees through ERGs, events, networking, and other initiatives can help improve collaboration between teams.
For example, sales and marketing teams don’t always get along, but by finding common ground through activities, team lunches, away days, and other initiatives, you can take the pressure off and humanize them to each other. So then they work better as a team.
If you want help organizing more employee initiatives, why not try Workrowd? You can keep everything organized in one place so that employees always know where to find the information they need. Get in touch today to book your free demo.
Conclusion
Empowering employees isn’t just about providing a better employee experience. It’s about getting the most out of your team.
Employees can only perform at their best when they feel trusted, listened to, and confident in their own abilities.
Likewise, if they’re being micromanaged, they’re going to second guess their skills—skills you hired them for—and this can have a detrimental impact on both their mental health and their performance.
Want a partner as you work toward empowering employees in your organization? Workrowd has your back. Our all-in-one tool suite can set you up for success, but beyond that, we’re happy to talk strategy and best practices. Drop us a note to schedule some time to chat.
