I genuinely invite members of my team to participate in decision-making as often as I am able to. This means that they have a genuine chance to influence - not simply to state an opinion which will usually be ignored (unless it mirrors your thinking)! So, when I do this, it is genuine – not simply an attempt to get them to agree with what I want to do I share information as often as I can – understanding that the sharing of knowledge helps raise the level of involvement. Therefore, I don’t believe – as some leaders do – that keeping as much information “secret” as I can gives me a feeling of power I genuinely listen to what members of my team have to say to me – and encourage them to be honest with information – telling me the “bad” as well as the good” even when I might not want to hear it. I use effective listening skills to emphasize to my people that I am truly interested in what they are saying If I offer help to my people when they have tough problems or situations to deal with, I do this without feeling the need to take over and “manage” the situation. If I must always take control - then I am afraid to empower - or am too convinced of my own importance to the success of everything my people do I’m not too proud to be prepared to ask my people for help on a regular basis when I am having “toughies” to deal with. I act on any help when I can – and make sure the person gets the credit. It's good to let other members of my team be the "expert" or "go-to person"
I actively encourage members of my team to disagree with me in a constructive way when they feel I’m taking a wrong course; not considering all the options; or about to make a poor decision etc. And, I never take offence at such behaviours on their part – instead seeing it as a sign of the good professional relationships I have with my people I allow my people to make as many decisions about their work as I can – and offer full support for what they decide to do. Then, I try to avoid changing their decisions – except in a genuine “emergency” situation. However, I will talk their decisions through with them afterwards to understand their thought processes and see if other courses might be better to take next time. Or, of course, if I can offer warm encouragement for the way they "got something right"
I show each of my people – on a regular basis – that they are valuable to the organisation and the team – and that I personally both rate and enjoy working with them. I provide regular feedback on their performance – and in a positive, forward-looking way. Where things have gone wrong, I focus on correcting for the next time rather than punishing for the last I believe that objectives, goals, tasks and procedures can all be changed when it’s time to head off in a different direction. I avoid “set in stone” and “this is how we’ve always done this” attitudes I encourage my people to make mistakes (within certain limits e.g.safety, company policy etc.) so that they can try something new; understanding that’s how both they individually – and the team and company as a whole – learn what works best. of course, repeating the same mistakes is not acceptable - and I should be prepared to make this clear if I have to I demand genuine, complete feedback on my performance on a regular basis – and then consider this – and act upon it when I can
Empowerment - 11 Key Ways To Check Your Actions - To learn more about this author, visit Gordon Veniard's Website.
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