LEARNING

By Erin Eatough, PhD  |  July 7, 2021 

As an employee, one of the most frustrating things to experience is a lack of control and autonomy at work.

Having to ask for constant permission from a manager is demoralizing and frustrating. Trust between leaders and team members begins to crumble. Employees can feel undervalued and that they are not reaching their full potential.

When team members lack the motivation and authority to take charge, positive changes in the workplace fall to the wayside.

But with the right team empowerment approach, leaders can give their team the support they need.

Here are the best practices for managers and leaders to empower their teams at work.

Team empowerment at work happens when a group of employees has the responsibility and authority to make decisions.

Instead of waiting for a manager to issue instructions or approve requests, an empowered team organizes itself around a leader. Despite that self-organization, every member of the self-managed team plays a role in making group decisions.

Empowered teams are often cross-disciplined and based around specific projects. For example, a team may be empowered to:

• Conduct an audit
• Amend or create new company policies
• Develop a new service or product

Teams usually create their own rules about decision-making, communication, and implementation. These rules apply to the entire team.

There are three types of empowered teams:

• Work unit teams work together daily, focusing on their unit’s primary output.
• Project teams, such as a new product development team, are cross-disciplinary. They’re usually composed of employees from finance, manufacturing, marketing, and other departments.
• Total customer satisfaction teams focus on business as well as customer issues. These teams are selected after a particular problem that requires a solution is identified. The teams usually disband after resolving the issue.

Empowerment is linked to job satisfaction, employee retention, and commitment to the company. There are also links between psychological empowerment and good task performance.

Team empowerment in the workplace is important for another reason — it addresses a real need.

A 2019 Employee Engagement Report revealed that 33% of employees feel undervalued at work. The report also found that employee loyalty is decreasing.

43% of workers would be willing to leave their companies for just a 10% salary increase. They said that weak company cultures are to blame.

Luckily, the right team empowerment strategies can address these issues. Let’s take a look at some of the most important benefits of group empowerment.

The improved morale that happens when you offer leadership and empowerment to a group leads to a greater sense of accountability.

Each member of the team knows senior management is confident in their abilities. That confidence inspires them to make decisions and perform their relevant tasks to the best of their abilities.

The team is happy to be accountable for the project’s successes, and it faces up to the responsibilities if the project fails.

Getting better at solving problems is another benefit of team empowerment.

Empowered teams have the confidence they need to tackle issues they face. Instead of feeling uncomfortable or wishing the problem would go away, they face it head-on. And that’s the first step for efficient problem-solving.

If a cross-disciplinary team isn’t empowered, issues arise. They have to get authorization from the right managers. Or they might have to wait a long time for a supervisor to make a decision.

This can all take a frustrating amount of time.

Empowered groups can solve problems much faster. They’re aware that if they put their heads together, they have the skills to solve problems themselves.

Group empowerment boosts morale, increases accountability, and offers faster problem resolution. These result in greater productivity, which benefits the entire company.

No single strategy is the final word on how to empower others at work. Try implementing several or all the following strategies to empower your employee teams.

Support team empowerment by supplying employees with what they need to do their job. This means giving them the opportunities and resources needed to complete a project or another task.

Avoid micromanaging. Be clear about the final expectation rather than the means of achieving it.

Give them the items they need, as well as the authority to implement procedures themselves.

Empower the group by ensuring everyone understands the team’s goals and vision. Let each member know why you selected them for the team and define their role clearly.

Once everyone understands the expectations and their roles, then you can let them get on with the job.

For example, if you selected specific employees because of their ability to crunch numbers, let them know.

One aspect of team empowerment consists of changing the leadership-team dynamic from one of a top-down hierarchy to a dialogue.

Show you mean it by encouraging open and honest feedback from each team member and from the group collectively. Listen attentively and respectfully to their feedback and concerns and provide feedback of your own.

For example, schedule a weekly meeting with the group as an opportunity for updates and feedback.

Support the team’s empowerment by instituting an open-door policy in your office.

Having an open-door policy establishes an environment of trust and mutual respect. Employees knowing that they have someone to turn to and that their voice is heard is important for a positive work culture.

Instead of telling group members that you’re approachable or your office door is open, show them. Literally leave the door open. This should encourage them to approach you with feedback or concerns at any time.

Enhance group empowerment by encouraging each member toward holistic self-improvement.

Appointing them to the team probably gave them a boost of self-confidence. It showed you are confident in their abilities.

Even so, there’s always room for improvement.

Motive the group members to learn new skills that will benefit them, the group, and the company. This will encourage them to strive for growth in other areas of their lives too.

For example, offer them the option to work remotely. This can give them time for other commitments, such as working on their physical well-being.

Support team empowerment by forgiving mistakes and failures. The group members aren’t likely to feel empowered if they’re afraid of leadership whose first response is anger.

Forgiving the team’s mistakes will enhance their sense of confidence in you. Plus, it will encourage them to continue taking risks and making their own decisions instead of playing it safe.

Acknowledging and appreciating the team’s efforts is one of the keys to leadership through empowerment.

Yes, the work is expected of them, and yes, they get paid to do it. However, when you empowered them, you encouraged them to put something of themselves into it. Remember that.

Give credit where it’s due.

For example, have pizzas and thank-you cards delivered to the team after they unveil a flawless product design.

Team empowerment will not work if the following factors are absent:

Trust is the foundation of leadership and empowerment. Senior management appointed you to a leadership position. It’s because they trust you are the best person for the job.

You appointed employees to the group and empowered them to do what they need to do because you trust in their capabilities.

If you do not trust your employees, any talk of empowerment goes out the window. You wouldn’t be likely to leave them to get on with their work. Instead, you’d probably micromanage them.

Similarly, your team needs to trust and respect you.

As a leader it’s important to understand the difference between power versus influence. When you use influence to lead, you’ll build deeper trust and loyalty with your team.

Transparency and trust go hand-in-hand.

Both are essential for the open communication that’s needed for group empowerment at work. Team members will feel assured that nothing is being hidden from them if you provide transparency.

The team will know that it is an integral part of the company’s workforce if you keep them informed. Always update them on changes that affect them and include them in the decision-making process.

Transparency on your part will also encourage open communication on theirs.

The importance of communication in team empowerment at work is impossible to overemphasize. The lines should be open and communication clear from the outset.

IBM found that 72% of its employees don’t understand the company’s strategy clearly.

Communicate the team’s purpose and each member’s role. Communicate the company’s vision, and offer 360 degree feedback regularly. You should also ask for feedback in return.

Don’t limit your communication to talking shop.

Include the human element by introducing or making space for small talk. Ask them about their interests or hobbies outside of work. Talk to them about the well-being of their families.

Communication isn’t limited to expressing or communicating ideas and information. It also involves listening.

Hone your listening skills. This way, you truly hear what is being said before giving an emotional knee-jerk reaction.

A boss who is inflexible and closed to new ideas will not succeed. They won’t empower groups or individuals at work.

There is an element of delegation involved in team empowerment. If you delegate some authority to a group, then you should be flexible.

Be open enough to accept that they will complete the project in their own way.

Group empowerment demonstrates the truth of the saying, “Two heads are better than one.” An individual may become so set in their ways that no alternatives get considered.

Among several people working on a project, two might come up with a new, more efficient way of doing something.

Employee recognition and appreciation are other recurring themes when empowering others at work.

Recognize employees as individuals and for the role they play in the company. Show appreciation for their efforts.

This reinforces their sense of individual and collective empowerment.

A field experiment by Harvard Business Review highlighted this concept.

In this experiment, thank-you cards were publicly handed to the top three performers in various groups. After, it found that overall group performance improved after acknowledgment.

A company cannot thrive if its employees are not engaged. If employees don’t feel empowered, they’re less likely to feel engaged at work.

Empowerment is a proven way to engage employees. Take leadership through empowerment by giving your employees the resources, responsibility, and authority they need to do their best.

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Empowering other women can naturally empower you and create a leadership pipeline for those who aspire to be in powerful positions. Women grow into powerful leaders and advance to higher workplace positions when mentorship, training, sponsorship, and opportunities are available. An empowered woman has more control over her life, and she can experience growth in her career. Here are 4 ways you can empower women for workplace success.

 1. Amplify Women's Voices

Championing great ideas from women and allowing them to be heard by providing a platform for women to share their suggestions or ideas is a good place to start. Ensuring that women are recognized for the outstanding ideas or work instead of someone else taking the credit for it is a great motivation. Inspiration can also come from other successful women. You can invite other inspirational women speakers to the office and encourage them to attend and listen to the talk.

Offer Support in Meetings

It might not be a big deal to speak up in a board meeting for some women, but it could be intimidating for others, especially if men are the majority in the meeting. If you are in a board meeting with other women, back each other up and amplify their voices when sharing ideas or opinions. When you disagree with their view, give them space to speak freely.

Give Recognition and Encouragement

Also, celebrating the strengths of other women colleagues can build confidence. Success requires confidence as much as it also requires competence. Instead of always communicating only what is actionable or negative, taking time to recognize and praise accomplishments is a great empowerment strategy.

2. Provide Mentorship Programs and Connections

Empower your women colleagues and connect them to people who will provide access to knowledge and even resources to improve and grow. The right people will inspire women to keep going even when faced with challenges like being undervalued or overlooked. Women can also gain guidance and advice through mentorship from senior-level professionals on how to advance their careers.

3. Give Opportunities to Women with Potential

When you are selecting leadership roles for a new project, and you know a woman who shows extraordinary potential for the role, put her name forward. She might not have the experience, but she has shown potential, and you know she is capable of performing well. Allow her to prove herself.

Women are often offered roles based on experience, while men are mostly given roles based on potential, even if they don't have previous experience. Giving women a chance to prove themselves even without experience will encourage diversity in promotions.

4. Offer Flexibility at Work

A woman might feel nervous about the impact that starting a family will have on her career. Others might fear that their gender could curb their career advancement. Offering flexible working hours is hugely beneficial, especially for working mothers.

Women will not have to feel nervous about balancing family and work duties. When women have the power to organize their own hours, they can give their work full attention and work more effectively. Women who enjoy work flexibility have better mental health and increased productivity.

The best way you can feel empowered is when you empower others to reach greater heights. When women are mentored, given access to resources, and connected to the right people, they become powerful and more productive. Women can quickly advance into top leadership positions, which is beneficial for the company's bottom line, leading to increased revenue.

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1 out of 8 adults has 4 or more ACEs

The ACE Study is the most important public health study that most people have never heard of. We are on a mission to change that.

What are ACEs? 

Adverse Childhood Experiences are traumatic events that occur during childhood (0-17). They have lasting, negative effects on health, well-being, and opportunity.

The initial CDC study identifies 10 ACEs— which were focused mainly on adversities in the home — and divides them into 3 categories as follows:

1. Abuse
   - Physical
   - Emotional
   - Sexual
2. Neglect
   - Physical
   - Emotional
3. Household Dysfunction
   - Mental Illness
   - Incarcerated Relative
   - Mother Treated Violently
   - Substance Abuse
   - Divorce

Are Those the Only Ones?  There are other types of ACEs that have not been included in the original list, such as racism, discrimination, violence, and bullying. As the ACEs research grows, more are being added to the list to effectively depict the reality of different communities around the world.

An astounding 63.9% of participants reported having 1 or more ACEs. 12.5%, which translates to 1 in 8 participants, reported having 4 or more. This issue is embedded in our society, even if you score a 0, it’s not a “them” issue.

This is everyone’s problem. And here’s why.

As the number of ACEs increases, so does the risk for negative health outcomes, both physical and psychological.

A person with 4 or more ACEs is:

• 2.4 times more likely to have a stroke 
• 1.9 times more likely to have cancer
• 12 times more likely to attempt suicide
• 7 times more likely to be an alcoholic

And the list goes on.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente. The ACE Study Survey Data [Unpublished Data]. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2016.

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), “ACEs are linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance misuse in adulthood.”

The vast majority of people are unaware of what Adverse Childhood Experiences are and how they lead to toxic stress and lifelong problems with health, wellness, and learning.

Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris— one of the first to link ACEs and toxic stress with harmful effects on health in adulthood— explains the very real, tangible effects of toxic stress in the development of the brain in this TEDTalk. Contact Us Now!

We Empower ACEs is in no way affiliated with Dr. Burke or Ted. You can watch the Talk here.

An ACEs-Informed Approach to Empowering and Transforming Lives  We Empower ACEs is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to confront the effects of childhood adversity in children, women, families, and communities.   Our mission is to help and empower people to transform their lives by creating their own success stories through an array of trauma-informed programs. 

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