news without the fear of criticism, termination or perception of being a poor team player.

8. Get lots of suggestions from employees.

9. Do not make decisions affecting employees without first consulting them.

10. Delegate results, not tasks.

11. Encourage mistakes, failures and risk as tools

During my career, I have worked with a variety of organizations that display any number of management styles. These varying styles contribute greatly to the corporate culture as well as to the ultimate productivity of individuals and departments.

It is clear to me that empowering employees, departments and any group of employees improves performance and increases organizational effectiveness. It can also create a great deal of stress and havoc if management does not totally or consistently buy into this philosophy or management approach. What is empowerment? It is not a fad, although it seems to have gained in popularity the past several years. Empowerment can be defined with a variety of management approaches. Rather than give you a narrative, I thought I would share a list. I find that lists help people better identify strengths as well as weaknesses more easily.

Empowered organizations:

1. Give authority with responsibility.

2. Communicate corporate direction clearly to all employees.

3. Have clear and flexible goals and focuses.

4. Focus, not on methods or activities, but results.

5. Goalsetting is a combination of top-down and bottom-up.

6. Listen to employees.

7. Create a safe environment where employees can feed up bad news without the fear of criticism, termination or perception of being a poor team player.

8. Get lots of suggestions from employees.

9. Do not make decisions affecting employees without first consulting them.

10. Delegate results, not tasks.

11. Encourage mistakes, failures and risk as tools

of employees improves performance and increases organizational effectiveness. It can also create a great deal of stress and havoc if management does not totally or consistently buy into this philosophy or management approach. What is empowerment? It is not a fad, although it seems to have gained in popularity the past several years. Empowerment can be defined with a variety of management approaches. Rather than give you a narrative, I thought I would share a list. I find that lists help people better identify strengths as well as weaknesses more easily.

Empowered organizations:

1. Give authority with responsibility.

2. Communicate corporate direction clearly to all employees.

3. Have clear and flexible goals and focuses.

4. Focus, not on methods or activities, but results.

5. Goalsetting is a combination of top-down and bottom-up.

6. Listen to employees.

7. Create a safe environment where employees can feed up bad news without the fear of criticism, termination or perception of being a poor team player.

8. Get lots of suggestions from employees.

9. Do not make decisions affecting employees without first consulting them.

10. Delegate results, not tasks.

11. Encourage mistakes, failures and risk as tools

al years. Empowerment can be defined with a variety of management approaches. Rather than give you a narrative, I thought I would share a list. I find that lists help people better identify strengths as well as weaknesses more easily.

Empowered organizations:

1. Give authority with responsibility.

2. Communicate corporate direction clearly to all employees.

3. Have clear and flexible goals and focuses.

4. Focus, not on methods or activities, but results.

5. Goalsetting is a combination of top-down and bottom-up.

6. Listen to employees.

7. Create a safe environment where employees can feed up bad news without the fear of criticism, termination or perception of being a poor team player.

8. Get lots of suggestions from employees.

9. Do not make decisions affecting employees without first consulting them.

10. Delegate results, not tasks.

11. Encourage mistakes, failures and risk as tools

unicate corporate direction clearly to all employees.

3. Have clear and flexible goals and focuses.

4. Focus, not on methods or activities, but results.

5. Goalsetting is a combination of top-down and bottom-up.

6. Listen to employees.

7. Create a safe environment where employees can feed up bad news without the fear of criticism, termination or perception of being a poor team player.

8. Get lots of suggestions from employees.

9. Do not make decisions affecting employees without first consulting them.

10. Delegate results, not tasks.

11. Encourage mistakes, failures and risk as tools

news without the fear of criticism, termination or perception of being a poor team player.

8. Get lots of suggestions from employees.

9. Do not make decisions affecting employees without first consulting them.

10. Delegate results, not tasks.

11. Encourage mistakes, failures and risk as tools for learning and improving.

12. Do not micro-manage employees actions and decisions.

One of best ways to determine how empowered your employees are is to observe their behavior. Do they behave the same:

· When their manager is out of town vs. in town.
· When they are alone vs. part of a team.
· When they are being observed or left up to their own devices.
· When it is near their review time or after a review.
· When they are a new employee vs. a seasoned vet.
· When they are in a support role or a management one.

If your employees never make mistakes, you may not have an empowered environment. If your employees never take risks or communicate reality, be advised – you may have a heavy top-down 60’s style management culture. And if you do, you may be in serious trouble. The world may be passing you by and you don’t even know it.

Have a great week,