Maximizing Employee Production in 2023
How to Increase Productivity in the Workplace As we wrap up 2022, many of us look ahead to the upcoming year with big goals and ambitions for ourselves, our teams,…
Employees provide more value, are happier, and are more committed to their organization when they feel empowered. To build a culture that promotes employee and organizational success you need the tools and resources that allow employees to manage the tasks in front of them and drive their careers forward. How do you empower your employees and ensure they are primed for success? Here’s how.
➔ Offer authority and ownership
◆ Delegate tasks to your employees that empower them to capitalize on passion and potential. Give them autonomy to challenge them to step up their game. These unique opportunities for employees offer them the chance to step outside of their normal routine (and maybe their comfort zone) and focus on a new task. When employees can work on their own terms, their successes feel even more impactful and drive engagement.
◆ When you delegate tasks it displays a level of trust and respect. According to research, “respect — or the lack thereof — was the single strongest predictor of how employees as a whole rated the corporate culture.” A culture of respect impacts employee ownership and empowerment. To do this successfully you must delegate problems and not tasks. This allows your team members to truly feel like they have autonomy and the freedom to explore the problem in the most effective way.
➔ Communication
◆ Excellent communication needs to flow both ways – from you to the team and from the team to you – for the team to be fully empowered. Here are three ways you can promote this:
➔ Make goals, guidelines, and best practices clear
◆ Expectations must be clear and widely known in order to build and maintain team morale. Here is how you can do this well:
➔ Treat your team members like people
◆ There are few things as demoralizing to employees as when they feel that they are not seen and heard on a professional and a personal level. Ensure that you maintain a people-first mentality in all of the ways you interact with your team. Everyone must feel they are “treated fairly, made to feel welcome, and included in key decisions” (MITSloan).
◆ Because everyone has their own unique personalities and ways that they prefer to receive information, it is your job to identify how to speak the “language” of each of your team members. Here are examples:
➔ Culture of accountability
◆ Establish a culture of accountability to eliminate challenging situations. Clear expectations and accountability provide a sense of security and certainty that promotes team satisfaction. Equity also plays a role in accountability. Work settings where managers have “favorites” or promote based on preference rather than qualifications create toxic cultures and drastically undermine empowerment.
➔ Pursue purpose
◆ Find opportunities to rally your team around a shared vision or purpose to ensure they feel like the work they do matters. Employers should “define the purpose of the organization and make sure everyone is clear why and how their work matters” (Brigid Schulte). This sense of collaboration and collective purpose also promotes a commitment to organizational goals. Align your team’s purpose with the strategic vision of the company. When this is done effectively, productivity and morale skyrocket.
You can enable your employees to learn, grow, and develop personally, and professionally when you prioritize empowerment.
For additional tools and strategies on how to partner with your employees to co-create an engaged and passionate workforce click here to download the Employee Engagement guide.
If you are ready to enhance employee engagement and to build a more connected, deeply invested workforce, start now! Click here to schedule a time to talk.
Can we help your team with our Employee Engagement services? Learn more at https://www.workingsimply.com/employee-engagement/
You may also like