empowering your employees to empower themselves

Empowering Your Employees to Empower ThemselvesProfessional Teleservice Management AssociationMarch 2016

Amy Castrowww.Amy-Castro.com

281-728-2248Amy_Castro@ictstexas.com

Empower(verb)

•to give power or authority to; authorize, especially by legal or official means.•to enable or permit

Your role is to encourage and support the decision-making environment,

and to give employees the tools and knowledge they need to make and act upon their own decisions.

-Marshall Goldsmith, PhD, Leadership Expert

#1 Mistake

Not realizing empowerment begins in the hiring process

6 Keys for Empowering Employees to Empower Themselves

1. Hire for Empowerment

Interviewing tip!

Ask questions that assess level of empowerment at their previous job

2. Create an Open Communication Environment

How do you create an OPEN COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT?

Listening

Sharing knowledgeProblem-solving

Encouraging

Expressing concerns in productive ways

Being receptive to new ideas

Empathizing

Sharing content

What else?

Risk tolerant Requiring accountabilityAccepting

responsibility

3. Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities

Empowerment is individual . . .

Define “Empowerment Zones” with EACH

EmployeeRed requires management approval

Yellow not yet defined

Green employee empowered to act/decide

4. Maintain Boundaries

Stay in Your Zone

(and help employees stay in theirs!)

Responsibility is something you give. Accountability is something you take.

–Amy Castro

Tweet it @PracticalComm

Benefits of AccountabilityFor Employees

PerformanceParticipation InvolvementCommitment to workCreativity and innovationMorale and satisfactionSelf esteem- feeling of competency

- US Office of Personnel Management

Benefits of Accountability

What about for you?

5. Trust Your Employees

What if you don’t?

6. Respond Effectively to Success & Failure

If you want employees to be successful in achieving their full potential, you have to make it safe for them to fail.

– Amy Castro

Tweet it @PracticalComm

Turning Failure into Success1. Be sure they own it2. Ask what they learned from it3. Ask how they fixed it 4. Ask how they’re going to prevent it from

happening again

Success does not consist in never making mistakes, but in never making the same one a second time.

– George Bernard Shaw

Rewarding Success

Opportunity

Appreciation

Recognition

Give your employees OARs and they’ll keep rowing forward!

– Amy Castro

Need more communication tools and techniques?Check out my book:http://www.amy-castro.com/books-and-products/

Connect with me on social media

FB: AmyPCastro

Linkedin: AmyPCastro

Twitter: @PracticalComm

Web: www.Amy-Castro.com