Monday, December 01, 2008

Supervisory Development through Emloyee Empowerment Skills

By M P Haworth

Have you heard a manager friend complain about how they can never be gone for vacation or job-related seminars or conferences because they can't trust their employees for that long? If so, they have not found the principal of empowerment...

It must be very wearing for managers to feel that they just cannot absent themselves, when they are missing people in place who can do a great job in their absence.

Empowerment - The Holy Grail Of Management

You see, most managers come from the 'shop-floor' and find it difficult to let go of that role.

They feel that if they don't keep on with the 'doing' they will be falling down on their job somehow - or maybe that their people will regard them as slacking in some way!

It's a two-fold problem, it leaves all the critical answers in the lap of one person and employees are at a loss, or afraid to make a simple decision in the absence of their superior.

Without Empowerment Employees Will Do Less

If employees don't develop the understanding that they are empowered to do what they can with the freedom that provides, they will always pass the monkey back to the manager.

That way they can get off making a decision and risk less.

Why be dealing with an unruly, dissatisfied customer, when they could be doing something less stressful with their time?

Only The Manager Is Responsible

It's easy for a manager to let this happen.

Studies have found that managers can be more effective if they allow their employees to act on any decisions, as if they are the managers in charge at that moment.

In the front line with customers, having the power to solve their problems fast is a particularly valuable asset.

Delighting Customers With Employee Empowerment!

Customers like to have their problems fixed by the first person they approach. Having an employee call for the manager only causes irritation and frustration.

Or worse, it's a way of passing the blame for the issue in question onto a manager, both by the employee and then the customer.

When a manager finds themself in this situation, he faces an irate customer and an employee who expects them to find in their favor, not the customers.

Capable Employees Are Good For managers

Look, managers are not perfect in every way - they cannot fix everything in their business on their own; it's their ability to get the most from their people that makes the difference.

For example, if you let your employees know that you expect them to make a reasonable decision in your absence, let them know that they are the manager in control when you are gone.

Having the knowledge that whatever happens, they will be fully backed up frees them to be creative and happy with their new responsibilities.

You are giving yourself more freedom in the process, and mentoring them into becoming a manager.

Empowerment Is Good For All

For a manager to be brave enough to empower their people is one of the most enlightening actions they can take to remove some of the burdens that others can deliver.

Their people start to feel that they are contributing more fully and, perhaps most importantly, recognize that they can personally make a difference to the success of the organization.

This is the principle of management development through empowerment.

The Difference Empowerment Makes

It's an amazing experience as a manager when you turn someone on to the hidden capabilities they have within them already.

By freeing him or herself up by using the latent abilities of their people, an empowering manager truly lives and breathes the experience - and that's pow - 2364

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