A More Profitable Business Model: Employee Empowerment

Recently, I mentioned to another executive about empowering employees.

Then, I was asked what I meant by "empowering" employees. It is an excellent question because often, it is used as an organizational buzzword used by executives and LinkedIn connections.

What is employee empowerment?

The management philosophy is based on providing employees with increasing levels of autonomy and control in their work by allowing their input into process optimization, innovating system and tactics, and managing departments with less day-to-day oversight from higher-level management.

It does not stop there. As leaders, we should provide the means and support system for employees to make informed and critical decisions by providing the necessary framework and knowledge. Empowerment means greater ownership and workplace satisfaction by the employee and often more significant outcomes for the organization.

How does employee empowerment work?

Employee empowerment can be different based on industry and labor strategy. Two main pillars that support employee empowerment are job expansion and job enhancement.

·???????Job expansion: Increasing the scope and autonomy of the job to include a more significant portion of the organization's mission in a lateral manner. Cross-functional training and mission/vision buy-in are critical components of this pillar.

·???????Job enhancement: Changing the job's expectation to include responsibilities traditionally reserved for upper levels of the management. Trust, access to information, and decision-making training are necessary for a frictionless implementation.

Micromanagers will have a challenging time letting go of authority and delegating decision-making. However, employee empowerment can exponentially affect your organization if you can develop mutual trust and allow operations to establish ownership of day-to-day decisions. Per a gallop poll, businesses with highly encouraged and involved workers are 21 percent more profitable. Allowing your employees to have a voice makes it easier to recognize your top talent by their level of engagement with the customer.?