The Power of Empowerment: Now More Than Ever

        Like many of us, our teammates felt entirely powerless when the pandemic interrupted our businesses and workday routines. They watched helplessly as senior management complied with government guidelines to shut their doors, companies downscaled operations, and the majority of our business interactions shifted to remote teleconferencing platforms. As our teams begin returning to their workplaces, many will again feel powerless. They will be required to adhere to physical distancing guidelines, wear personal protective equipment, and submit to screening regimens ranging from temperature checks to invasive nasal testing. Like perhaps no other period in modern times, our teams and customers will encounter persistent and pervasive visual and physical cues that suggest they might well be part of a problem rather than any component of a solution.

              Without question, every strategy, process and tactic we establish to protect the health and safety of everyone in our places of business will be at minimum, essential, responsible, and appropriate. Certainly, communicating the need for compliance with these new protocols will be part of our ongoing jobs as leaders, managers, and coaches. I would argue that we should also be empowering our teams to understand that it is part of everybody’s job to protect the health and safety of customers, clients, fans, and teammates. This sense of shared mission can reinvigorate and re-energize our teams and help them feel more in control during this rapidly-evolving time.

              Companies will budget many thousands of dollars conducting market research and analyzing social media to gauge consumer sentiment about how well our companies are perceived to be meeting the needs of our customers. Although these efforts will yield important data, none of it will have much of an effect on customer interactions while they are actually taking place. If we are falling short, or something has gone awry, these tools can only provide us with valuable intelligence after the fact.

              Empowered front-line teammates can profoundly impact the quality of the customer experience, and facilitate the recovery from a poor experience while the interaction is still unfolding.   Properly trained, informed, and engaged teammates can help a company build stronger, more positive, and more personal customer relationships when things are going right.  These teammates can also identify new challenges and shortcomings, keep problems from “going from bad to worse,” and quickly apprise management when things are not going well.

              Instituting and nurturing a culture of empowerment imbues and inspires our teammates with tangible, palpable manifestations of management’s trust. In turn, it confers to them the responsibility for acting more independently, applying good judgment, and to making informed decisions that deal on-the-spot with things starting to turn wrong. Empowerment is a powerful motivator, one that instills a strong personal relationship between our teammates and company or brand. 

              Writing in the Houston Chronicle, freelance small business columnist Kristen Hamlin explains: “When employees don’t have to wait for approval from a manager or supervisor, workflow doesn’t slow down or stop. Employees solve their own problems and move on to the next task.” This frees up managers to do other things and solve bigger problems when they present themselves. “Empowered employees feel as if their contributions matter,” Hamlin continues. “When the company trusts them to make decisions, morale increases, and as a result, so does productivity. Empowered employees often feel as if they have a stake in the organization and their work, and strive to consistently produce quality results.”

              Teammates that feel a sense of ownership – “a stake in the organization” – will make better decisions on behalf of the company. Although we may have key directives for them to follow, they begin to understand that they are not there simply to follow directions. When we give them the opportunity to identify problems, errors, and other situations requiring attention, they are more likely to make the effort to either correct the problem themselves or elevate their concerns. Because they feel trusted, and trust that their leaders will make the best use of the information they provide, they will also feel the satisfaction of having contributed to the solution.

              Empowering your team can take an enormous leap of faith. Next time, we’ll see why it so incredibly impactful when you do.

 Read more about crisis planning and management in “What to Do When Things Go Wrong – A Five-Step Guide to Planning for and Surviving the Inevitable – and Coming Out Ahead” by Frank Supovitz, available on Amazon.com in print and as an audiobook.  Supovitz founded Fast Traffic, an event management, production, and consulting company after serving a combined 23 seasons leading the major events teams for the NFL and NHL.