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Adopt traits of a good leader to promote employee empowerment. Delegate tasks clearly and concisely. Give up some of your power in favor of employee autonomy. Be friendly without being a friend. Be respectful. Be positive.
To empower your employees, you have to be a role model. If they don't respect you or think you're hypocritical or lazy, it'll be hard for them to feel empowered by you. Here's how to be a good role model for your employees: Be accountable for what you say and do and expect the same from your employees. Listen to what your employees say. Show sincerity when dealing with employees. Be a good example of discipline. Avoid taking credit for team accomplishments. Communicate regularly and effectively. Focus on positive, winning attitudes. Keep asking "What are the key traits of highly effective leaders?" Make a list, build and develop those skills. Make sure there are no gray areas when assigning specific duties to specific employees. That way, employees will know exactly what is expected and there will be no room for passing the buck. Also, entrusting employees to responsibly complete a task improves their confidence and pride in their work. If you tend to be a micromanager, you want to empower your employees by trusting them enough to let them work on their own. Give employees more responsibilities so they will feel motivated to succeed. If they feel like they've been working at the same company for a long time without being given additional tasks or duties to perform, they will feel like they are not progressing. When delegating tasks, make sure each employee knows exactly what is expected of him to avoid any future miscommunication. When you feel more certain that your employees are skilled and dedicated enough to take responsibility for their own tasks, allow them more freedom in defining the methods by which they will accomplish those tasks. This makes their work feel more exciting and rewarding since they'll feel like they have more of a say in the work they do. For example, if your ace marketing exec insists that telecommuting part-time would aid creativity and productivity, provide for that flexibility. You can set routine meetings with your employees and check in with them about their progress without making them feel stifled. Though you should avoid being that "cool boss" who is too friendly with all of his employees, it doesn't hurt to smile at your employees, make small talk to show you care about them on an individual basis. Don't be that boss who is too busy to say hi to his employees, and who storms by looking busy and frazzled all the time; take the time to make your employees feel cared for, no matter how busy you are. If you want to empower your employees, you have to make them feel like you actually know each of them a bit. They'll have a hard time wanting to do a good job if they feel like you don't know who they are. Get to know a little bit about each employee, such as the names and ages of their kids, their favorite things to do outside of work, or where they're from. Asking about these small details will make them feel like you care. If you are too busy to say hello to your employees, get to your office 15 minutes early every day. This will give you time to feel less frazzled when you walk into the office each morning, and to make more time for your employees. To motivate employees, you have to respect them as human beings and employees. Give instructions in a respectful manner, don't be rude and take the time to acknowledge their questions or concerns before embarking on a new project. Also, be respectful of their time and don't ask them to stay late last minute every evening or act like they don't have a life outside of work. Don't make employees feel unworthy of your time. If they want to meet you, don't say, "I have 7 minutes to meet!" or, "I am swamped with meetings this week." Sure, you're the boss, and they know you're busy, but you don't want to make them feel like they are wasting your time every time they want to meet. To be a good leader, motivate your employees with a positive attitude and environment. If you always look stressed out or are obviously in a bad mood or if it just always feels like doom and gloom in your office, then employees won't feel empowered to do their best. You should smile, talk about positive developments at your company, give lots of reinforcement, and make your company a great place to work. Of course, if things are going poorly for your company, then it may be difficult to have a smile on your face. Be honest with employees about the struggles your company is facing while focusing on the positive developments in your workplace. Make sure employees hear laughter. Seriously, don't be the boss who is so serious and stressed out that his employees haven't heard him crack a joke or laugh. Another way to empower your employees is to make sure they know exactly what it takes to succeed. You don't want them to feel like they are getting mixed signals or that things at your company are changing so fast that they have no idea what it actually takes to do a good job. Your expectations should be crystal clear if you want employees to feel empowered and motivated to do their best. Sometimes expectations do change. If this is the case, make sure you let your employees know about the changes and explain your reasoning so they don't feel like they are in the dark about company policy.