Learning to be an empowered leader

Jenny Rossiter explores the skills you need to become an empowered leader 

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Feel Good Leadership

Empowering behaviour is a number one leadership skill that needs to be learned, practised and applied. Every leader wants to work with people who are engaged, excited and striving to meet their goals – and empowering behaviour will get you there.

What happens when you ask questions?

No-one wants a workforce full of drones or yes-men; we want people to come up with ideas, to innovate, to find novel solutions to old problems! Asking questions sounds easy, but your team must have confidence that they’ll be listened to. It’s all about building trust. They’ve got to believe that they won’t be mocked or belittled for ideas that might not work first time. They need the freedom to experiment and keep perfecting their ideas.

Innovation is what makes your business fly when others stagnate!

When we ask questions of people they hear that they are valued. When we value people’s contribution, they have pride in their work – they stay loyal, they want to work hard for us and give us their best. A study by Zenger Folkman found that when they feel disempowered, only four per cent of employees will give ‘extra effort’ but, when the feel empowered, this rises to 67%! By simply asking questions we say, ‘I value you, I value your opinion, I value your ability, I value your contribution, I value you in every way.’

What happens when you set firm and fair boundaries?

It’s important to create an operating structure that has sensible parameters which protect you from the harm that going over the boundaries might create.

I imagine there is no employer in the world that doesn’t want their employees to work hard and achieve as much as they can. However, some leaders or bosses might not care that that individual is working too hard, with negative consequences to their own personal life and their health. Bad leaders might even encourage that lack of boundary.

Your boundaries protect you from other people, and can also protect you from yourself.

As someone who has suffered from burnout, my boundary is that I finish work at 5:30pm. My boundary is that I always have a lunch hour. My boundary is that I don’t work weekends. These boundaries and rules represent what is acceptable and good for you and enables you to be at your best. If we have these boundaries and rules around ourselves, we protect ourselves from behaviour that is damaging to us – an overworked, overwhelmed, unbalanced work/life.