If you work for a company that has a traditional bureaucratic management style chances are your workplace is probably not as effectively run as a workplace whose philosophy is "empowerment." In a workplace of empowerment, management and employees work together. You appreciate each other's intelligence and responsibility. Together as a team you have the power to help the company succeed. Creating empowerment gives a company the benefit of tapping into the potential of employees in the workplace to unleash their power of information and expertise.
Workplace Satisfaction
Imagine going to work and your boss tells you that, based on the quality of your performance in the workplace, he wants you to have the responsibility of identifying problems and create solutions in a particular project. Or, maybe he has taken into consideration the quality of your work knowing the challenges you have with the distance you have to travel and offers you a flexible work schedule. When you are rewarded and appreciated in your workplace, the empowerment gives you a sense of satisfaction. In return, the company gets the benefit of your best foot forward.
Management Trust and Communication
It's not easy to speak at meetings when your manager is likely to shut you down because you're just an employee. When your manager trusts your feedback at office meetings and workplace decisions, he creates empowerment. By accepting your feedback and taking the time to communicate with you openly and honestly on confidential matters he breaks the barrier of levels of status between management and employees. He creates an environment that values your thoughts, believes in your actions and your approach to work independently.
Good Words Spread
Traditionally a business would listen to a customer's wants and needs to develop its products and gain market share. While this is important, it's not enough, according to Linda Keefe, a consultant of Sharedresults.com, a website helping businesses succeed. Businesses also need to focus on and listen to the needs of employees. Each employee is a billboard for the company with the power to trash talk or rave about the business they work for. Empower the employee in the workplace and the business spreads positive press. Cha-ching.
Generation X in Action
Whether a business wants to empower or not might seem irrelevant to a Generation X'er who simply expects it. Management has to change their approach to suit the younger generation who does not accept authority and bureaucracy. Generation X'ers expect to participate and lead in the workplace environment in order to function. Creating empowerment in a workplace of the new generation can unleash the creative minds.
