By Linda Keefe
Your company will receive good, bad or neutral press,
depending on whether your employees are satisfied and feel a part of the
company’s mission. The key to eliminating the bad and neutral press and
harnessing the positive press is to empower your employees so they become
mini-marketers for your organization.
The degree to which people can identify their contribution
to the organization is the degree to which they’ll speak and act positively
about the company. That’s why you want to empower your people to make
decisions, to take action and to embrace a unified entrepreneurial spirit
that allows the company to shine.
What Is Empowerment?
Empowerment is more than simply telling people what they can and cannot
do. Empowerment is a three-fold process that builds trust between the
employees and the corporation.
- When employees are empowered, they know precisely how much latitude
they have in any given situation. They don’t have to second-guess themselves
when they make decisions because managers have detailed what each person
can do.
- When empowered employees have reached the limit of their authority,
they know the steps to take to find out additional information or to
make suggestions.
- Empowered employees are not afraid to think outside the box or offer
ideas because they know they have management’s support and that the
senior executives want their input. They feel that the company values
their ideas and they strive to devise new ways to help the organization
perform better.
No matter how your company is currently organized, you
can attain this three-fold level of empowerment. When you do, the rewards
will show not only in an increase of positive press but also in the bottom
line as your customers and shareholders notice the difference.
Initiate a Culture Change
Simply telling employees that they are empowered is not enough. In most
companies, employees expect managers to tell them what to do in every
situation. However, deep in their hearts, employees want more responsibility
and want to make a meaningful contribution. They want to play a vital
role, but experience, management and colleagues have taught them that
to be “good employees” they need to do what they’re told.
In reality, companies today don’t want a workforce of mini-puppets.
They want employees who feel as though they have a stake in the organization’s
success.
This culture change requires that management stop making
decisions for people. Rather than telling people what to do, implement
a questioning style of management. Ask employees what they think they
should do in a situation and then listen to their answers. If their answers
aren’t well thought out, ask them more detailed questions to prompt
further thinking. Whatever you do, don’t jump in with the solution.
Instead, create a safe environment where employees can think through their
options and come to their own decisions.
Listening Is Key
In any business interaction, customers tell the company’s employees what
they want and need. In order for employees to relay that information to
management, they need to feel that they’ll be listened to and taken seriously.
This is important, because based on the customer feedback your employees
offer, you may discover an untapped niche, a new product idea or a better
service offering than your competition currently has.
When you don’t listen to your employees or when
you discount their input as unimportant, you squash their motivation and
foster a team of stagnant, negative employees. That’s not an environment
conducive to creating mini-marketers. However, when you listen and respond
to feedback, you help your employees be in a state of SharedKnowledge™,
where they have the information, skills and motivation that contribute
to the company’s vision and strategic plan. So being customer-focused
is no longer enough to gain market share; you need to be employee-focused
as well and listen to your employees as you would the customers.
Empowerment in Action
You’ll know your team is empowered when their daily actions and words
put the organization in a positive light. An example of an empowered employee
is the receptionist at the Raleigh, North Carolina Chamber of Commerce
who researched the answer to a visitor’s question and then e-mailed
him the answer the following day. She could have simply responded to his
question with an “I don’t know,” but her organization empowered
her to go beyond the customary information sources.
In a grocery store, an empowered employee hears the
customers’ requests for a particular product and tells the manager,
who in turn asks the regional buyer to order that product for the store.
Without such a responsive manager who listens to employees and acts on
their suggestions, the employee would keep such feedback to herself, resulting
in lost product sales for the store.
In a restaurant, an empowered waitress listens to a
customer’s complaint about the establishment’s temperature and her request
to turn up the heat. The waitress explains that the temperature controls
are kept under a locked box and that she does not have the key. Rather
than tell the customer there is nothing she can do, the waitress talks
to the manager on duty and attempts to work out a solution. She communicates
her findings to the customer, both the good news and the bad news about
the temperature, and the customer ultimately leaves the restaurant happy
and satisfied that the waitress listened to and acted on her concerns.
In each of these examples, the empowered employees gave
the company positive press without even knowing it. They became more than
just a receptionist, a clerk and a waitress; they became mini-marketers
whose actions spoke louder than their words and earned the company repeat
business and higher profits.
Empower Your Employees Today
As you strive to empower your workforce, take the time to detail the latitude
each person has, the processes in which to channel new ideas and ways
for managers to show their support. The more empowered your employees
are, the greater rewards your company will reap in terms of positive press,
increased sales and higher bottom-line results.
To learn more, consider these AMA seminars:
Author Bio: Linda Keefe is CEO and
co-founder of Shared Results International, a consulting and training
firm. Linda conducts workshops and seminars on the SharedKnowledge™
concept, communications and using technology effectively for major corporations,
nonprofit organizations and private institutions. Contact her at 888-689-8077,
lindakeefe@sharedresults.com
or visit www.sharedresults.com.
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