Frustrated employers wonder "Why won't my employees show some initiative?" while stonewalled employees ask themselves, "When will I finally be given the freedom to make decisions on my own?"

The onus is on employers to create a work environment in which people are empowered to take initiative. Empowerment -- defined as the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action and control work and decision making in autonomous ways -- stems from how people are managed.

The first step to empowering employees and in essence, giving them the ability and confidence to help steer the ship, is to demonstrate how much they mean to you.

In today's economy, people (including the sum of their attitudes, training and experiences) must be seen as appreciating assets -- and that value needs to be expressed loudly and regularly. Aside from telling your employees how much they are appreciated, it needs to be demonstrated by giving them opportunities to grow themselves and the organization. Here is how it can be done:

Share your vision -- Make people feel like they are part of something bigger by communicating your vision: the mission, values and goals of your organization. Your vision should clarify a common purpose and communicate the direction you want to be moving toward. By understanding the vision, employees can see how their role directly relates and impacts the rest of the company. Sharing a purpose creates a team atmosphere where people are motivated to work together to find innovative solutions to everyday challenges.

Adjust the traditional hierarchy system -- In a traditional working environment, the expertise and authority is at the top of the hierarchy and trickles down for the rest of the organization to carry out. This can result in a bottleneck situation when it comes to making decisions. In order to empower employees to propel the company forward, adjust the hierarchy in favour of a model where people are able to break out of narrowly-defined roles and be given the expertise and authority to contribute.

Coach, communicate and then get out of their way -- Anyone who has worked with a micromanager knows how quickly they can demean an employee's self-confidence and quash any motivation to take initiative. Instead, coach your people on how to make good decisions autonomously by equipping them with the right information and the problem-solving tools they need. Then step back and give them the freedom to make those decisions. Make yourself available to provide guidance if needed, but don't hover.

Delegate real authority, not just more work -- Some employers confuse empowerment with delegating work. While giving out extra responsibility is a way to show people you trust them to make the right decisions, you need to be mindful of delegating not only work but opportunities -- the opportunity to influence outcomes, to impact the bottom line, to handle projects that enable them to get noticed while developing new skills. Give them real authority and let them shine.

Remind people that it's OK to make mistakes -- Although most of us have been taught that failure is bad, many business triumphs have come as a result of trial and error. Assure your people that everyone (even you) makes mistakes and that when they do happen, it's important to learn from them and move on. Being afraid to fail will get you nowhere; having the courage to fail is a stepping stone to success.

Be open to and accepting of change -- By encouraging initiative, you are inviting people to challenge organizational norms. This is good. No process or procedure should be immune to constructive criticism and no one should be marginalized for questioning the way things are done. Create a culture of trust, where challenging ideals is a welcomed practice and where new ideas will always be considered -- even if that means implementing changes.

Reward those who put their energy into it -- Employee empowerment cannot be made mandatory. Your people have to want to go that extra mile and invest a little extra effort to better their organization. For this to happen, employees need to believe that it is worthwhile to volunteer more of their energy to you. Ensure that all their basic needs are being met in the workplace, including fair compensation and promotion, due credit and genuine appreciation. Recognition and reward helps put gas in their tanks so that employees can rev up to take action, take responsibility and make good decisions all on their own.

-- With reporting by Barbara Chabai

John McFerran, PhD, CMC, F. CHRP, is founder and president of People First HR Services Ltd. For more information, visit www.peoplefirsthr.com.

RESEARCH:

http://www.insiderreports.com/storypage.asp?StoryID=20010371

http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementandleadership/tp/empowerment.htm

http://www.thebusinessmakers.com/special-features/employee-empowerment.html

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 17, 2009 G2