Empowerment: What is it, why do leaders need it, and how do you develop it?

"Empowerment became a buzzword in business a while back and I have an aversion to buzzwords". This week's solo episode with Beverly Lewis addresses this issue by shedding light on why empowerment is a vital tool in a healthy culture. 

Entitlement is the opposite of empowerment. Entitlement lives right next door to laziness and is toxic in any culture. An entitlement mentality can be defined as a state of mind in which an individual believes that privileges are rights. It’s a mindset that finds fault, blames others, and thinks the world revolves around one’s self. It’s quite the opposite of empowerment and will never lead to excellence.

Empowerment, on the other hand, takes personal responsibility and raises the standard through practical action. Empowerment exhibits a strong work ethic and is more likely to be found reforming than conforming. Empowerment is selfless, entitlement is selfish.

Empowerment means letting people bring their brains to work and allowing them to use their innate knowledge, experience, and motivation to contribute to the progress of the organization. 

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any." – Alice Walker

Two proven ways to empower others is through sharing information and creating autonomy with boundaries. 

Healthy teams protect their sense of empowerment by avoiding the Drama Triangle. In addition, teammates learn how to disarm the advice monster and stay curious a little longer, to cite the work of Michael Stanier in The Advice Trap. 90% of leaders identify with The Rescuer, and find themselves trying to fix situations. 

An effective strategy that empowers others is to ask questions. Six key questions you can use to stay curious a little longer are: 

1) What’s on your mind?
2) And what else? 
3) What’s the real challenge here for you? 
4) What do you want? (What’s the best case outcome?) 
5) And if you are saying yes to this outcome, what are you saying no to?
6) How can I help? (What does support look like?)

Beverly has a gift for her you - the special folks who listen to The High Road to Leadership. Her book, Win from Within: The Heart of Success and Significance is available as an audio book exclusively for listeners to this podcast. Go to http://beverlyspeaks.com/freebook/. 

Signing off for this week. We love your feedback, comments, and suggestions. Email Beverly@Beverlyspeaks.com. Thank you for being part of this community of listeners.