Empowering Teams Empowerment:

Empowerment means giving the employees power of managerial process and permitting them to be self-supporting of the leader. Five forms of power can be used to inspire employees by empowering them. This facilitates them to move from one level of development to higher levels of development. The five forms are information, expertise, personality, ego, and moral power. When these forms of power are made use of, the employee can settle on the course of action. As employees become more established, the leadership style can become more cooperative and less instructional. (Nine Ways Leaders Can Motivate Employees)

Employee empowerment has two sides to an issue. For staff to be empowered the management leadership must think that employee empowerment makes good business sense and employees must work to make it effective. Employee empowerment does not intend that management does not have the duty to guide the organization and is not in charge for performance. Effective leadership and responsibility is required in an organization that wants to empower employees. Only when the whole organization is ready to work as a team then the true benefits of employee empowerment are apprehended. For an organization to follow and cultivate employee empowerment the management must believe and correspond with employees. (Employee Empowerment)

One of the effective indications of employee empowerment is employee communication. If an organization does not vigorously promote employee empowerment, it may take huge time and attempt before employees start to react. Usually the first attempts and communications are linked with employee dislike and contempt. When thinking about employee knowledge and approval of decisions think how long it takes for the management team to discuss and then make a choice. For an organization to benefit from the proceeds of the employee empowerment the leadership must thoroughly work to form the work atmosphere. Management's job is to form the atmosphere for employee empowerment. (Employee Empowerment)

The Team Concept:

A set of people makes a team, but they cannot work as a team without a dynamic leadership. The team should be considered the central building block of the modern organization. Each individual team, or element, is a vibrant force, and his or her combined effort is aimed at making the organization efficient. At times the teams are not given ample leadership or direction and they find themselves in a state of dysfunction and at chances with the attempts of other teams. Efficient team leaders use up most of their time sustaining, creating, training, conversing with, listening to, and encouraging their group than doing other things. For teams to function well they must concentrate on the four features of being a team. These are: Team orientation which shows the significance of being a team and what this infers to each team member. Next is communication relating to the manner, substance and regularity of communication in the team. Third is support -- a real and genuine wish to help each other to do well. The last feature deals with processes, regarding how the team makes choices and cracks problems. (Success through People) The uniqueness of an empowered team are: the members must have faith in each other; they must think that the other members will each work in the interests of the team and of each other; there must be considerate of each others situation and consideration of the requirements and thoughts of each member by each other member. (Empowerment Illustrated)

Empowering Techniques:

There are seven techniques to empower employees. They are described below. First is to implement efficient policies and processes. A Rule and Procedures Manual is a communication device used to empower employers, managers and staff with a steady move to achieving their daily jobs. It gives a set of rules, procedures, reports, forms and work schedule that express the rhythm of the organization. A well-created manual concentrates on the daily business communications between employees and management on what is actually essential to do that job. This concentration is the initial step in empowering employees. Empowerment needs a joint idea, the communication of essential information and sufficient training. (Top 7 Methods to Empower Employees)

Second is to communicate management policies and vision. An organization's guide should be used to convey both corporate policies and the correct actions for achievement of the policy in a joint manner. When the staffs are familiar with the scheme, then they feel convinced in making decisions. A policy is a guide to management under a given set of conditions within the structure of corporate purposes, aims and management viewpoint. A procedure is a chain...

A guide helps to interpret the company's business attitudes and wishes into action. A well-made guide is an important communication tool for proficiently running operations within departments and linking the gap between interrelated departments. If a department has particular information that it needs to process a task, then this information is easily depicted in a form that accompanies the task. Forms are routine in business, acting as a guide for things like purchase orders, employment applications or asset requisitions. The fourth step is to lessen business processing training time. A policies and procedures manual is a practical guide for teaching fresh and existing employees. It evades problems in carrying out duties due to lack of knowledge or conflicting attitudes from personnel changes. And it will help in creating a constant method in handling any job. (Top 7 Methods to Empower Employees)
The fifth step is to enhance output and decision making activities. Policies and procedures expedite employee decision making by having a helpful, reliable source for responding queries. Strong and recognized manuals can guarantee fulfillment with regulatory agencies affecting your business, inclusive of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- OSHA, Food and Drug Administration -- FDA, government contracting authorities and independent certification organizations -- i.e. ISO. The sixth step is to improve the organization and its quality: A complete guide covering all departments in an organization can become a quality guide for the entire company. This will aid in making sure the best processes and constant delivery of the finest in product or service from the company. It will empower the staff to make decisions freely without the need or time delays of involving many stages of management. A well considered manual would facilitate everybody in the organization the capacity and suppleness to make the right choices in his or her job responsibilities.

The final step is to attain goals with policies and procedures manual: The objective of the policies and procedures manual is to find the methods and ways of communicating, as well as getting the service carried out or the product produced with minimum cost and at the least time. Not only will it be used to empower an organization, but also it will have the extra advantage of enhancing job pleasure and employee self-esteem. (Top 7 Methods to Empower Employees)

Benefits of Empowerment:

The leaders can empower the staff by the use of four main principles. First of all the leaders should try hard to maintain employees' self-respect. To achieve this, leaders should allow the employees know that they are vital to the company and genuinely congratulate them for good job. Also the leaders should listen sincerely to their employees and react with sympathy. Sincere listening means rearticulating and repeating the employee's problems back to them. This method will guarantee not only those leaders fully realize their employee's problems but also that employees feel recognized. Employees are also empowered when leaders seek their help in working out department/community problems. Employees feel dedicated to the department when leaders involve them in the decision making process. Thus, leaders should get contribution from employees by either speaking to persons directly or by making employee groups, like advisory councils. For instance, they can be made responsible for a new community project, asked to lead a task force, or given a department problem, which requires an explanation. These four methods will enhance employee dedication to the company, as they start to understand that they will help decide how the agency will attain its objectives. Leaders who try hard to use these principles will find that empowered employees make their own praise and rewards, a trend known as self-motivation. (Aragon, 1993)

Some of the soft benefits of empowerment are: Following are the 'soft' benefits of empowerment: Absenteeism - It normally goes down when empowerment takes hold. HR departments can give you some facts on what absence costs organizations. Turnover - It also goes down. Turnover is costly, HR can also give you facts on what it costs to look for, transfer, and educate new employees. Safety - It generally gets improved. This is the figure, which raises or minimizes the company's insurance premium based on its safety record. Feeling better equals better performance - All being identical, has the functioning of the person or group enhanced? If so, can it be measured? Has the group's productivity enhanced? How many new…