By Kirsten Robinson
To keep your competitive edge, your company has to adapt to change—and quickly. But to do this, it’s crucial to have strong leaders who can promote the necessary culture of action by providing employees with the information and support to make smarter decisions.
Unfortunately, most leaders are under pressure to simply tell employees what to do, versus empower them to come up with their own solutions. Even with all of the right intentions, leaders tend to revert to the managerial mode of “command and control”—and inadvertently resist empowering their employees.
In a recent webinar, members sounded off on why they think managers resist empowerment,
- “Managers are afraid that the employee they’re empowering may have better ideas or better initiatives than themselves.”
- “They’re concerned with how poor results from their reports will reflect on them.”
- “Managers fear of losing control.”
- “They feel like they are supposed to have all the answers.”
These answers all have something in common; they address underlying fears in leaders. But, you can’t just tell leaders to empower employees—you have to help them discover how to empower.
GlaxoSmithKline is an excellent example of a company that has done so—their leadership workshops help participants adopt an empowering leadership style by building an understanding of empowerment, commitment to behaviors, and ongoing support. We spoke with Jason Sloan, CPSE Director of Business Engagement at GSK to gain better insights on how their program works by helping leaders:
- Develop a common understanding of empowerment
- Create self-awareness of disempowering behaviors
- Overcome perceived barriers
- Get ongoing support
CEC members, learn more about how you can help improve leadership by developing leaders’ empowerment skills, and read excerpts from our conversation with Jason Sloan.
CEC Related Resources:
- Leadership Communication that Empowers: GSK CPSE’s Empowerment Workshop for Leaders
- Line Manager Communications Topic Center
- Manager Dialogue Online Training Module
- Dialogue Workshop for Leaders
CEC Related Blog Posts:
- 10 Ways to Help Leaders Give Up Control
- Why Your Leadership Communication Misses the Mark
- Harness the Power of EmPOWERment
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