In businesses, you as the owner trust your employees that they will carry out their jobs without a sweat. In turn, your employees also trust you to make decisions that will positively affect their livelihood. That is where employee empowerment comes into play.

Giving your employees greater involvement in running business helps create a sense of importance among your workforce: the more valuable they feel, the happier they’ll be. They will believe that they’re important players of the system, instead of simple pawns in a game of chess.

Here are some surefire ways you can empower your employees:

Trust your staff

Most of the times, the only reason employees don’t show their full potential is because they don’t expect wholehearted trust in the work environment.

It’s your job to break that taboo.

If you want your workforce to take roles of leadership, you need to let them know you’re there to support them. Give them independence for their projects, and appreciate their efforts vocally – trust that whatever outcome they give, it has a 100% effort from their end.

Encourage them consistently

Businesses have their ups and downs, and so do employees. It is your job as the leader to cheer up your staff even at their low points.

Give uplifting remarks if they do their job right; simultaneously, don’t forget to give them thoughtful advice if they slip up. Mistakes may create setbacks in a project, but punishing mistakes create nothing but enmity between you and your entire team. Such a rift can easily break an entire company.

Keep your doors open

We don’t mean literally. Not really. (Well, we won’t lie – leaving your office doors ajar could help kill a lot of the tension between a manager and the employee!)

But what we do mean is to promote a sense of openness in the work environment. Don’t give your employees a reason to break into a nervous fit whenever they have to express something that’s been on their mind. Push away any ego brought by the leader in you, and bring out the compassionate friend within you. Let your employees feel comfortable when they want to make a suggestion, an objection, or even an opinion. It never hurts to listen to their thoughts.

Support progress and creativity

When you assign your employees different projects, it’s always good to leave enough room for their creative thinking to flourish. Let them grab their job by the horns, and show their true working potential. Only through this level of freedom can you expect them to progress in terms of their skills.

You can look over their efforts by analysing their sales, for example. POS software like Oscar have built-in employment management systems that let you track employee sales as well as employee time.

This way, you can see how well your employees are performing; if you see something fall astray, don’t pull away the employee entirely! Keep guiding them through training and advice, without restraining them. Make sure you lead them down a path that’s progressive for the employee, and profitable for your company.

Your business is as strong as your management – and your management is as good as your team. And the key secret to a healthy, efficient team is simple: empowerment.

Empowerment gives them the chance to hone their skills, and grow. In a competitive world, that can do wonders for their confidence and productivity.