Empowerment, the art of delegating.

Companies do not operate alone, hence the importance of sharing power with other members of the organization, empowerment. The ability of a good leader to know how to delegate to his subordinates or employees by giving them the feeling that they own their own work and give them some power to make decisions, increasing their responsibilities and authority within the company.

The philosophy of work from empowerment should be seen as a synergistic attitude, where the employee is prepared and trained to develop activities in a productive way, in addition to developing good skills for teamwork. Now the decisions are not just the boss.

The empowerment process is slow and must follow a series of phases to achieve its goal:

1. Share information with all members of the company.
2. Analyze the strengths and aptitudes of employees and link them to objectives.
3. Give employees autonomy, thanks to the information that is shared.
4. Get feedback from information. Information must flow between organizational hierarchies.
5. Replace the hierarchy with self-directed teams.
6. Perfecting empowerment. Teams and their leaders have to adapt to new behaviors and take advantage of information feedback for continuous improvement.

Power is one of the most important sources of motivation, so when a manager adopts this position of sharing and delegating leadership is also fostering the sense of belonging in the company, their confidence in themselves, their self-esteem and their possibilities within the organization. Everyone wants to feel power, even if it carries responsibility.

The manager must know how to maintain a balance between power and responsibility given to his hierarchical subordinates. If the responsibility granted is greater to the power can have an opposite effect, of frustration, for not possessing sufficient power to carry out its functions. If, on the other hand, power is greater than responsibility, it implies a superior who does not take charge of his actions, in an autocratic way. That is why it is important to maintain the balance between power and responsibility granted.

>> Related article: The analysis of jobs.

Advantages of delegating power to employees.

The manager who delegates must do so because he believes in his employees, not just because of the need to delegate functions. You must be confident of your own leadership and have high emotional intelligence capabilities to manage change efficiently. The manager must explain that the sense of this philosophy is to achieve common goals in the company and not individually, for the benefit of all members of the organization. Here are some of the benefits of empowering employees:

• It is a tool that improves communication. Communication between employees and managers.
• Develop the performance of work teams.
• Increases productivity.
• Improves immediate decision making. At times being able to decide quickly if having to consult can achieve benefits for the company (closing a contract, for example).
• Improve synergies between departments.
• Improve self-esteem and confidence of employees, and even managers.
• It has a certain evaluative character, you can measure the performance of employees.
• Employees can better manage their own work, can plan and manage time self-regulating.
• By having decision-making ability, it becomes a motivating challenge for employees.
• It is a way of recognizing the efforts of employees.
• They value employees’ ideas better, encourage creativity.

Start turning your employees into real leaders.