As I said previously, when I first started managing I was terrible at it. But, I had mentors who showed me that in order to get the best from my team I had to let go and let them fly on their own.
That wasn’t easy for me. But, over time and with a lot of “letting go” I was able to help others become wildly successful in their work. It gave me so much satisfaction to see good people who had skills be developed and become great at what they do.
In Part 1 of this series, I talked about the fact that I learned that if I wanted to grow in my own role and responsibilities and to help our company thrive, I HAD to learn to empower others. And while I might have done something a bit differently, I realized that our clients were actually just fine getting the work the way that one of my team members had presented it. They were happy, my staff was happy, and I was happy because I didn’t have to do all the work!
Then in Part 2 I shared five practical ways you can start empowering your team today.
In my final post here in this series about the vitally important need to empower others, I’ll share what it will mean for you, for you employees and for your company.
Better for You
There are many ways that empowering others will be better for YOU. Here are just a few:
Better for Your People
Team members who are truly empowered will also benefit in a big way. Here are just a few:
“If you put fences around people, you get sheep. Give people the room they need.”
― James C. Collins, Built to Last
“People leave managers, not companies”
― Marcus Buckingham, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
Better for Your Company
The combined net effect of all these things together is going to be better for your company or the company you work for. Things like:
So, if you haven’t already, start truly empowering your team today. It doesn’t mean that you can’t check in to verify that something is going the right direction. But trust THEM to lead and take terminal responsibility to be excellent at what they do. It will benefit you. It will benefit them. I have absolutely no doubt about it.
Carter Wade is a partner and Client Services leader at the Veritus Group, a major donor training and consulting agency. He’s an enthusiastic senior leader and client advocate with more than 30 years of experience serving non-profit organizations in strategic planning, direct response marketing, and fundraising. He’s developed and managed highly successful campaigns for a wide range of national and regional clients throughout the United States. He’s lives in Seattle with his wife and three kids.