Remember The D.E.T.A.I.L.S

Balanced and effective autonomy allows your staff to perform at his or her personal best. When the focus is less about how things get done, employees are encouraged to take some risks, try new ideas, and concentrate on what is getting done. Empowerment improves morale.

D – Delegate and Demand

“The inability to delegate is one of the biggest problems I see with managers at all levels.” Eli Broad, American philanthropist and entrepreneur

Workers feel empowered when given a liberal degree of latitude in accomplishing expected position requirements. Delegation is an important employee engagement tool. By carefully balancing the relegation of more work with assigning of work requiring more responsibility, authority, and challenge, the results are impressive. Effective delegation can:

• Engage your employees
• Increase efficiency and flexibility
• Showcase a manager’s leadership acumen
• Team development
• Develop a culture of trust

Employee development is an acquired skill. NexaLearning can help develop your leadership team.

Balance delegation with accountability. It is important for people to know, as soon as possible, when they are not meeting expectations. Failure is a part of growth, it is forgivable, but it does have consequences. Without accountability, there is little need for extra effort.

E – Explain and Encourage

“When you delegate work to a member of the team, your job is to clearly frame success and describe the objectives.”  Steven Sinofsky, former Microsoft executive

When an employee makes an emotional commitment to a company:

• They become more productive
• They give better service
• They care more
• They stay longer

When managers empower the workforce, changes impacting employee development and engagement are noticeable and almost immediate.

When autonomy is a part of the corporate culture some of the results include:

• Increased employee satisfaction with their supervisors
• Better alignment with corporate goals
• Employees feel their work is meaningful and valued
• Communication improves

Do not allow employee enthusiasm to fade. Your staff inherently wants to make a great contribution to the organization. Provide:

• Clear direction
• High-quality resources
• Relevant, timely, and targeted feedback

T – Trust

“You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” Steve Jobs

When employees are encouraged to make decisions:

• Accountability improves
• Problem resolution increases
• Everything moves faster

Navigating the old school chain of command is frustrating and time-consuming. When a person is given the resources and authority to get the job done the results are often quite impressive. Take a chance on your in-house talent, utilize your resources.

When an employee knows the boss has confidence in his or her ability to perform:

• They make decisions with sound judgment
• The employee becomes more accountable
• Everyone works to a higher standard
• Problems are resolved faster

A – Acknowledge

“When you delegate tasks, you create followers. When you delegate authority, you create leaders.” Craig Groeschel, founder of Life Church

Voluntary turnover is expensive on many levels. When a company loses a quality employee, they lose winners, innovators, and creative problem solvers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported the annual turnover rate in the U.S. is slightly over 26%. The survey conducted by the Society For Human Resources Management (SHRM) also showed that turnover is one of the industry’s biggest workforce problems. The cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary, and additional costs may include:

• Cost of severance benefits
• Cost of recruiting a new employee
• Cost of on boarding a new person
• Lost productivity

I – Involve

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” Dwight Eisenhower, 34th U.S. President

Today, more than ever, people are living healthier and more active lives, and are working well past traditional retirement age. Last year The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted by 2026 the share of our workforce over age 55 will be 24.8 percent.  Engaging employees, in itself, is a daunting task. A 2018 Gallup poll reported that during the past 18 years, on average only 30% of employees have been engaged at work.

Today’s managers are challenged with developing and retaining an unprecedented five generations of workers:

• Generation Z
• Millennials
• Generation X
• Baby Boomers
• Traditionalists

A cross-generation skill set can create a more cohesive, and productive working environment. Meaningful leadership training helps managers understand and implement ways to motivate a multi-generational team to bring positive results and an improved bottom line.

Positive changes do not happen by accident. Make your own reality and create new opportunities by developing a corporate culture that fosters:

• Frequent one-on-one conversations between managers and employees
• Relevant development opportunities
• Company-wide open communication
• Strengths-based competencies
• Understanding the real needs of every subset of workers
• Providing quality resources

L – Let Go and Let Them 

“Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” General George Patton

Involving employees in the company’s decision-making processes has multiple benefits:

• Brings transparency to the workplace
• Different ideas may be brought to light
• Innovative and viable solutions may be proposed
• Including employees in the decision-making process tells them you value their opinions
• Using employees in the decision-making process, rather than outsourcing, saves money
• Improved workplace relationships

Give staff members reasons and opportunity to go it alone.

 S – Share

“Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics

Make it a point to catch people doing something right. Empowered people crave the satisfaction of knowing that corporate leadership recognizes and appreciates their participation and contribution.

People respond far better to positive feedback than to negative. In fact, showing someone that you recognize how hard they have worked and that you appreciate what they have done prevents staff from feeling devalued. Psychology has proven that positive, affirming comments go a long way in terms of employee satisfaction. A simple “thank you” costs nothing yet yields so much.

Contact us and let our team of experts help build a high performing, effective and exceptional leadership team to facilitate the growth and development of your business.

Read our whitepaper “Employee Retention and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Don’t ever underestimate how important it is for you to look for ways to increase more happiness in the work environment. This will help you also enhance employee retention and create a more pleasant working experience for everyone.