Empowerment 

The term Empowerment has become one of the proverbial buzzwords in the business environment over the last decade. 

There are stories of companies that have embarked upon creating an empowered workforce and have failed miserably. 

Perhaps the confusion surrounding what empowerment really means has contributed to the questions surrounding what to do with this idea in practice. 

The real paradox of empowerment is that nowhere is strong leadership and coaching more important than in developing an empowered workforce. 

Empowerment is not about abdication. 

It´s about carefully coaching people and guiding them in directions that will enable them to assume greater ownership, knowledge and responsibility for their jobs.

Here are 10 coaching tips for creating an excited, competent and, yes, empowered, team!: 

Share your vision for the future. The first job of coaches as leaders is to paint a clear vision of where the organisation is headed and to share this with your employees. Vision becomes the basis and the guiding light for establishing individual goals. 

Respect and value the difference among your employees. The best coaches recognise the advantage in having people with different mixes of skills, strengths and personal style. 

Make sure your employees feel valued for being exactly what they are. 

Whenever possible ask vs. tell. The simple way to draw forth your employee´s creativity is to ask a lot of thought-provoking questions. Conversely, the quickest way to quench creativity is to do a lot of telling. When you ask vs. tell, you´ll be amazed at the quality of solutions that are generated, as well as the energy behind them.