Organizational Empowerment

“Organizational empowerment (OE) refers to “organizational efforts that generate individual empowerment among members and organizational effectiveness needed for goal achievement” (1)

Organizational empowerment can create a culture of belonging, willingness to speak up, motivation to innovate, increased productivity, and accountability. The work starts with leaders.

Last Friday,  in my group coaching circle, “Inspiring and Motivating Others”, we had an awesome discussion about what empowerment can look like for their team members. Some wanted to delegate more so members had more autonomy, some wanted to allow making mistakes so members could explore options, and some wanted to let their team know they had their back.

The key is how to evaluate team members’ readiness. When leaders select the appropriate level of freedom for each task based on the readiness of a team member, it empowers their teams to feel capable, gradually expand their skills, and build to higher levels of freedom and ownership in their work.

This group inspires me with their authenticity and openness to share and learn.

(1): Peterson and Zimmerman, 2004