Have you been empowered lately?
Few leadership acts get an employee’s heart pumping like saying: I trust you. I want you to do this big thing. Despite this knowledge, however, some leaders make a critical mistake: They wait to give responsibility to others.
When empowerment occurs will determine whether or not a team will do big things. The 3 Moments of Empowerment are:
– Too Early: When a teammate has yet to convince others they’re capable of delivering the job.
– Perfect: The precise moment when a teammate proves they’re capable and ready
– Too Late: After the teammate has proven their competence (and often when their inspiration is fading to apathy).
Waiting for the perfect time to empower others is an illusion. If such a state exists, it’s a one minute window. Which leaves us with the choices of being too early or too late. Our research makes it abundantly clear which fate is suffered. (We’ll let you guess.)
At some point, someone trusted us to do something we probably shouldn’t have been trusted to do. But somehow, someway, we delivered. We found a way. And in that moment we discovered confidence that changed the trajectory of our careers.
Now it’s our turn to empower other early.
Thanks MH
