“Empowerment” is a word with a lot of mileage on it within the business world. We talk so much about empowering employees, teams, departments and customers that the word sometimes loses its gravitas.
But empowerment is a word with a lot of meaning. When you empower your people, you are doing exactly what the word says: giving them power — the power to grow within their jobs and careers, the power to take control of aspects of the business, the power to lead and empower others, among many other examples.
Large organizations need a hefty dose of empowerment in their culture. Without that key ingredient, your people will never reach their potential and your business can’t grow optimally. You risk being left behind as more proactive competitors reap the benefits of their talent and resources while you stagnate and falter.
So, how do you empower? How do you fully activate your people and, by extension, your company’s potential?
Don’t just embrace change — provoke it. People will always gravitate toward what is familiar and comfortable. And while you want to allow people to feel grounded in some sense of normalcy, don’t let that normalcy turn into stagnation. Set the expectation from the top that change and continuous improvement are expected on an individual and company-wide level. Build them into your strategic plans and initiatives. Incentivize change and progress through awards and positive feedback.
Know the value of your people. An effective leader doesn’t just view things in the moment. They envision the potential of everyone and everything around them. Don’t just think in terms of what your employees do now — think in terms of what they can become if they are given the opportunity to grow and acquire skills, and the benefits to your company if you give them the growth opportunities they seek.
Communicate relentlessly around the first two points. If you want a forward-thinking, change-provoking culture, communicate clearly around your plan and expectations. If you want people to know their value and potential, you can’t just assume they’ll figure it out. You have to tell them what kind of future you envision for them at the company if they work hard and embrace your mission.
At Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®), “Activating People and Potential” is one of the three pillars supporting our Vision 2030 Strategic Transformation Plan — the new strategic plan that will guide our College through the end of this decade and beyond.
Through listening sessions and other interactions with both internal and external stakeholders, we have learned much about what our people and communities need from the state’s largest community college. And we have also learned that none of the growth and innovation we need to achieve to serve our current and future students will happen without empowered, enabled and inspired people.
There is no way to separate a brighter future from an empowered workforce. They are intertwined and will take place together or not at all.
What will you do to activate your people and potential? How will you envision what your company or organization can become and then lead your people down a path to making it happen? ●
Michael A. Baston is President of Cuyahoga Community College
