Category: Management Training

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Leadership Development Management Training Professional & Management Professional Development Soft Skills

Empowering People to Optimise Performance

To empower people means “putting power into,” and it can also mean “bringing energy and enthusiasm out of.”

Putting power into people

This means giving them the freedom to do their job their way. This will only happen if you trust individuals, but your employees will never believe they are fully capable if you have no confidence in them yourself. Set clear boundaries and objectives and then increase autonomy and responsibility so that they can plan their work and make their own decisions.

people

Give your employees the means to succeed at their new or more advanced responsibilities. Make sure they have the knowledge, skills, data sets, tools, and anything else they need to complete their tasks before they begin.

Once you have done this it is important to give them space and hold back from giving them the answers. Clarify the problem but then let them produce their own solutions. People feel more empowered if they are responsible for, or ‘own’ something. This may sound daunting but start small and work up to bigger tasks and responsibilities as they develop new skills and confidence.

empower

Bringing energy and enthusiasm out of people

requires a manager to understand an individual’s needs and motivations. A basic need we all have is a sense of being important, valuable, and worthwhile. Taking the time to ensure that people know how their work contributes to the success of the team and the organisation establishes value and improves motivation. This means they are more likely to be productive and purposeful in executing their responsibilities.

Investing in your employees’ development is another way to show that you value them. Training, coaching, or mentoring will enhance an individual’s confidence while increasing their capacity to take on more difficult assignments and develop their professional and leadership skills.

People also need support, encouragement, and appreciation. Give your staff both positive and helpful, actionable feedback regularly. Employees are more likely to feel empowered if they know their managers are paying attention to and appreciate their contributions.

Conclusion

Managers who lead through employee empowerment do their best to provide employees with greater control over their day-to-day responsibilities, and in return see an increase in innovation, engagement, productivity, and performance.

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Hints & Tips Leadership Development Management Training Professional & Management

Performance Management part 4: Developing Individuals

This is the last in the Performance Management series.  We have already looked at the first 3 stages of Performance Management; Setting Expectations, Assessing Performance and Performance Reviews.  Today we will look at the final stage in the process, Developing Individuals.

The first 3 stages will enable you to identify any learning and development needs.  You will have provided ongoing feedback and assistance, but now is the time to focus on an individual development strategy going forward.

development

Developing people is an essential strategy to enable an organisation to achieve its goals. It includes identifying learning and development (L&D) needs, developing interventions to fill any gaps, and evaluating the outcomes. The challenge is to create the right learning and development opportunities that work for your organisation. As working environments become more complex and greater agility is needed to ensure employees’ capability, it’s more important than ever to consider the breadth of different learning methods available and deliver them successfully.

 

Performance Development Methods

There is a vast array of learning methods available today which can be instructor led or self-directed.  These include:

  • Virtual and face to face classrooms
  • eLearning
  • On the job training
  • Coaching and mentoring
  • Online communities and forums
  • Formal qualifications
  • Job shadowing or secondments
  • Blended learning

coaching

Considering the way individuals prefer to learn is important when selecting development methods.  This comes from knowing your people well and not making assumptions.  Employees need to be able to relate learning to their own individual context.

 

Whatever style of learning works best for an employee, to master a skill, they have to practice it and so follow up is essential.

 

Evaluation of Learning

To effectively evaluate Learning and Development initiatives and investment, it is important to have clearly identified targets and agreement on what measures of success will look like.

Evaluation activities can include:

Impact – how has the learning impacted performance of both the individual and the organisation?  Have Key Performance Indicators improved?

Transfer – how has learning transferred back into the employee’s role and work?  How have new skills been used and shared?

Engagement – how engaged was the employee with the learning and how easily were they able to retain information?

Finally

Watching people grow in ability and confidence can be very exciting and rewarding, especially if you have had a direct part to play in creating their development plan and activities. Carefully planned, monitored and evaluated development can only bring positive benefits for you, your organisation and the individuals involved.