Is it important to empower your team? Does team members’ confidence matter? Maybe you’ve seen them; the one employee who is doing extremely well in their job. Are they ready to take on more responsibility? Perhaps they are. Or maybe they are very close but need help discovering and developing their strengths so they become more confident. The latter is where you come in as the servant team leader.
You will most likely be the one to encourage them to build their strengths and gain more confidence in themselves. By helping your team members grow within the company you are empowering them to take on more responsibility and to make better decisions.
How do you empower them?
Skills Development
Begin by helping them learn and develop their skills. If they feel like their skills are being under-utilized, they may begin to doubt their own abilities. Secondly, help them improve their abilities and to learn new skills so they can play a stronger role when contributing to projects. This can be achieved by giving them access to relevant courses and training. Lastly, it might also be very helpful to allow them time to study a project they are passionate about.
Delegation
Next delegate specific tasks step-by-step that help them grow in areas they are interested in pursuing. Don’t leave them to their own devices in unfamiliar territory. Stick close by them until you see they no longer need your guidance. Gradually give them more responsibilities.
Support
Continue empowering your team members’ confidence by being supportive of them. This will help you to build a strong foundation by connecting one-on-one with individuals. Subsequently, you will be able to really listen to their concerns and show them how much they are already contributing.
Influence
As the team leader, you will have influence over who does what projects. Use this to help build someone’s confidence, giving them work they are good at and will be interested in. Ultimately, allow them to have and celebrate quick wins and long-term success. Their confidence and motivation will bloom when they have a chance to use their skills, supported by your trust and confidence in their abilities.
Clear Goals
Let them know what your expectations are from the beginning. First of all, they need to know what the end goal is for a project for them individually, and as a team, to feel truly empowered. Then, be sure to clearly share what the short-term and long-term plans are for the company, for each project they are asked to do, and each individual member’s role.
Objective Feedback
Give objective feedback regularly. To do this, you have to track progress and let your team members know how they are doing and what they can do to improve.
Encouraging Environment
Create an environment that encourages your team members to grow and learn new skills. You need to create a safe space where team members can share ideas, discuss strengths and weaknesses and be authentic.
Transparent Communication
Provide your team with all the information they need for any project you ask them to do that they normally don’t do. This will enable teams to create solutions much faster.
Coach rather than Consult
Firstly, give your advice when it’s needed or asked for. Secondly, be available for your team members by making it easy for them to ask questions or get your feedback on something. Lastly, always let them know you are happy to answer their questions.
It starts with a servant’s heart…
As a successful team leader, you need to learn how to empower your team members to discover and develop their strengths and feel more confident in their abilities on the job. Help them make confident decisions, learn new skills and take on new projects with confidence.
This means that you also need to look after yourself, develop yourself and learn new skills. As Dr. Charl Coetzer describes in his book, Leading Business Beyond Profit: A Practical Guide to Leading a Business to Profit and Significance: The functions of a Servant Leader include:
- Creating, Translating and Executing a Higher Purpose like a Soldier;
- Being a Role Model that consistently self-improves like an Athlete;
- Continuously Monitoring and Improving what they are Responsible for Maximum Return like Stewards; and
- Aligning, Growing and Caring for all Stakeholders like a Farmer.
Empowering Comments Welcome
You are welcome to keep us updated on what you are doing to empower your team members to discover and develop their strengths and feel more confident.
What is working for you, and what is not?
What advice do you have for empowering teams and individuals?
If you prefer audio, there will soon be a podcast version of this post available here: How To Empower Your Team Members To Discover And Develop Their Strengths And Feel More Confident @ The Safe Life Revolution Podcast
Want more?
Interested in learning skills that will help you on your journey to greatness as a leader? You are welcome to visit The Safe Life Academy and browse for any course that aligns with your purpose.
Want to be notified of special promotions and have early access to posts, podcasts, and courses? CLICK HERE to subscribe to The Safe Life Revolution.
This is a good list, thank you. I have also found that celebrating/recognizing accomplishments is a helpful form of encouragement. This doesn’t have to be something big. Quite often a simple ‘thank you’ or ‘you’re making great progress’ goes a long way.
Hi Wayne,
Thank you for your insightful comment. I totally agree with you. Authenticity and consistency is also very important!