10 Steps to Empowerment 10: Respect

I’ve heard it said once that you must seek first to understand, then be understood. This is the cornerstone of respect.
Respect is the perfect closing step to empowerment because each other point requires the manager to respect his employees. Clearly defining job responsibilities shows respect. Giving people the proper authority is a [...]

10 Steps to Empowerment 9: Permission to Fail

I’ve heard it said once that defeat can be more instructive than victory. A quick glance at history shows that the people who have achieved the most failed quite a bit. Abraham Lincoln ran for public office six times before he was elected. Thomas Edison tried 2,500 times to invent the light [...]

One Minute Reprimands

Beware: Reading this article may make you a more effective manager than most others. If you really want to know how to discipline employees, then continue reading. Mastering the One Minute Reprimand will increase your effectiveness exponentially.
First, let’s examine what goes into a One Minute Reprimand:

The One Minute Reprimand works well when you:

Tell [...]

10 Steps to Empowerment 8: Trust

Once you’ve defined a person’s responsibilities, delegated enough authority to him, trained him properly, set a high standard,  given him the proper knowledge, and provided appropriate recognition and feedback, the next step is to simply trust this person to do the job.
Is it really that easy?  Of course not!  Trust is a very sticky issue, [...]

10 Steps to Empowerment 7: Recognition

Recognition works hand-in-hand with feedback.  The difference is that recognition is an actual reward for positive work performance, while feedback is a quick note on how work performance is progressing.  A One Minute Praising is good for both recognition and feedback.
Since a One Minute Praising might be the most effective low-to-no-cost method of recognition, I [...]