Empowerment in the workplace is an often-misunderstood concept.Employee empowerment is a term that many managers and organizationsthink they understand, but few actually do, and even fewer reallyput into practice.

Many managers feel that by empowering employees, they relinquishthe responsibility to lead and control the organization. This isnot the case. Empowerment is actually a culmination of many of theideas and tenets of employee satisfaction that are discussed andanalyzed frequently in a variety of books and periodicals focusedon the subject.

For an organization to practice and foster employee empowerment,the management must trust and communicate with employees. Employeecommunication is one of the strongest signs of employee empowermentin an organization. Management must be willing to communicate everyaspect of the business to its employees in an open and honestmanner. This communication may include: elements of the strategicplan, financial performance, key performance indicators anddaily-decision making.

Employee empowerment has been described and defined in many waysbut is generally accepted as: the process of enabling an employeeto think, behave, act, react and control their work in moreautonomous ways, as to be in control of one's own destiny.Effective employee empowerment not only has positive implicationsfor employee satisfaction, but also many other organizationalfacets, such as member service and member retention.

Empowering employees leads to organizational encouragement ofentrepreneurial traits and prompts employees to make decisions,take action, and foster their belief that they can take control oftheir own destinies. This belief leads to self-motivation and asense of independence that is translated into greater loyalty andextra effort for the organization. Empowered employees come tobelieve that they control their own success through their effortsand hard work, which in turn benefits the success of the entireinstitution.

The most important factor in effective employee empowerment isbilateral communication. Employee surveys and evaluations showrepeatedly that empowerment and communication rate highest inregard to employee satisfaction in an organization. Companiescommitted to employee empowerment provide more information ingreater detail than the average company.

Empowering employees to increase their satisfaction and theorganization's performance will require a greater amount ofcommunication than ever thought possible. This will requiremanagement to invest in increased amounts of time communicating toemployees and allowing for feedback. In addition, it will requirethat management honestly evaluate the communication styles andmethods that are being used in the institution to ensure the mostefficient processes possible.

Communicating and sharing information accomplishes severalobjectives that are not only important for the empowerment process,but also for overall employee satisfaction with theorganization.

Employee empowerment requires a strong andlasting commitment from an organization's management. A pervasivemisconception in relation to employee empowerment is that it is atop-down desire. Employee empowerment comes from the individual.That is not to say that management ceases to have theresponsibility to lead the group and is not responsible forperformance. In fact, companies that seek to empower employeesdemand stronger leadership and accountability. This begins withexecutive leadership, through all management levels and includesfrontline supervisors. Successful employee empowerment initiativesrequire the entire organization to work together as a team in orderfor the benefits to be realized.

Employee empowerment is an acknowledgment by an organization'smanagement that they realize that their employees have a lot tooffer. Employees derive satisfaction from many aspects of employeeempowerment endeavors, not the least of which is the correspondingbenefits that allow an organization to become more competitive,profitable, and innovative.

An organization can realize many benefits from learning how toproperly empower its employees; not all of which are strictlymonetary. An empowered employee helps a company improve servicedelivery, continuously become more innovative, increaseproductivity, and gain a competitive edge.

Traditional top-down management tends to stifle workerproductivity, create barriers to innovative solutions, andadversely affect employee satisfaction. Employee empowermentutilizes a participatory management style that requires a greatdeal of employee involvement to be successful. An organization thatembraces the concept of employee empowerment redefines traditionalworkplace democratization in both terms of scope and role of theemployee in the decision-making process.

A good lens by which to examine the employee and organizationalbenefits of employee empowerment is through the members of theinstitution. It is a well-known fact that institutions which aretruly successful in delivering exceptional member service haveseveral traits in common, one of which is employee empowerment.

In simple terms, organizations that empower member servicerepresentatives, allow them to make decisions that promote andenhance member satisfaction. There are now many companies that toutemployee empowerment as a selling point to prospective customers.They advertise the fact that the employee empowerment philosophyallows their employees several important capabilities, includingthe ability to respond intelligently and independently to customerneeds, and make critical decisions on-the-spot.

In addition to the employee, organizational and member benefitsalready cited here, employee empowerment holds added benefits andoutcome for employees. One of the measures of success for anyorganization is the personal growth and development of itsemployees.

Empowerment allows employees the added opportunity to build ontheir current skill set. Being empowered gives them the ability touse all the skills that they already possess as well as gain newskills and experiences. Being able to hone and exercise theircreativity and innovation skills will benefit them as they progressto higher positions within the organization.

When encouraged with care, empowerment is a panacea for manyorganization ills. All managers and employees say they wantempowerment, as it is considered a strategy to develop employeesand serve members, which in turn will serve the company.

The simple fact is that truly empowered employees have moreself-confidence, are more creative and innovative, understand thestrategic direction of the organization and are able to act uponthis strategy, which in turn is mutually beneficial to both theemployee and the organization for which they work!

AnthonyL. Emerson is president and CEO of the Credit Union League ofConnecticut.