Empower Your Team

I follow a large number of blogs and came across this and was reminded about how true it is. I had a chance to interview Brad Lomenick who is the genius behind the Catalyst Conference and this guy oozes humility, leadership, creativity and loyalty. Everything I have heard about him is good and reveals his heart of loving God and serving others. Great example to look at.  During my interview with him on Backstage Leadership he talked about the need to empower those around you.  What blows my mind is that Catalyst is run by 10 full time paid staff people and the willingness of a mega amount of volunteers.  Brad has appeared to master the art of empowering others to greatness.

Couple things I have learned.  Empowerment is not just delegation.  It is not micro-management.  It is not public permission but private control.  It is not easy.  It may never be done like you would have done it.  It is necessary to be successful.  It is needed for a team to stay motivated.

Leaders: one of the key things you must ALWAYS do is empower your team. As I’ve learned over the years, most leaders at their core are control freaks, which is part of the reason they are successful. But we all must learn and recognize the need to empower those around us to succeed and do what they do well. Most leaders think they can do it all on their own, and many try, but ultimately in order to grow a successful organization that outlives the leader you have to empower those around you.

Here are a few thoughts on Empowering your Team:

1. Give them the opportunity to make decisions, and don’t second guess them. A lot of us as leaders are willing to allow our team members to make decisions, but want to step in as soon as we see something done differently than we would do. Don’t make that mistake. It is totally demoralizing to your team.

2. Assign them responsibility by them owning key projects from START to FINISH. So once we allow team members to make key decisions, now we have to allow them to own projects and feel the responsibility of completion.

3. Fight for them. Whether it’s standing up for them to your boss, or standing beside them and supporting them in a disagreement with a vendor, always take the stance of fighting for them and being willing to go to battle for them.

4. Encourage them. This is the one we so often forget. But can go the furthest in creating team chemistry, longevity, and commitment.

5. Counsel, coach and instruct. Not necessarily the same as encouragement. Great coaches do this well. They scream and you and make you better, while also putting their arm around you and giving you “ego biscuits” when needed. Two different parts of empowering, but both equally important. Instruction is key for releasing again and assigning more responsibility.

6. Overwhelm them. Not on a continual basis, but ultimately your team members should constantly feel a bit overwhelmed by the projects or assignments they are working on, not underwhelmed. Many of their projects should cause them to feel like they are not prepared or ready. If they feel underwhelmed, they will probably end up looking elsewhere for greater assignments and more responsibility.

Coaching Network

I have had the privilege to be a part of Backstage Leadership since  last September and to be honest I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been a part of anything like this but I knew I was passionate about leadership and developing not only myself but taking what I was learning and applying it to my circles of influence.

I have been blown away by the line up of speakers that I have gotten to interview such as: Chuck Colson, Michael Hyatt, Andy Andrews, Carlos Whitaker, Gabe Lyons and Brad Lomenick. Mark Batterson, Dan Cathy, Catherine Rohr, Mike Foster, Ken Blanchard and Francis Chan.  The line up is always incredible and challenges me in such areas as; time management, dream casting, social networking, leadership development and family being a priority.

Backstage was started by Greg Darley and has gone from concept into an idea that is transforming young leaders by giving them opportunities to learn from those who have blazed the path before us.  I can honestly say I am a different leader and approach leadership differently because of this program and hopefully one day have the opportunity to pour into others like Greg has poured into me.

If your interested in joining Backstage Leadership, check out their website at www.backstageleadership.org