Empowering Employees Through Questions

In the small business environment, your time as a business owner needs to be carefully guarded. Your time literally is money! By empowering employees, you free yourself to focus on more important matters.

But all too often, business owners answer simple, unnecessary questions from employees. Not only does this waste your time, but it stifles their growth.

This short video demonstrates how you can empower your employees in four simple steps. Using this method will encourage your employees to think on their own, to solve problems, and to take action.

Action Steps:

1. Watch this video and ask yourself: “On a scale of 0-10, how well am I doing with empowering employees?”
2. The next time an employee asks you a question, follow this four-step process:
   1. Ask them to search on their own for an answer.
   2. Ask them to come up with their best guess as to the right answer.
   3. Give approval or modify as needed.
   4. If the question reoccurs regularly, document the answer.
3. Cultivate the culture of employees saying, “This is what I think I should do, what do you think?” instead of asking, “What should I do?”
4. Share your perspective or ask questions on this page.

Principles:

1. Leaders who answer every question and every problem for their employees stifle both personal and business growth.
2. By allowing employees to formulate their answers first, and then approving or refining those answers, you’ll create natural training opportunities.
3. A simple way to create new business systems is to document the answers employees find to their questions.

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