5 Strategies to Empower Employees to Make Decisions

People find it difficult to give up control when they see their role and status as tightly linked to their decision-making authority and delegating responsibility as a diminution of their power.

Clarify decision roles, rights, and accountability. Write down the decisions you’re responsible for, individually and collectively—delegation shouldn’t be confused with dereliction of duties.

Coach people, encourage them to assimilate information, and to reflect on decisions, especially when the outcomes were not as intended.

Open up the decision-making process, invite people into critical meetings as an opportunity to observe and contribute their insights.

Structure meetings around decisions, encourage participants to share different perspectives and challenge each other, summarise the decisions and specify the people accountable for implementing them.

Communicate high-profile, critical decisions so that people can learn about how judgements were made. The scrutiny that comes from this transparency might even improve the quality of decision-making, too.