How to Empower Talent within your Company

Surely you have heard it before, a company is truly only as great as its people. Well, let us tell you, that statement is as accurate as it can get. Beyond a juicy client portfolio and growing revenues, a talented team is a key factor for any company. Talent will not only support your business in achieving its goals, but it also will give you a big competitive advantage. In other words, a talented team will ultimately be the deciding factor in whether a business fails or succeeds.

Now, the tricky part is how to identify talent and, more important, how to leverage that talent. As some extraordinary talent is easy to spot, not all of us are born geniuses or prodigies. Just as not all swimmers are Michael Phelps or all entrepreneurs are business geniuses like Steve Jobs, most great workers have innate talents that need to be identified and nurtured. Therefore, the enormous importance of empowering talent.

Talent empowerment is crucial to strengthen your workers, but it also has plenty of advantages for your company:

• Efficiency. One of the biggest benefits of empowering talent within your company is that it becomes more efficient. When the employees have the power to make decisions and take ownership of projects, supervisors can delegate tasks easily, having more time available to complete other tasks that require more senior involvement.
• Leadership. Talent empowerment will eventually lead to new leaders within your organization. According to a recent study, empowered leaders are more effective in influencing employees. When talent is harnessed and empowered, it serves as an example to other workers in the company who start feeling influenced by these leaders.
• Confidence. This is a no-brainer, powers come with confidence. Therefore, empowerment promotes and encourages employee accountability and strengthens your worker’s sense of belonging. This eventually results in bigger talent retention.

Once you have identified talented individuals within your company, you should waste no time empowering them. Here’s what needs to happen in your workplace:

1. Ask More Questions

Just as businesses try to understand their customers and address their pain points, a company must understand what their talented employees need for better learning opportunities. Just offering your employees random learning and development opportunities won’t cut it. To leverage talent, you need to give your employees the necessary amount o time and resources to learn in desired areas and facilitate them with the right tools to help them advance in their careers. 

Before providing them with countless opportunities, find out what motivates your team and the skills they’re most comfortable with, as well as what they want to improve, and provide the opportunities they’re looking for. 

2. Trust your employees

Make sure your employees feel empowered and have a sense of authority by trusting them. There’s no point in hiring talented people if you won’t let them do their job; trust your team and take advantage of the inversion you made by hiring talent. Recent research found that empowerment and authority are lacking in companies where trust and accountability are weak or absent. On the other side, in companies where workers feel trusted, workers feel empowered to take on new challenging tasks and develop innovative ideas to benefit the business. 

Companies that decentralize the decision-making process and allow employees to contribute benefit from multiple perspectives. Instead of delegating to take unwanted work off your plate, delegate with the intent to grow and develop the capabilities and responsibilities of your employees.

3. Increase leadership capability

There’s no better way to empower talent than to increase their leadership skills. To do so, start by giving your employees autonomy over important assignments. It’s fine if they don’t follow the same process you usually do; by delegating, you are giving your talented workers the agency to complete the tasks differently and to feel like the owners of the whole process. To do so, relinquish from micromanaging and accept that there are many ways to achieve success. 

Also, when possible, include your talented team members in decision-making and goal-setting. Involving them in these important processes and being open to hearing their ideas and input will help your employees feel they are a fundamental part of the company and empower them to take ownership of different projects and tasks. Not only can being receptive to new ideas help empower your employees, but it can also open up your organization to innovative ideas.

4. Open your communication channels

Having healthy communication with your employees is key to a successful work dynamic. For example, having frequent feedback will help your workers to identify the areas that need more attention and will encourage them to keep the behaviors you seek. As a manager, give your employees time and opportunities to connect personally with you. 

Try always to set up clear goals for everyone on the team and let your talent know what you are expecting from them. This will make your workers more confident and feel more empowered to make decisions on their own.

Finally, from an “always open door” policy to conversation platforms, ensure there’s always space to address all employees' concerns and needs and let them know about the process and results. Be accessible, open, and straightforward as you interact with your employees, and you’ll see how your relationship improves, making them less likely to leave. 

5. Enhance the Employee Experience

Successful companies do not treat their employees as mere workers but as human beings with whole lives outside of the workplace. Therefore, it is understandable that each of them goes through multiple situations that can impact their performance within the workplace. Even the best employees need help from time to time, so make sure you’re offering plenty of support. Whether professional or personal, proving that you’re on their side when they need you is one of the most important things, you can do. 

Focusing on your employees is key to understanding your entire work environment from your employees’ perspective and helping you identify where you can harvest talent and the areas of improvement and growth. But will also help you make your employees feel valued and more empowered in the office. 

On that note, implement mechanisms that improve your employees' experience. You can achieve this by maintaining a flexible work environment, allowing your employees to work in their preferred environment at their preferred hours to decrease stress and increase productivity. You can also advocate for a professional and personal life balance by establishing healthy working hours.

Be creative and bold, whether in training, employee wellness programs, health insurance, or flexibility; as long as you maintain clear communication and become aware of what your employees need, you will come up with the right tactics to make your employees happier and boost talent.

We hope these five tips will help you settle on a solid road for your company’s talent empowerment. Finally, at Intersog, we are happy to help you spot the right talent anywhere in the world. Let us find you the best IT talent. From recruiting, screening, interviewing, and onboarding, we take care of everything, so you focus on what you do best, growing your business.