Category Archives: PSU Recreation
Empowerment in the workplace
Empowerment is one of the biggest vehicles for the promotion of employee growth. I know that people like to feel value and every time that a manager can match the employee skill with a job task, greatness is accomplished. As an example, in the fitness room, I had a desk staff “just collecting id’s”, I asked him about his major and I found out he was a PE major. I ask him if he was willing to do some research on the calories of typical meals found in the fast food restaurant and the amount of time that it takes in cardiovascular equipment to burn those calories. He loved it! He was so happy to be able to put his knowledge into a project that he could see and use in his portfolio.
In a similar way, outdoor instructors that are reaching a point in their life that having a less demanding job (long expeditions vs. office) is a better option, looking into the other passions and skills of the person is a great way of retaining staff in the organization. Please share some of your experiences with empowering employees in the workplace!
First break all the rules
I have a 45 minute commute every day to work. Thanks to audible.com my commute is very entertaining and educational. The reading that I enjoy is non fiction because of the intellectual growth value. On the other hand, when I want to escape or relax I rather watch a movie. My wife would argue that you can learn about human nature through literature in general. I stick to my non fiction. Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their book First break all the rules emphasizes that to excel as a manager one must do the following: 1. Select talented staff, 2. Set expectations, 3. Motivate the person, 4. Develop the person. The last activity is the one that I want to expand in this posting. Developing staff members is an individual process that has to be mapped in order to achieve the desired outcome. You need to keep track of each person’s strengths, weaknesses and work habits in order to train them to be a better employee. Also, by starting them each off with an effective training program the development of employees is set on a good foundation, since each person will know the expectations of the manager, and hopefully, how they need to achieve them. Good training is a core element but not the only element for development
