3 Unconventional Ways To Empower Your Team
Gary Douglas
Empowering your team is about you, far more than it is about your team. As an unconventional leader, you start empowering them (and yourself) by giving up control.
You may desire to control everything, and if you are willing to let it go, you and your team will together create so much more than anything you alone can manage to control.
What if being out of control could be fun for you? What if you don’t have to have all of the answers? What if your team has a level of knowing and awareness that they can use? Will you allow them to contribute to you and your organization?
Here are three ways to empower your team:
1. Be a Catalyst, Not a Manager
A manager directs and judges the ‘right and wrong’ of situations; a catalyst brings new possibilities, ideas and energy to each situation in open and undefined ways which allows change to occur. You change what’s possible by walking into a room and being with everyone in a way that demands change, demands new possibilities and demands that people step into what they truly can be. It’s what you are able to be in the moment, rather than what you say or do that allows you to be a catalyst rather than a manager.
When you adjust your mindset and energy to create a greater result, the possibility of that can show up. When you make people wrong or describe everything as a problem, only that which is less than what you have or that which will create more limitation can show up. What kind of catalyst can you be?
2. Receive Everything Without Judgment
Most leaders run into roadblocks at the exact point where they cut off their awareness of what is truly going on. You have to be willing to receive compliments, accolades, and admiration, as well as criticism, disapproval, and ridicule. You don’t have to buy the responses as real; you just have to be willing to receive it all, without judging yourself or others.
When you expand the level of what you’re willing to receive, your team will know when to come to you and when they can handle things themselves. They won’t hide things from you and they will be willing to expand what they can contribute. Your willingness to receive becomes a safe zone where your team can experiment without expecting to get in trouble for their innovation or creations.
3. Expand Your Awareness
Who in your team needs support right now? Who needs more space to create what they are truly capable of? Who needs some catalyst energy so they can perceive a different possibility? Who desires a different job? Who is trying to contribute but is limited by the rules or people around them? Who is seeking new adventures? Who do you need to add to your team for it to flow with ease?
When you expand your awareness, you will be instantly aware of all of these scenarios and more. When you have awareness and you don’t have to make it right or wrong, you will sense multiple choices and possibilities. If you invite your team to contribute to these choices and possibilities, as well as come up with their own, you may be surprised how fast and how far you can go together.
About the Author
Business innovator, investor, author, antique storeowner and breeder of Costa Rican horses, Gary Douglas lives life to the fullest. He is the founder of Access Consciousness®, a personal development modality that has helped thousands worldwide by giving them tools to create change in all aspects of life - from business, money, health, relationships, recovery and creativity. The Access tools are now offered in 173 countries. Prior to creating Access Consciousness®, Gary Douglas was a successful realtor in Santa Barbara, California and also completed a psychology degree. Although he attained material wealth and was regarded as successful, his life lacked meaning and so he sought a new way forward - one that would create change in the world and in people’s lives. Douglas has written 17 books so far. In 2010 his book “The Place” became a Barnes and Nobles #1 Bestseller. Gary is regularly featured in the media as a thought leader. Find Gary at GaryMDouglas.com and AccessConsciousness.com. Follow @garymdouglas and on Facebook.