Motivating your employee teams can encourage them to challenge themselves to produce at higher levels. This, in turn, can lead to greater earnings for your company, lower overall turnover and higher workplace morale. Motivation through empowerment involves giving employees the freedom to work on their own within specified professional parameters.

Set Goals

Help your team set appropriate goals and give it the tools and resources it needs to be successful. While you should play a role in establishing initial teams and providing direction, once objectives have been established, allow employees to proceed on their own. Ask for regular status reports, and make yourself available for trouble-shooting and brainstorming, but otherwise entrust your employees to follow through as planned.

Encourage Decision-Making

When employees come to you for help, assist them by encouraging them to sort through an issue. Allow them to identify pros and cons, and make educated and informed decisions on their own. While this might initially take extra time on your part, encouraging autonomy can motivate your team members and make them more effective leaders.

Involve Employees

Include team members on critical decision-making processes and solicit their advice about projects, developments and business-growth strategies. This level of inclusion and empowerment can not only motivate employees, but also make them feel invested in the success of your company. When employees feel like their opinion is valued and their input desired, it can lead to reduced turnover, company loyalty, and increased overall productivity and effectiveness.

Reward Performance

Show team members the value of their contributions by rewarding successes. Whether you introduce profit-sharing, bonus programs or you simply recognize achievements, employees will be motivated by positive feedback. Acknowledging the worth of team members creates an atmosphere in which employees feel they are an important part of your business.

Encourage Professional Development

Develop a mentoring program or encourage continuing education, professional development and enrichment opportunities for team members. By investing in the career potential of your employees and giving them the tools to make them more knowledgeable in their field, you are encouraging ongoing loyalty. Employees will feel empowered to advance in the industry and are more likely to be motivated to succeed.

Give and Seek Feedback

Take time to provide detailed constructive feedback for employees through performance reviews. In turn, empower team members to evaluate you and your management style, as well as your corporate objectives. This give-and-take approach allows employees to participate in the strategizing and operational aspects of the business.