Empower Your People

I am a creature of habit. When I travel for work, I like to keep things simple. This usually means I have a breakfast bar and a cup of tea poured from my travel-hot-water kettle each morning. However, due to my meeting schedule, one Tuesday in November, I knew I needed to venture out and eat a big brunch before a very long day began.

I did my research, and I narrowed my list down to two options. Both restaurants were within walking distance of my hotel, and each had good reviews. Their menus included what I was craving; French toast, bacon, hashbrown casserole, and tea.

When I entered the establishment of my choice, it was exactly what I wanted; a local hole-in-wall breakfast diner!

I waited next to the “Please Wait to be Seated” sign, and soon, a server approached me. I told her I’d like a table for one. She replied, “You can have a seat at the bar. Ok?”

For context, three men were sitting at the bar, each with one seat between them. We were also in the middle of COVID and flu season. Eating my food wedged elbow-to-elbow between strangers was not on my to-do list.

I reply, “No, I’d like a table.”

She seemed surprised by my answer and began scanning the room. I, too, looked around and noticed that nine of the fourteen tables were open. She said, “Oh, well, the tables are all saved for groups. You know, sometimes we get swamped all at once. So, you good with the bar?”

I looked her in the eyes and again said, “No.” Then I walked out the door and across the street, where I was gladly offered a seat at the table of my choice.

I know this moment of disastrous customer service does not fall on my gum-smacking, purple lipstick-wearing server. It falls on the owner who failed to empower his employees to override a faulty company policy. The restaurant lost my business, and the server lost my tip. This happened because of a rule prioritizing the needs of 40 hypothetical people over a present and paying customer.  

Contrast my experience with a great example of empowering your people. Many years ago, I heard a story at a leadership development conference. This speaker was a seasoned international traveler. He shared about the time when he arrived at his hotel after a day full of travel woes. As he checked in, he told the young front desk worker how happy he was to FINALLY be at the hotel after a long trip filled with unplanned delays and many frustrations. 

This young worker heard him, took his experience to heart, and shared that he was sorry to hear about the difficult day. To welcome this guest, he offered him free valet parking, an upgrade to a suite with a city view, and a free meal in the hotel’s five-star restaurant.

The traveler was stunned. None of his problems that day had anything to do with this hotel, yet the front desk worker compensated him generously.

The next day he returned to the front desk and asked the employee why he did what he did. The young man shared that each employee had permission to spend up to $2,000 a year of the hotel’s money to improve a customer’s experience. He didn’t need to call a manager or get approval to do this; he could simply serve a customer. As a result, this customer now had a positive story to tell.

Frontline workers are often the first to see a need. When we fail to empower them, we not only stifle and limit their creativity but we also fail to serve our customers. Frontline workers can be our best problem solvers. Too often, we assume that leaders who are far removed from a situation know best simply because they are leaders.

I have been in environments where I was empowered to serve others, and I have been in spaces where I needed six people to sign a form before we could even propose a discussion about doing things differently.

Failing to empower those you lead directly impacts the customer and your bottom line.

My experience has been that leaders do not empower their people for two reasons:

First, they don’t want to put the energy into training their people. To empower people to serve others, leaders must clearly articulate their values and mission. Many leaders don’t know their values well enough to teach them to others, while others simply don’t want to do the work of teaching those values. It is interesting to realize that when leaders need to sign off on everything, they create more work for themselves while also being lazy by choosing not to empower their people. 

Second, many leaders enjoy the feeling of being needed. When a frontline worker rushes in and asks permission for something, an unhealthy leader feels valued, needed, and important.

The mark of a great leader is someone who does the hard work of hiring good people, communicating their expectations, equipping them for success, and letting them lead in their own unique way.

We can empower people to serve our customers, or we can enforce outdated policies and watch our customers walk right out the door.

Be the leader who empowers others. Everyone wins with this approach.

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