Are you struggling to manage your time effectively at work? Do you find yourself micromanaging your employees instead of empowering them?
In his book Buy Back Your Time, Dan Martell offers valuable insights on reclaiming your time and boosting employee productivity. He presents several ways to empower employees, allowing you to focus on more important tasks while fostering their growth and independence.
Read on to discover practical strategies that can transform your workplace dynamics and enhance overall efficiency.
4 Ways to Empower Employees
Martell suggests you reclaim time at work by controlling your urge to micromanage a task when it’s someone else’s job to handle it. You might feel the need to oversee tasks that others are responsible for to ensure they’re done properly. However, Martell argues that this behavior takes your time away from more valuable tasks.
(Shortform note: Micromanaging isn’t just a time sink for you—it can negatively affect your employees, too. Some experts argue that micromanagement is a form of bullying because it’s a way to control others. It diminishes the confidence and motivation of employees, making them feel fearful about doing anything without their manager’s approval and insecure about their abilities. Evidence shows that micromanagement often has a negative impact on mental health, work performance, and self-esteem.)
Martell writes that, if someone can handle a task competently to about 80% of your standard, you should entrust them with it. He suggests several ways to empower your employees to excel in their responsibilities:
1. Give your team an allowance. Set an appropriate budget for your team to use autonomously when issues arise. This not only allows the team to take charge, learn, and grow, but it also resolves problems efficiently without your intervention.
(Shortform note: In Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work, Paul L. Marciano recommends not only providing your team with financial resources to tackle problems, but also regularly asking your team about the resources they need to be successful and then providing them—whether it’s by sharing information or offering training. If you’re unsure of the best budget for your team to be successful, Tim Ferriss in Tools of Titans suggests holding weekly reviews: You can set a preliminary amount, review how your team makes use of the budget each week, and then adjust the budget as necessary.)
2. Define success. For simple tasks, clearly state what “done” looks like—for example, “The bug in the code has been identified and corrected, and the updated code runs smoothly without causing the previous error.” For larger tasks, Martell recommends you outline three things: 1) what should be achieved, 2) how the team members involved should feel about it, and 3) what the completion of the task accomplishes or enables.
(Shortform note: Martell’s recommendation to provide a definition of done (DoD) is derived from Agile methodology, a project management approach that values adaptability and making small, incremental changes. It emerged as a way for teams to deliver high-quality products as efficiently as possible, reducing rework. While Martell suggests you create the DoD, others say you should collaboratively define it with your entire team so everyone’s on the same page.)
3. Use the 1:3:1 Rule. Before an employee seeks your help, ask them to first pinpoint the problem, come up with three solutions, and suggest one they believe will work best. This boosts your team’s critical thinking, fosters responsibility, and encourages innovation.
(Shortform note: Employees may feel more comfortable implementing the 1:3:1 rule if you cultivate a psychologically safe environment—one in which team members feel safe to express their thoughts without fear of repercussions. In The Fearless Organization, Amy Edmondson contends that when team members feel safe, they’re less hesitant to share ideas, no matter how out-of-the-box they might be, which can lead them to propose more innovative solutions. She recommends several practices that leaders can follow to foster psychological safety, including redefining failure and encouraging participation by practicing humility and curiosity.)
4. Give employees more autonomy. When you tell employees what to do and then check their work, they experience little growth and take little initiative. Instead, Martell recommends you simply tell employees what needs to be accomplished and let them decide the best way to accomplish it. This gives your team members—who are closer to the problem and possibly more informed about it—space and motivation to address the issues creatively, thus elevating their capabilities.
(Shortform note: What is autonomy and why do we need it? In Drive, Daniel Pink defines autonomy as acting through internal choice, not through external pressure. He explains that autonomy can have positive effects on performance and satisfaction because humans are biologically wired to be self-driven. For your team to benefit the most, Pink suggests you give them autonomy in four areas: their task, when they work, how they do the work, and whom they work with. However, different people may want more or less autonomy in certain areas, so it’s best to adjust the level of autonomy you give to each team member accordingly.)
