When businesses and organizations talk about company values, simply just talking about them isn’t enough. In fact, many aspects of a company’s work culture and value structure are reinforced not from top-down corporate messaging, but from total immersion and visible actions picked up from colleague to colleague. At Lincoln Property Company, we think it’s important that our staff lives our company’s values, so we are encouraging our company to focus monthly on a different value.
Leadership is not just about providing direction from the top down; it’s about inspiring and empowering those around you to make better decisions, take action, and improve. As such, this month we’re focusing on our core value of Empowerment. Here are five ways we are encouraging our employees to find opportunities to empower themselves and others.
- Spreading Knowledge
One of the biggest ways that we try to encourage empowerment within our team at Lincoln Property Company is to spread knowledge. Being a mentor and getting the experience of being placed in a leadership situation helps to bring out the skills and expertise needed to be the best at your role while also offering professional development to others around you. - Training Others with Independence
An important aspect of empowerment is encouraging others to exhibit a sense of independence and freedom as they navigate their daily tasks. By offering our employees the space to do things their own way (provided it’s within company guidelines), we open ourselves up to internal improvement as well as fostering a continual dialogue between staff and process. Employees learn to be vocal when asked, “What do you recommend?” as opposed to simply being told what to do. - Being Vocal – Sharing Your Experience
Another important pathway to empowering others comes from sharing our own experiences. At LPC, we feel that every staff member should feel that it’s important that their coworkers know how they got there. Our company is lucky in having so much tenure, so we encourage our employees to share their stories so others can see their career path illuminated in the experience of others. - Making Mistakes
In giving employees freedom and independence, we understand that sometimes mistakes will happen. But so what? Growing professionally means learning how to bounce back from mistakes and how to make things right. - Expressing Gratitude
The feeling of empowerment would never be possible without the continued gratitude within the LPC team. Empowerment needs to grow organically from a cultivated spirit of thankfulness and genuine appreciation. We remind our team to find opportunities to show thankfulness and reasons to appreciate their coworkers and the hard work that they do each and every day.
What are some ways that you and your staff empower one another? Let us know on Facebook! And, if you’re interested in learning more about our core values, visit the company culture page on our website.
