Research has regularly demonstrated that when employees feel empowered at work, it is associated with stronger job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment to the organization.
When Empowering Employees Works, and When It Doesn’t
Many leaders often try to empower their employees by delegating authority and decision-making, sharing information, and asking for their input. But a recent meta-analysis of 105 studies on this “empowering” leadership style found that it works best in motivating certain types of performance and certain types of employees. It found that first, empowering leaders are much more effective at influencing employee creativity and citizenship behavior (i.e., behavior that is not formally recognized or rewarded like helping coworkers or attending work functions that aren’t mandatory) than routine task performance. Second, by empowering their employees, these leaders are also more likely to be trusted by their subordinates, compared to leaders who do not empower their employees. Third, leaders who empowered employees were more effective at influencing employee performance in Eastern, compared to Western, cultures, and they had a more positive impact on employees who had less experience working in their organizations.