Most employers want their employees to be proactive, to do things without having to be told, and to actively find ways to advance the success of the company. However what often happens is such expectations are not accompanied by granting their employees the means to do so. Limited resources are understandable, but limited power is just… limiting.

A lot of managers, especially the ones that like to micro-manage, are unable to relinquish control. Everything needs to go through this person before anything can happen. This results in a bottleneck. Not only that, it limits the employee’s ability to do more, because what’s the point? Nothing’s going to come of it anyway.

But try making that employee responsible for something. I don’t mean responsible for doing what they always do, but for some kind of improvement project a bit outside their daily routine. Give them the leeway to make decisions on how such an improvement might be achieved, and then give them the ability (and a bit of time) to actually do it. When people feel empowered, they start to feel committed to the task. A sense of ownership comes about, they start to care about these results. And don’t forget about pride. People always want to look good and have an achievement they can point to and proudly say, “I did that.”

These feelings of accomplishment and recognition make you feel good, and it’s human nature to want more of that. This is how empowerment breeds proactivity. Pretty soon they will be coming up with ideas on their own for projects to improve the company. When employees feel like they can make a visible difference and be recognized for it, you’ll soon have a team of dedicated individuals always on the lookout for that extra mile.