Page 138 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

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Empowerment

• “When I was hired, my boss told me that it was his job to
make me successful and whatever tools, training, or resources I
needed, he would do his best to get. Although I haven’t asked
for much, whenever I have he has always come through. I feel
that my boss respects me and really wants me to succeed.”
• “I work for a package delivery business. I saw what I thought
was an opportunity to save time by changing some routes
based on new traffic patterns. I pitched it to my boss, and
he said, ‘What do you need from me?’ I really appreciate the
opportunity to work for a boss who actually values my ideas
and encourages me to act on them.”
• “My boss always tells us that she wants us to work like we
own the company. She gives team members autonomy and
decision-making authority. She says, ‘If I didn’t trust you to
make decisions on your own, then I wouldn’t have hired you.’”
• “I know most people hate training classes, but I love learn-
ing new skills. I have certain goals to meet, and whenever I
meet those goals in a given quarter my supervisor lets me take
another training course. This has led to a lot of opportunities
for me and keeps me really engaged.”
• “We got a new department manager about a year ago, and
she immediately started having us cross-train. I can’t tell you
what a difference it has made for our team—both in terms
of people getting along and in making improvements in our
production process because employees know so much more
about the different jobs and how they relate to each other.”
• “I worked for a manager who had a philosophy of sharing
information on a ‘need-to-know-only’ basis. Sometimes we
heard about decisions our boss made from other employees
who had heard it from their supervisor. Everyone felt totally in

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