Empowerment means enabling someone to take action and make positive decisions on their own by making them feel comfortable and confident in their abilities and potential. Fostering an empowerment culture is essential for driving professional growth, innovativeness, and employees’ contentment. According to one report, happy employees are 20 percent more productive than their unhappy counterparts. Their productivity and positive disposition also affect client happiness, since sales grow by 37 percent when a team is empowered.

Therefore, team empowerment is a crucial topic in the world of management. Empowering your team can set them up for success and countless opportunities. Here are ways to create and empower a versatile team:

1. Communicate more than you think you need to.

Aside from efficiency, team communication builds trust and boosts engagement and confidence. It’s imperative that managers set team communication goals to ensure the team’s communication maintains its effectiveness. Leaders must set aside time to talk to team members to understand their needs and expectations. Priorities and expectations must always be clearly communicated to avoid confusion and/or conflicts. Without constant and effective communication within the team, personal gaps may arise and can hinder collaboration and teamwork. Managers should always remember that effective team communication involves not just the transmission of information, but more importantly the sharing of goals and aspirations.

2. Open up for new ideas.

Team managers and supervisors should encourage the generation of new ideas and opinions from members. Many times, junior employees face rejection and discouragement from their superiors. As a result, they end up keeping or neglecting their potentially profitable ideas. This behavior hinders the creation of empowered and versatile teams. It pays to understand that everyone has ideas that can transform the business. Listening will require time. Leaders should give sufficient time to hear their team’s views and then provide constructive and mindful evaluation. In that way, contributors will feel valued and respected, thus carrying on with the idea generation process.

3. Show support because it breeds trust and respect.

Managers who support their employees gain respect and trust from their teams. If employees feel their leader’s support, they become more honest with their feelings and find it easier to communicate their thoughts and opinions. A supportive leader makes the team feel confident and proud of their work. This will likely heighten their engagement with the organization and their eagerness to maintain a high quality of work.

4. Recognize and reward efforts.

Achievements that are rewarded are likely to be repeated because recognition imparts a great deal of energy to people. However, leaders should recognize all efforts fairly, regardless if they yield success. They should never forget to show appreciation, from the smallest gestures to the grandest accomplishments. Encouragement should be given to those who fail to perform as expected to work harder and commit to organizational goals. Leaders must help employees feel a sense of security when they see their value to the company, motivating them to continue to do an excellent job.

5. Grant women the opportunity to make decisions.

In most cases, everyone on the team believes they’re skilled and knowledgeable enough to make viable decisions to help their organizations excel. If team members are hindered or discouraged in making independent decisions, the empowerment will dissipate. Therefore, leaders must nurture their team and make them feel they have control over their work. When giving employees autonomy over their job, managers should make sure that employees have the resources they need to complete their tasks. Whether it’s tools, coaching or support, managers should ensure that employees have everything they need to be effective. And when a task is delegated, managers should accept that employees may complete it differently than they would. They must accept that their way may not be the only or the best way to complete a project.