EMPOWERMENT.....the mark of true leaders.

One of the problems in our society is that majority of our leaders (at all level) have not been able to empower their subjects to an extent that can guarantee a replica of their “achievements” whenever they are unavailable. The ability to empower others and see the greatness in them is what will eventually set apart great leaders from the ordinary ones. True leaders empower others because they recognize and believe in their potential. They recognize the potentials and then incites personal improvements in them. As a leader, you must recognize that time is short and you cannot always stand in front to lead forever. If we truly want the next generation to evolve better than ours, then we must empower them. Remember the saying; “if you want to leave behind a memory help yourself succeed, but if you want to leave behind a legacy then help others succeed." An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success. To empower or be empowered involves someone being equipped with needed knowledge, skills, and/or the delegated authority or power to act. When you are empowered, you are given the go signal to do what must be done. You are also given the trust and the confidence to work out the finer things, to make procedures better, and to devise means to get things done. Though empowerment is not absolute, being empowered is a clear chance or opportunity to move forward, to be able to reach that certain goal.

One other thing that empowerment does is to help build a team that achieve more in little time bearing in mind that one of us cannot do as much as all of us. Sincerely, the best way to build a team is to empower them and the best way to empower them is to trust and believe them. Believing and trusting your subjects go a long way in helping them succeed. It is always a great feeling when you have a full confidence that your leader believes in you and trusts you to deliver the best of you. Yes I agree it is wonderful when the people believe in the leader, but I feel it is more wonderful when a leader believe in the people. That is what empowerment is all about. The very fact of believing is someone is an empowering gesture and must be communicated to them so that they know you do believe in them. It gives them the power to go forward and deliver on our expectations of them. We must learn to trust our followers so as to bring out the power within them that will make them great. If you do not trust them, it will be hard for them to trust themselves, if they do not have confidence in themselves, they will always be afraid to act and take risks.
If you empower them, they will empower and trust themselves and that trust will plant a seed of hope in their hearts. It will help them to realize that they are able and can achieve whatever they set out to do. They will know that they might commit mistakes some times, and that it’s all part of the process, they will know that mistakes will make them stronger and wiser while your guidance and love will serve as their inspiration to move on and try again.

Apart from empowering our followers as leaders, there is also need for us all to ensure that, as much as we can, we try our best to do same for others. One of the best things we can do for others that are trying and struggling is to come alongside them and empower them. Believing and trusting in others will empower them to move ahead and up the hills of life. Sometimes we wonder why people perhaps refuse or cannot simply get a better qualification, get a better job or do something better with their lives without even realizing that not everyone can or has the ability, finances etc to go do. It is our responsibility to empower them to do so and achieve that which we are convinced they are capable of. Empowering such people is empowering their future. We are not here to judge but to serve and make our world better.

Indeed, empowerment is a service, a service that will inspire and encourage people to do the best they can according to their abilities. It is about giving someone the power (tools, money, time, training, support etc) to actually do what is necessary themselves and make the choice of the responsibility for themselves. A good leader while empowering people must not do everything alone if there are others beside him. He must teach them to do things by and for themselves. Empowerment is about being given the go ahead with trust, belief and, as may be required, resources to take on something for which you will be responsible. Often when you are empowered it is because you have the endorsement and confidence of those whom you are serving to deliver on a specific task, job or objective. This is what make the difference between empowerment and encouragement. For example, if you encourage your daughter to make the bed, the result will be that she may or may not make the bed. But when you empower her to lay the bed by giving her the tools, the training and means to complete the task, and make her understanding why the bed needs to be laid, then you are empowering her to choose for herself to make the decision to be responsible for the bed. The result then will be that the bed just magically get made every day with you not having to worry about it anymore.

According to researches, one of the reasons why leaders and people generally refuse to and are often afraid of empowering their subjects is because they are suffering from insecurity. Insecure people cannot empower anyone because they fear that the success of others will affect their own success. Insecure people are often selfish and that is why they are never successful in the true definition of success. They only think of themselves and go through life with a continuous safety nets on their head. Secured people do not only empower other people, they are also genuinely interested in other's success. People who fail to empower others end up in life as a failure. Success is your ability to create someone better than you. 

Ultimately, power/success needs to be passed on and failure to empower others simply means that there won’t be anyone to build on what you have built afterwards hence the imminent collapse of whatever you might have built. When we become empowered we need to empower others. When you believe and trust in others and put some wins under their belt then you are empowering them to deliver more. Empowerment is a network - as people get you empowered, you must, in the same way empower others. You must inspire other to become the best they can be too. You can be the one who makes today different for someone else and get him/her flying. Help someone overcome a difficult challenge and be the one that sees the tree in a seed. Understand that your life (skills, knowledge, experience etc.) is not for you alone, they must be used to empower others. You must serve, honor, respect, value, trust and love them. Also, nothing is as empowering as positive words. It energizes one to do more, maximize potential and excel. Work towards improving yourself every day and then pass it along and help someone else. Challenge yourself to build, grow and become the best. Let’s keep growing my friends. I believe this generation can do a lot more in this aspect. But bear in mind, only those who are able to empower others will eventually emerge as true leaders. I love you all.