5 WAYS TO EMPOWER LEADERSHIP GROWTH
NEW BOOK GIVEAWAY!!
20 copies available!!
Leave a comment on this guest post by Jane Finette to become eligible for one of 20 complimentary copies of her new book, Unlocked: How Empowered Women Empower Women.
Deadline for eligibility is 10/23/2021. International winners will receive electronic versions.
Leadership at its core is about helping others grow and become leaders in their own right. A powerful and long-lasting approach to supporting leadership growth is to help a person help themselves.
When someone can see that they already have within them a deep well of resource and know-how, they will move forward with confidence and determination.
5 Ways to Empower Leadership Growth
#1 Help them own the decision.
There are many maps, just not your maps! Encourage people to listen to advice, and choose their own path. When they do, commitment deepens, and the likelihood of success expands.
#2 Seek teachable moments.
Ask reflective questions to lock in learning and practice looking backward to look forward. Use open-ended questions such as: What could you have done differently?, What helped you achieve success?, and What is possible now?
#3 Trust the gut.
The smarter and faster brain will usually know the answer first. In our data-driven world, we can discredit what our body has to teach us. Helping someone tap into their inner wisdom and intuition is a powerful tool.
#4 Listen first.
Don’t assume that what worked for you will work for them. Asking better questions will get better answers. Take time to hear what’s going on, and allow the person to reach the answer by themselves.
#5 Be a coach.
A coaching approach breeds self-assurance and self-respect. Encourage people to seek out sounding boards, rather than problem solvers: Champions, rather than helpers and people who want success for them on their own terms.
Our work as leaders is to empower others toward their own greatness and success. People may not always know the answer, but when they can count on themselves, they will create solutions to get there.
Which of the five ways to empower leadership growth seem most relevant to you?
Jane Finette is the Founder and Executive Director of The Coaching Fellowship, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of young women leaders in social change. A leadership expert and Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC), Jane has dedicated her life to achieving equality for women — empowering them to create impact and build the world of tomorrow, today. Her first book, Unlocked: How Empowered Women Empower Women, is launching this week.
Women need your message…I know your words connected with me this morning….thank you
Listen first – Listen for understanding, not the chance to respond. Good thoughts here
What a great post and book! I just returned from a trip to Honduras where we are empowering women in the rural areas to become leaders in their communities, through a two-year educational program. Empowered women (along with male allies) are what will make a difference!
My team is going thru an ’empowerment to make decisions’ transition right now, and this message supports the conversation to a T 🙂 Thank you. Would love to be considered for one of the free giveaway copies which I will share with my team.
Excellent leadership points!
#2 – Seek Teachable moments, this also applies to teaching about themselves and their leadership style. Ask reflective questions to pull out a realization that they have done a good job or how they could have done better. Teaching how to empower, is as important as empowering!
Sometimes we try to teach Leadership when the person may already have good bones, they just need to know it… from someone who can teach them they know it. :>)
Thank you for this message! I needed to read this!
Outstanding and yet simple advice. We have to keep developing our voices. Thank you for your work. I hope to read and share your book.
Being a coach is critical to empower and grow others!
As a leader I want to encourage, empower and equip others. Listening and asking reflective questions is key. Unfortunately, at times I want to give the answer or at least my answer. Thank you for the reminder to listen and ask questions.
As a woman I have always found it rare to enjoy working under other women leaders. I have always found enthusiasm and trust more forthcoming from my male bosses. However recently I have worked under the most inspirational woman and I found this so empowering because it gave me hope and affirmation abt how I was leading other women. We don’t have to conform to traditional male gender stereotypes/characteristics that so often women feel they need to imitate. Seeing women lead on their own values and style is far more inspirational than some of my great male bosses. Women can have so much impact and influence on each other in such positive ways when they see positive role models. I hope I can do for other young women what this recent female leader has provided for me 😊
The statement- Our work as leaders is to empower others toward their own greatness and success – is so powerful and true. We need to always remember that our jobs are to help others define and reach their own goals.
Great information and being in multiple roles in my nursing career all 5 ways to empower leadership growth is a great reminder that we can make a difference.
Great post! Thank you for sharing. This helped me this morning.
We’re building a cadre of strong female Superintendents in Vermont schools and always talking about ways to support each other. We’d love us some good reading!
We are often quick to speak but very slow to listen.
Listening is so important and also the skill of asking good questions
We can avoid many problems if we learn to listen well, and give our undivided attention…
And by the way –
Greetings from Serbia!
Somewhere along the line people started to believe (read: know) that if you give advice people have to follow it or they have done something wrong. This is absolutely not the case. If as leaders we take the challenge of developing others (making us better leaders in the process) then we offer advice and comment which allows them to grow and develop into the leader they will become. All the while we offer more and add encouragement. This will bring confidence permitting them to bloom. Thank you for the thoughts today.
This is amazing. So helpful and empowering. It can be so difficult to inspire change, personal leadership, confidence and accountability. I would find a copy of this book to be so impactful. Thank you.
In todays workforce, women are stepping up to lead in many positions. I learned so much from others and I want to be that leader that others can learn from. We must be here for each other, be it as a leader or a follower. We must teach each other and encourage each other to be the best that we can be.
I don’t think we can say it enough that leadership is about empowerment not power. Totally agree that listening leads to asking better questions which in turn lead to better answers.
Listen first! I’ve had to learn not to jump in and offer a fix rather than tease out what an individual can realize given the time and space to think things through.
Great words to reflect upon today! I love the idea of reflecting and looking backward to move forward!
My greatest mentors have been women; I hope to serve the same role for other women. Thank you for this post.
All great reminders but #4 hit home. In a busy day or when I find I am not at the top of my game, it is easy to give the answer instead of listening and letting them come up with the answer.
Very valuable. I always live by #3…smart decisions come from this point. Thanks
Listen first & be a coach. The ripple effect of these behaviors could changes teams, workplaces & possibly the world. Noticing the opportunities & practicing…that’s what we’re all doing. Good leaders can practice this every day & be the role model that people need.
I appreciate the reminder of “asking better questions will get better answers.” Thank you!
#3 is an important one to remember. We are inundated with data that can be a ton of noise. Then we get that dreaded analysis paralysis and end up delaying or making a wrong decision. Sometimes that gut feel is just the way to go and our experience can guide us. Great read – thank you for sharing!!
I am trying as well to inspire leadership in others at my current workplace.
Great topic in mentoring and certainly a great cause.
Great article.
I’m in the midst of multiplying new leaders. These are very transferable.
Thank you.
Such an important message! As a female leader, unfortunately, I found more females working to stifle my progress than support it. It has motivated me to support growth whenever I can.
Ultimately, people have to decide their own course of action. But as a leader, it is essential to listen with an open mind, understand what they are going through, and then give suggestions, as a Coach. Empower them to follow through the process and grow.
Your book is going to help me in a great way. Looking for this impactful book.
I share your posts with my team leads and find the articles on leadership growth the most effective. We share thoughts and ideas from your posts at the weekly team meetings. Your articles are used to start the meetings! I am really looking forward to hear what the leads say about these five tips for growth. Thank you!
This is a great message. Building leaders in any organization is necessary for the continued growth of those organizations and for the development of the organization’s team.
Building leadership is so important in any organization. Strong leadership leads to strong leaders. Strong leaders lead to success.
I really resonate with “trust the gut”. Sometimes logic and reasoning can give two equally beneficial answers, then the gut comes in to make the final decision.
These ideas are the similar to what my HS uses when coaching girls sports teams and am looking forward to having the ideas expanded and better explained.
Coaching and mentoring is an important part of why I lead. The “trust your gut” is so true! It helps us slow down and really consider the answer we are about to give!
Love this! My wife is a pastor and I’m going to gift this to her for Pastor Appreciation month!
I would forward this to my wife,, she needs it…
As someone growing into a leadership role these are important points not only for mentoring others, but to remember myself as well!
This post was just what I needed to read this morning! Very inspiring words! I know I wouldn’t be the leader I am today if it weren’t for the coaching and mentoring that I received from other leaders. The one thing I will take from this post that resonates the most with me is the words “trust your gut” — time and time again that has proven to be true for me! Our body knows before our mind does often.
I always appreciate the Leadership Freak wisdom. I believe that as leaders, it is our responsibility and privilege to inspire EVERY team member regardless of they’re sex, race, hardships, etc. I’m sick of our society, politicians, and social “leaders”, constantly dividing us by putting people in categories. I’m sick of people claiming this group should receive more focus than that group and they deserve more than someone else. I can’t be held accountable for the bad leaders out there, only for what I do. There will always be unfair people in the world, bad examples from every race, sex, and age group. If you have a bad boss, move on. How about if we write a book called “People Empowering People”, but I guess that wouldn’t sell. Laws, rules and books don’t change people’s hearts…only other people do.
Good advice to live by. I also use the, “you do you” statement when offering my thoughts to others. I look forward to expanding my knowledge by reading the case studies in Unlocked. Thank you and be well.
Right now LISTENING is so important. I am on video calls daily and see my leadership not listening because they are working while on a team call. They ask people to repeat themselves constantly.
1. Leaders need to stop and listen
2. Companies need to be aware that if they are overloading their leadership with so much that they cannot properly lead, that is a major problem.
Thank you for the post!
All five of these resonate with me and how I am trying to lead my teams! I am guilty of just jumping in and fixing things, often forgetting to stop and explain. This applies to work and home. Such great advice!
Helping people make their own decisions is an incredibly important leadership skill. It’s the one that I often have to intentionally remember to put forward. Even if I don’t agree, it doesn’t mean the decision making by the leaders I support is not right. In fact, I love it when a colleague succeeds after I’ve had doubts! And, I love to coach and ask questions when a path they took doesn’t pan out. Thanks for this post.
I am a Coach for new school administrators and ALL these points are part of our practice in coaching. They are intertwined as well as function independently and each needs to be practiced consciously. Wonderful to have these points clear, unambiguous and doable–with practice.
These are great points. As a clinical educator, it is imperative that students develop critical thinking strategies to problem-solve situations on their own or they know how to reference to achieve the end goal of an examination. This blog has been helpful for me to ask meaningful questions to get them on the track of critical thinking for themselves and empowering them to make decisions.
Too often we get stuck in the grind of completing tasks, and forget to take care of our own professional development and coach our staff. I’m excited to hear more abou this new book! 🙂
Great post thanks for sharing besides #4 Being a coach has an immediate and direct effect on individual performance, helping teams or individuals become more effective, self-aware, and strategic.
Coaching skills help empower others- what an important skill to foster. Taking a step back and being okay with whatever path the other takes is very difficult but necessary. Great post!
I am a leader in an all women own company. Very proud of our leadership and our ability to empower other women. I can’t wait to read this book. Love the intro… For the strong women who raise us, for the sisters who hold us and for all the daughters rising. I get chills reading this as I was a raised by a strong women and now I get to see my daughter rising
Listen First is by far the most powerful method in my experience (I am a peer mentor to new nonprofit leaders). Most of the bad and most of the unwanted advice comes from those who jump to solutions without even knowing the situation or what’s already been tried.
I love #4 – Listen first. I need to work on this myself!
All 5 are great ways to empowering leadership. The one that I relate to the most is seek teachable moments. One must learn to be able to grow
Women as leaders is not a new concept, but it’s finally getting the traction it deserves. We can and should empower each other. Whether for ourselves or our daughters and granddaughters, it strengthens everyone (men included) to have capable female leaders. We all lift together.
What a powerful message. Bottom line is that life is just too short not to find what makes you happy.
This is a guiding principle that we should employ in every aspect of our lives. Teaching our youth these ways can only make us stronger!
Good read and very timely. We are in the midst of rebuilding our leadership team.
I love all five of these messages. The one that I have to keep leaning into (as a woman) is to trust my instint. I find I make the best decisions when I slow down and really listen to my intuition, and I’m best able to do that when I lean into self-care practices that help me align my mind and body. Thank you!
#5 — Be a coach. Empowering others toward their own greatness and success motivates all the other points. The result is cascading growth and development as empowered (men and) women empower (men and) women!
it is so great to see more women standing up together, setting great examples for our youth and working along side one another to make the world a better place
I am so encouraged to see this subject being written about. As a 65-year-old woman, still in the workforce, I cannot begin to tell you how important the women mentors in my career have been. Having chosen to have my family early, I did not acquire a degree; however, I would rank the mentoring/training/experience I received from female peers and managers over any degree program. Would that the male managers around me would see it the same! Now, I am feeling compelled to write a book about another much needed subject: “Mature” Women in the Workforce – How to Continue to Grow and Even Flourish in the American Workforce!
I have been in a LEAD program through work and one of the topics was coaching. I used to think that I was coaching but it is so much more. It requires me to get out of the “fix it” mentality of leadership and let people come into their own way by asking open ended questions.
I also like the Trust your Gut above. Leading life insurance Underwriters, sometimes calls for that.
I love this! So many people think that others want you to “solve” their problems but that isn’t the case at all! They will be way more satisfied with the outcome and gain confidence if you ask the questions and they can come up with the solution themselves. The best leaders are the ones that listen and ask the right questions.
#4 – Listen first. The smartest leaders I know don’t have the answers, they have the questions that enable me to get to the answer.
Encouraging listening to our inner wisdom is critical and reflective questioning allows for self reflection. Great advice.
This is a great summary. I am going to use this in some of my one-on-ones with the women in my team. Thank you for this.
Of course, Listen First resonates with me. However, the sentence that kept me pondering the most is under #5, “Encourage people to seek out sounding boards, rather than problem solvers…” It is too easy to seek out people who lead you to solve a problem (their way), but much more difficult to find a coach who knows the art of drawing you out to solve your problems YOUR way, the empowered way.
What amazing timing as I am the emcee at a Women’s Empowerment Conference today! I plan to share this article and book with them!
I find number 4, listening, to be most important. We do it too little and assume too much. The world is full of formulas and if it does not work for someone, they make them believe that they are wrong, that they did not apply well what they were told or that they are not capable.
Listening from empathy and the need to value the other person, keeping silence and giving them space, asking the right questions without manipulation.
With respect to women, I believe that an important point is that as leaders we need to create safe communities where we do not have to compete, demonstrate or take care of others, that is real empowerment. Because even if we help a woman to regain her personal power, society compares her, criticizes her, minimizes her and demands too much from her.
Thanks for the blog, it is always wonderful.
Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
I love the idea of learning specific skills to empower women!
#4 Listen first! This is so important in today’s world. We have to learn to stop everything we are doing and devote our ears and mind to just listening to other people. And only then can we ask better questions, get better answers, and get to the root of the issue. Take time to hear what’s going on, ask insightful questions, and provide the person to opportunity to reach the answer by themselves. Priceless.
As a person in a leadership role in my organization I focus on growth. Growth of myself and those around me. I ask people what it is they want out of their career. I listen and provide actionable feed back that can help them achieve those goals. The five skills listed above are excellent tools. I can’t wait to check this book out.
Love the notion of Trusting Your Gut! We lose this as we acquire more knowledge.
Great post – thank you! My coaching mentor liked to say that during a coaching conversation “if you’re fully present and your true intent is the benefit of the person you’re coaching you really can’t screw it up.” This seems in line with your other 4 points above as well. Thanks, as always, for the insight!
I love teachable moments! Although my husband says every moment does not have to be one. I’m a teacher, he works behind a computer!n😊
Excellent post. Resonates with my own experience! This part especially, “Encourage people to listen to advice, and choose their own path. When they do, commitment deepens, and the likelihood of success expands.”
Thank you for the inspirational words.
Listening is critical in empowering others. Listen with your whole heart to discover the strengths you can name and that they can leverage for growth!
“Be a Coach” continues to be great advise for leaders. Thanks for the post.
“When someone can see that they already have within them a deep well of resource and know-how, they will move forward with confidence and determination.” What a beautiful, hopeful, empowering message. Thank you!
The Coach is my favorite. I invite my friends, family and coworkers to call me when they just need to sound off. It helps when you just have someone to vent at or process things. Many times that is all it takes.
This resonated so deeply with me today. I try to empower my team to make good decisions and if something doesn’t go the exact way I might think it should, if the outcome is good, and our customers get what they needed, maybe that was my lesson to learn. When I have to provide feedback I start the message with, “I want to give you the benefit of something I’ve noticed that perhaps you haven’t. I know that you are a …….and when I noticed these things…..this is the message it conveys……..let’s talk about this”. I have come so far with my team when conversations are theirs to own instead of mine.
Yes – excited about your book! In regards to this guest post, agree that supervisors need to coach and be a sounding board vs just a director of information and solutions. Otherwise, you end up with a team of one and no one to promote.
OMG I would so love and appreciate a copy of this book please
Great name Unlocked. There is value in that word alone. Love the choice.
I prefer to go with the option of ‘Be Coach’.
The best way to encourage others to do the right things is to help them realize their potential and motivate them to work on a set goal with full zeal. The coach identifies, nurtures, and stands by during tough situations to get the best out of people. He encourages healthy competition and respects the rules of a governing body keeping the national interest in mind.
Absolutely necessary for the growth of self-leadership.
“Listen First” – challenging and often takes deliberate, thoughtful action to accomplish successfully. Caring people often just want to help the person they are listening to and will not listen thoughtfully as a result. Focusing on the other person and practicing “active” listening skills has worked well for me. Great post today! Thank you.
Listening, really listening is a quality overlooked by many but essential in professional and personal lives. Would love to read your book!
Wanting to be a great leader can interfere with becoming a great leader. I am in my first year of direct supervision and man oh man is it hard! Especially being a young female in desirable position. I am learning the importance of trusting the process, trusting myself, trusting my staff and LISTENING to understand; not to respond. I always operated on the “let’s get this done” mentality. Now I have to practice patience and realize that the people I lead may not get to results in the same fashion or same time frame as I did. One of the weirdest sensations is days where I “sit back” and do administrative duties in my office allowing my staff to go out and do the work independently; it causes me anxiety because I keep thinking “we should be doing this. we need to do that. etc.” so I am working on calming my brain, staying focused and trusting that I have provided the right tools and examples for the staff to fly. This is a totally new territory for me and I am taking it day by day. It may get messy at times but I need to remember that every mess can be cleaned up. Thanks for all of the advice and the comments themselves are pure gold to this noob of a leader. My goal is not to be a manager/supervisor… I want to be a leader!
Loved this! Just shared with a fellow female colleague! In my monthly meetings with direct reports, we discuss barriers and concerns. When they share issues they are having we talk through what solutions they have brought to the table so that they can continue to grow into leaders themselves. We share with one another best practices and tips (2-way convo) to put in place moving forward and ask them to share with others what they have learned through the process. I’ve seen our tenured employees uplift their newer colleagues to make decisions on their own.
Loved this! Just shared with a fellow female colleague! In my monthly meetings with direct reports, we discuss barriers and concerns. When they share issues they are having we talk through what solutions they have brought to the table so that they can continue to grow into leaders themselves. We share with one another best practices and tips (2-way convo) to put in place moving forward and ask them to share with others what they have learned through the process. I’ve seen our tenured employees uplift their newer colleagues to make decisions on their own.
Thank you for this information. I would love to read your book! Trusting your gut is a valuable leadership tool and I agree that it is usually right. Thank you for being so generous with your gifts. We all can grow with this type of leadership.
This post was truly worthwhile to read. I wanted to say thank you for the key points you have pointed out as they are enlightening.
Listen first.
I’ve known this for a long time, but still have not figured it out! I always want to jump straight to solutionong, even though I know it’s better to spend time getting to the core of a situation first! Also need help on this: allow the person to reach the answer by themselves.
At our school we practice the 7 Habits of Stephen Covey…..and one of the habits is First things First. Often times when there is a sense of urgency, I feel the need to jump right in and start fixing.
I love the listen first point here… sometimes it’s hard to not want to jump in with an opinion, but holding back and listening is always more important.
These are fantastic points. “Help them own the decision” resonates with me in particular, because an important part of supporting others on their leadership journey is conveying that it is THEIR leadership journey, not yours! They can learn from others while still designing their own path forward.
Teaching yourself how to listen first is a powerful skill. Teaching others how to listen to themselves, their thoughts, their body is where the tough task lays.
Women are full of intuition. Building trust in leadership within a group of women only makes them stronger.
Others are more successful when they identify a goal for themselves and receive support to achieve it, not when they are told what to do. It is critical that we listen first, ask questions, and don’t try to solve everything!