Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

There is a lot of stuff floating around these days concerning the idea that when it comes to the vision of a business and where it should go, managers or executives should center on getting their employees involved in participating, rather than creating a great plan that will bring the business to greater heights. Some well-known periodicals that hire students right out of college to write with absulutely no business experience, are usually the ones that harp on these things.

Now you have to understand what I mean here. I am all for the empowerment of employees and understand the importance of them participating. But these writers have got things backwards. The key for executives and leaders is to develop a compelling vision that the employees not only buy into, but fight to get involved in.

When you hear about great companies to work for, it is the ones that have great vision and principles that employees respect, and as a result are motivated from that to participate. To participate is no vision for a company; a great purpose is though.

It is from there that employees care and will give feedback as to the way things can get done better or more efficiently. The vision is what does the motivating, not just the fact that they can give input. Giving input into a poor idea isn't much to motivate employees as poor companies have revealed time and time again.

We must learn to get the priorities in order. A great vision and purpose goes before the empowering of employees, as the vision and purpose is part of the empowering process, not the other way around.

Isn't that one of the motivators of being a business owner or manager; to work for something you believe in and don't mind giving yourself to day after day because you love what you do?

Keep these thoughts in mind when thinking of employee empowerment and participation: They will respond to a great idea and vision that they believe in; that more than anything else will bring about participation that is valuable.