Employee power in the workplace

Imagine the potential of a workplace where employees are more confident to make decisions; a place where they are more accountable, more satisfied and where problems are resolved much faster. It might seem like a corporate pipe-dream, but these outcomes are just some of the benefits of a successful workforce empowerment model.

Is it a coincidence some of the world’s largest brands, such as Disney and Google, are also among the biggest practitioners of workplace empowerment?

While the idea of employee empowerment is considered a current trend, the concept is not new. And these days many businesses realise that its staff is their company’s biggest asset. Having the right people in the right seats is priceless. After all, a business is only as good as the people running the day-to-day.

What’s more, front-line staff are the only ones who truly understand how most company processes work. Working closely with customers, for example, gives these employees unique insight into how the company operates in a real-world situation. They’re often well-placed to benefit business decisions.

So what do unempowered workplaces look like?

High staff turnovers, low morale and unhealthy levels of stress can all stem from a lack of empowerment. If employees aren’t trusted to deliver their responsibilities without the need for micromanagement, or conversely are tasked with delivering beyond their capabilities, they can begin to feel dissatisfied and disengaged.

A 2019 study by CENSUSWIDE revealed that more than a third of employees interviewed felt undervalued and would not recommend their current employer to friends. If those employees had felt more empowered in their workplace, would this number be so high?

Often the usual command and control style of management sees an employee waiting to be given empowerment by a manager.

But proper empowerment means an employee is self-directed and has control of the areas of responsibility for their job role. They’re trusted, they understand the business goals and they have the tools to deliver successfully. This devolution of power makes employees more accountable for their work and workloads, ensures problems are resolved faster, and for both managers and employees, time is freed up.

Saving time means increased output, which could equal a positive impact on the business’s bottom line.

Embracing empowerment – how to deliver a happy staff

True empowerment comes from the individual’s ability to exercise authority within their job role… but only if management gives them this opportunity. This can only come about through significant change, which needs to happen at three levels – the organisational, managerial and individual.

At organisational level

The vision and purpose of the company must be communicated. If managers and individuals don’t understand where the company is going, they will never truly know what they’re working towards. Managers and individuals should also be consulted during the decision-making that affects the way they work. If sweeping changes are made and they were never consulted – how can they ever feel empowered?

At managerial level

Important company information needs to be shared with individuals, autonomy within roles needs to be created, and managers must be prepared to listen, digest what is happening and decide on the next steps. What are the recurring problems? What would help the team be more productive? Working together, determine the tools, resources and processes they have and need in place to overcome the barriers they’re facing.  

At individual level

The employee needs to feel they have the ability to exercise authority within their job role. They need tools in place to deliver their job effectively. Whether that means having a team around them, software that automates part of their job or KPIs to work towards, tools can take many forms.

Why managers have the biggest role to play

When you’re the one that has the day-to-day responsibility of ensuring teams deliver, it falls to you to give them what they need.

And because empowerment isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, each distinct role is going to require something different. Speaking to your employees is always the best place to start, but there are some things you can do right now to start making a difference… 

Loosen the boundaries

Trust is an important thing. Trust your staff and, little by little, they will grow in skill and confidence. Find what someone does best and let them do it their way. Your success depends on it.

Listen, listen, listen

In some cases, many grassroots staff have more knowledge of day-to-day processes than senior executives. That’s not to say they will have all the skills to solve the problems they bring to you, but they will understand what and why they’re being slowed down

It’s also important to remember that listening also means checking with employees that they’re comfortable with any extra responsibility. If what you’re asking of them doesn’t align with their personal goals, the result could be negative…

Give positive feedback

Everyone likes being told when they’ve done well. And a job well done needs praise. A job done not so well needs constructive feedback too, but remember to allow for mistakes that aren’t crucial. Learn from them. Put things in place to stop them from happening again.

Time and space

Give employees time to experiment and time to learn.

Micromanagement, the polar opposite of workplace empowerment, is nearly always received negatively, even if it’s practised unintentionally. The outcomes for staff working under a manager with this trait are feelings of demotivation, being stifled and a general focus on the wrong priorities. Another perhaps overlooked element of a micromanager is the toll it can take on the health of the manager themselves. Space to breathe is a win-win for all.

Employee empowerment works, so why aren’t we all doing it?

In the fast-moving world of business, the need for quick decisions and actions can easily get in the way of creating an empowered environment for employees, even when managers believe it’s the right thing to do.

It’s not instant, and it may not feel tangible at first. But over time when teams feel empowered, employee output is increased, they feel happier, and morale rises.

If implemented correctly, managers will see increased confidence to complete tasks over time. Any problems will be addressed and likely rectified a lot sooner, allowing projects to move forward at pace. Furthermore, if employees are enabled to solve their own problems, it will allow managers more time for high-level business areas such as strategic thinking.

But even better for an organisation is that a fully empowered staff is more likely to attract the right kind of employee in the first place. Empowered employees radiate competence and happiness, and that’s a fantastic message to send out to new recruits.

Many businesses today recognise the potential of workplace empowerment and its effect on staff motivation, happiness and corporate profits. But to truly be successful, empowerment must be embraced company-wide – at the organisation, manager and individual level. Sometimes we need to work together now in order to achieve more autonomy in the future. There’s definitely no ‘I’ in team, but there sure is power in empowerment.

You’ll learn:

• When employees have freedom, they flourish.
• Find out how to give them room to grow and see what they can achieve.

By Indeed Editorial Team

Published April 5, 2021

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed's data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Power is a tool that leaders can use to influence, engage and motivate others in the workplace. Understanding the different forms of power can help you learn to use your power as a positive force in the workplace. In this article, we define the six types of power, list reasons to use power in a professional setting and describe how to use power to benefit everyone in the workplace.

Related: A Guide To Power Motivation

What are the six types of power?

In a 1959 study, social psychologists John French and Bertram Raven defined five types of power present in social situations. Raven identified the sixth, informational, in 1965. Below is a list of descriptions and examples of each of the six types of social power:

1. Reward

Reward power is the ability to reward others when they follow your wishes or instructions. For example, a manager may be able to reward raises, promotions, bonuses or even simple compliments to sales employees who meet their quotas. These rewards can increase employees' incentive to perform.

Control may limit reward power in the workplace. For example, if a manager doesn't have room in the budget for raises or bonuses, this can weaken reward power. Quantity of rewards is another element that can limit reward power. If a manager distributes all the available awards and incentives, this can also weaken their power.

2. Expert

A person derives expert power from their expertise in a particular subject. For example, the sole web developer for a marketing firm can use their expertise in web development to influence others toward better workflows. Expert power gives people the ability to understand situations and suggest solutions to problems based on their knowledge. In turn, expert power can help you earn respect from others in the workplace when you use decisiveness and confidence in your expertise to suggest solutions to workplace issues.

Related: 15 Tips for Influencing Others as a Leader

3. Legitimate

Legitimate power comes from a role a person plays. In the workplace, a supervisor may possess legitimate power due to the authority of their position. Other examples of titles with legitimate power are a police chief, president or CFO.

A loss of title could weaken legitimate power, for example, if a CEO fires the supervisor. Another weakness of legitimate power lies in its scope. For example, a supervisor for a public relations company can monitor KPIs and use their power to incentivize employees to meet these metrics. However, the supervisor may not be able to use their influence to promote changes in employees' personal lives because legitimate power only gives the supervisor control over employees when they're in the office.

4. Coercive

Coercive power is the ability to deliver consequences if a person doesn't follow your wishes. While coercive power can often have negative effects, you can also use it for positive gains. For example, a supervisor may use coercive power to encourage employees to show up for their shifts by communicating that employees will lose their jobs if they don't have a legitimate reason for missing work. This can ensure employees call in when they're sick and prevents staffing issues for the supervisor.

The weakness of coercive power is its ability to act as a bullying tactic and contribute to a negative workplace culture. If employees are working hard out of fear of punishment instead of a more positive reason, like a possibility of a reward, this can increase turnover and lead to a decrease in employee satisfaction.

5. Referent

Referent power is the ability to influence others through your personality or attractiveness. People who lead by example or act as a role model use referent power to help others change their habits or reach their goals, for example.

While referent power can be a positive influence on others, it also comes with responsibility. Being well-liked, for example, doesn't mean a person is necessarily reliable. People who choose to lead with referent power can focus on improving and maintaining their integrity to ensure they don't abuse their influence.

Related: How To Use Referent Power

6. Informational

Informational power is the ability to withhold or divulge powerful information. This type of power differs from the other five types in that the content of the situation is the direct source of power. Once you divulge private information, for example, the power is gone.

For example, if the office manager at a sales office was present for a conference call in which the company's corporate headquarters announced downsizing for the office, the office manager would have informational power, as they have information that's valuable to the rest of the sales staff. If the office manager tells the sales staff about the downsizing, they give away their informational power.

Why use power in the workplace?

Here are a few positive reasons to use your power in professional settings:

• Employee productivity: You can use your power to promote productivity in the workplace. For example, a production supervisor may use coercive and legitimate power to motivate their team to meet production goals.

• Workplace culture: Another use for power is to promote a positive workplace culture. For example, referent power and reward power can promote a positive atmosphere through employee satisfaction.

• Quality of work: An employee with expert power can help improve or maintain the quality of a company's products or services.

• Compliance: Many workplaces must follow safety laws in order to operate. A boss may use coercive and legitimate power to ensure employees follow these safety laws. This protects the business and its employees from potential harm.

Related: 10 Types of Power in Leadership

How to use power in a positive manner

Here are steps you can take to apply power positively in the workplace:

1. Evaluate your situation

The first step to using power positively in a professional atmosphere is to evaluate the following aspects of your current situation at work:

• Type of power: You can evaluate each of the six types of power and learn which types of power you have in the workplace. For example, a manager in the workplace may have all six types of power, while an employee may only have referent power.

• Amount of power: Another element to evaluate is the amount of power you possess in the workplace. For example, if you're a manager, you may have legitimate power to a greater degree than the other five types of power.

2. Understand the limits of your power

Now that you know the type and amount of power you have, the next step to using power effectively at work is to understand its limits. Gaining an understanding of the limits of your power can help you use your influence to the greatest degree. You can create a list of each type of power you possess and describe elements or outcomes that would limit your power.

For example, if a senior employee for a sales company possesses expert and referent power, but they have no legitimate power, this can limit their overall power in the workplace.

Related: Guide to Self-Leadership

3. Set a goal

The next step to using power positively in the workplace is to set a goal to achieve with your influence. For example, if the sales company's manager emphasizes increasing sales volume over the next quarter during a weekly meeting, the senior sales employee could set a goal to use their referent and expert power to encourage the rest of the sales team toward meeting this goal.

4. Identify strategies

Once you've identified a goal, you can plan a set of strategies for using your power to achieve your goals. This step can help you prevent introducing negativity into the process by ensuring each of your strategies for influence are positive. Below are examples of strategies the senior sales employee can use to influence others on the sales team to increase sales volume:

• Share knowledge: One powerful tool for leaders who possess both referent and expert power is sharing their knowledge. For example, if the sales team already respects the senior sales employee's opinion, the team is more likely to take the senior sales employee's advice on increasing sales volume.

• Lead by example: Another strategy to use with referent and expert power is leading by example. The senior sales employee can show the sales team how the employee structures their pitch to promote increasing sales volume to influence the rest of the team to do the same.

• Neutralize negativity: Referent leaders can use their influence to neutralize negativity in the workplace. For example, if the senior sales employee hears another person on the team talking about how increasing the sales volume feels impossible, the senior employee could step in and neutralize the negativity by encouraging or coaching the team member. This can help promote a more positive office culture.

5. Evaluate outcomes

Lastly, you can analyze the outcomes of the ways you used your power in the workplace. If you achieved your goals, you could evaluate how your influence caused this result. Or, if your efforts were unsuccessful, you could analyze how you could perform differently in the future. Evaluating the outcomes of using your power can help you ensure you continue to use workplace power as a positive force. It can also help you continue to improve your own habits in the workplace to prevent abusing your power in the future. By following this process, you can continue to grow as a leader to positively influence others in the workplace.