To be a “good” manager it’s understood that you are responsible for motivating your employees, for guiding them through rough patches, for being there when they need you. This is great until your good intentions create too much dependence and not enough resourcefulness from your employees.

You yearn for the magic formula to create more initiative and motivation in your employees. Ultimately the real deal is this: “The first and most important person to empower, is yourself.“

As a manager you have grown up in a culture that has encouraged you to see management of people in a certain way.

You may be overdoing it with the help. This doesn’t allow your employees to grow. You might feel like you are letting them down if you don’t “help” so much, but at the same time it also implies to them that you don’t trust their abilities and potential.

So many managers come to me wanting to change their employees, when it really is about a mindset shift on the manager’s part. Deep down you know all you can change is yourself.

And really, your employees can only be as empowered as you allow yourself to be.

You *can* create an environment where everyone is more confident in their own abilities, your employees want to do more, for the organization and themselves, and you enjoy your job because you yourself are a truly “empowered” manager.

Over time your desire to motivate your employees can result in you spending a lot of time garnering buy-in when the employee isn’t having it. Your commitment to “be there” for them can end up with you spending nights and weekends making up your own work. Your good intentions can lead to painful outcomes.

Transitioning from being a good manager of people to being an empowered manager of people is not an all-or-nothing endeavor. You don’t have to feel like you are leaving them in a lurch when you change your behaviors around how you support them.

A moment arrives when it’s obvious a new response is needed, and your old behavior would be so comfortable to fall back into.

It’s one thing to know what behaviors support being an empowered manager. It’s another thing to begin truly master this mindset so that new behaviors feel like second nature. You want to feel like you have more choices versus continually feeling stuck in the middle.

You begin to feel the power of making decisions that are more grounded in what’s best for the organization, your employees, and you.

Your reshaping of your manager perspective will ultimately allow them to challenge themselves to be more resourceful, to answer their own questions, and get their job done.

You will go to work each day knowing you can handle whatever comes your way, particularly when it comes to motivating and empowering your own employees. And soon you will notice that you’ve created an environment that allows everyone to be human, learn, grow and contribute.

For more information on coaching and training programs or consulting engagements for yourself or your employees, just contact Mary Schaefer via empoweredmanagers.com.