Let me share a few ways to get started.

Give Responsibility with Authority

This may be the most accurate definition of empowerment – at least in the context of work. Yet I’m frequently surprised at how many managers miss this. Giving responsibility without authority is no different than dictating. That’s not to say it’s never appropriate, but employees who grow accustomed to taking orders won’t be prepared to step up in a pinch. Make it a practice to give authority, even when it means giving up some control. Constantly look for opportunities to delegate decisions regarding “how.”

Develop Their Competence

Gone are the days when the leader can be expected to provide the full extent of an employee’s training needs. In the knowledge age, employees are expected to bring certain skills and education with them. By the same token, the amount of skills employees need to remain “competent” in their role continues to expand. If you need your employees to be more capable tomorrow than they are today, you’ll need to make their ongoing development a priority (with a plan), regardless of where the development comes from.

Build the Team

In The Secret of Teams, Mark Miller describes high performance teams as those that can function without the active presence of the leader. Each team member knows his or her role, but is also keenly aware of the overarching goals of the team and closely connected with the other team members and external stakeholders. This obviously requires a lot more from both the leader and the team members. If your team can’t function without your direct involvement, you have room to grow in this area.

Build Their Confidence

Employees tend to receive more responsibility once the manager has confidence in them. This is another oversight. An employee’s self-confidence is at least as important, especially when undertaking a new challenge. Once the excitement of the new opportunity wears off, it can be quickly replaced with a sense of “conscious incompetence” – that is, an awareness of a lack of ability. The next phase is a critical period – and can be drastically influenced by positive and constructive feedback received from the manager.

Until your employees are confident in themselves, they won’t be able to make the next step.

Design the Infrastructure

“No matter how emphatically you tell me to [insert directive], it won’t magically make [insert infrastructure prerequisite] exist.”

Have you ever had to have this conversation with a superior? Ever been the guilty boss? True, employees can all be lazy or uncreative at times (that is to say, we’re all human). But issuing orders without understanding the infrastructure requirements is just as lazy. Empowering others means removing the barriers to their success, not ignoring them.

Empowering your employees requires a high degree of effort. Moreover, it won’t always turn out the way you hope. But no matter how proactive your employees are, they can’t completely empower themselves. Do yourself a favor as a manager of people. Go the extra mile. You’ll be the primary beneficiary.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

It’s hard enough to want to delegate in the first place. Many leaders lack trust, are insecure or are control freaks. But once you get past those barriers, what happens when your followers can’t pull their weight? Let’s talk about a few ways managers can guide their projects so that everyone can contribute.

Your Team’s Performance is Your Responsibility

This should go without saying, yet it needs to be said. If you are the leader, you are responsible for the total collective performance of every person on your team. Most people understand this intuitively. A manager can’t explain to his executives, customers or clients that he couldn’t get the job done because one of his staff couldn’t pull their weight. But unfortunately it’s a major reason many great workers avoid management responsibilities. No one wants to manage a poor team and no one wants to be responsible for multiple jobs all of the time. So what can you do?

Not All Employees are the Same

We also know this is true, but our sense of fairness compels us to treat all our employees the same. That’s often the problem right there. Some employees are high performers and some aren’t. Some are highly experienced and some are new. Some work best while collaborating and some work best alone. Some will get all their work done ahead of time and some wait till the last minute. Of course it’s possible and sometimes necessary to remove under-performers through HR processes. But many times this isn’t the real need and doesn’t solve the problem. First, take the time to diagnose where your employees are on the performance scale. Work with them to create individual development plans for growth. Understand their career goals. Give as much responsibility as they can handle, with the stated goal of giving more in the future. Get to know their learning and working styles. None of these should excuse poor performance – and you’ll both be better for understanding.

Cast the Vision

When you launch a new project, don’t start by communicating the nitty-gritty details. Start with the bottom line up front (BLUF). At the end of the project, what will be accomplished? Explain the difference the project will make in the grander scheme of things. Communicate why it’s crucial for everyone to work as a team and address the benefit to them (WIIFM = what’s in it for me?).

Set Performance Expectations Upfront

Next, for each team member, explain his or her role on the project and the tasks that go with the role. Be as explicit as you can be about the responsibility and as detailed as you need to be about the tasks. For inexperienced employees, this could mean explaining the implied tasks until they reach the next stage of competence.

Make a Project Plan

A project plan is basically a document that breaks down all of the tasks and milestones of a project, their due dates and who will be responsible for each one. I like to use Microsoft® Project or Excel. It sounds complicated, but it’s really not. Think of it as creating an outline before writing an article. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it will most likely change (multiple times). But a project plan allows all parties to be on the same page at all times. Even more, it establishes an added level of responsibility and accountability. It’s up to me to follow through on all the project plan items assigned to my name. In project meetings, it’s up to me to provide updates on my items like percentage completed, red flags, additional information needed, etc. By the way, don’t just assign completion dates on your project plans. Assign first draft dates, review dates, dates to incorporate feedback, test/pilot dates and final dates – all as needed.

Set Leadership Expectations Upfront

Finally, how will you support the team? This should be addressed beforehand as well. If you manage the project plan, make sure everyone knows when their updates are due. (Management challenge: delegate the project plan responsibilities). Schedule review meetings with each individual (if possible) so all parties will have the opportunity to address questions and concerns before there’s an issue. And clarify what you want the employees to do when they need help (hint: they don’t always have to come to you first).

Project management can be exhilarating and exhausting, rewarding and trying. Most of us have been on projects we loved and ones we hated. Usually, the difference was leadership.

What else would you add on how to tactically execute a project effectively?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.