Last week, I received an email titled, “Can we talk real quick?” from a former client I hadn’t spoken with in years. They needed help with team empowerment strategies to re-engage their workforce and improve efficiency. We scheduled a video call, and as we connected, I greeted them warmly: “Wonderful to see your name come across my desk. How’s business?”
Why Team Empowerment Strategies Matter
A quick backstory: The COO, CMO, and business owner were all on the call. Since launching their business in 2008, they expanded their team to nine and exceeded their “dare to dream” goal in 2010 with our weekly accountability support. By 2013, they stopped using our services while cutting costs to open their third office.
During the call, they spoke over each other, much like in our early days of working together. As they reflected on the last four years, I simply listened and took notes.
By minute four of their 16-minute “quick update,” the problem was obvious—and unfortunately, it’s common. When you “get it,” it’s fascinating how quickly you can “forget it.”
They contacted me because their team lacked empowerment. Employees “don’t care anymore.” They had become “sloppy” and “inefficient.”
Suddenly, they all stopped talking at once. Silence filled the call, except for the COO, who exhaled heavily like a triathlete finishing a marathon.
Signs You Need Team Empowerment Strategies
I summarized what I heard: “Business was great, but you were so busy that you stopped focusing on the systems that made it successful. It worked so well, you stopped.”
What Did They Stop?
- Weekly stakeholder meetings for the entire company
- Department meetings with KPIs to measure progress
- 60-day company strategy sessions, the last one held in December 2014
- Quarterly employee reviews, which hadn’t been conducted in 18 months
- Structured team empowerment strategies, where leaders develop leaders
- The 90-day empowerment training for new hires led to high turnover
- Weekly team huddles, which had been discontinued
- A business coach on a monthly retainer, mistakenly assuming they no longer needed accountability
How Accountability Supports Team Empowerment Strategies
I added, “Am I hearing this right? The good news is you don’t have a team empowerment strategies problem. You don’t need to fire your team and start over. You already have the right tools and people—the only thing missing is accountability.”
The solution? Our Team Empowerment Academy—a structured system designed to provide businesses with the accountability and leadership guidance they need to maintain team engagement and efficiency.
Visit our blog or email us to learn how our program can help you build a strong, engaged, and high-performing team.
