314: The Power of Empowerment: What I Wish I Knew

Adam Toporek reveals how lack of employee empowerment creates unnecessary challenges for growing businesses and shares how you can empower your staff to deliver better experiences. Empowerment is power! When you were starting out as a business leader, what would have given you more power to succeed? What do you wish you had known then? Adam was recently asked a similar question in an interview, and it has inspired him to share some tips about employee empowerment. You see, Adam started his business in the era of “command and control,” long before employee empowerment became the buzzworthy concept it is today. But while there’s something to be said for running a tight ship, this level of control led to unnecessary friction both in the employee and customer experiences. “We’re causing bad employee AND customer experiences, and for what!?” -Adam Toporek Don’t get me wrong… Rules and processes exist for good reasons! But when customers and employees fret and squabble over trivial things for the sake of staying in compliance, businesses suffer from diminished value on both fronts. So how did Adam turn this around? Listen in to hear how Adam knew it was time for a change, and what he did to fix it. What about you? What do you wish you knew when starting out as a business leader? Adam and Jeannie would both love to hear about it.  Your input can help start some great conversations and could even be the focus of an upcoming show, so tell us now! Tweet to Adam Toporek - @adamtoporek Tweet to Jeannie Walters - @jeanniecw Email us - [email protected] Related Content 360Connext® post, Are Your Employees Engaged to Tell You the Truth? Customers That Stick® post, Why Self-Confidence Matters in Customer Service Episode 39: Does Employee Empowerment Work? Episode 233: (Tip) Beware of Organizational Conformity We're on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts  Sponsor message Give your team the customer service training they deserve Want to bring game-changing customer service training to your team? CTS Service Solutions offers a half-day in-person workshop designed to motivate and educate your customer-facing team members. Using energy, excitement, and interaction, our workshop helps frontline teams embrace a customer-centric outlook, then — using the principles from our book Be Your Customer’s Hero — gives them the skills and confidence they need to handle any service interaction. Don’t leave your frontline team hanging… Give them the training they deserve. Learn more at customerheroworkshop.com, that is customerheroworkshop.com.   Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices