Companies that grow the fastest are oftentimes the ones that train and empower their staff to make decisions. However, you want to make sure employees have the knowledge to make the right decisions and can make them quickly. These are three ways you can prepare your team to rise to the occasion and take the lead:
Give staff your confidence
Employees need to know you believe in them. Not every decision they make will be the right one, especially in the beginning. They need to know they can make mistakes without the floor falling out from under them. When mistakes happen, discuss them openly with the entire team so they can learn from each other.
Include staff on big projects
Let them shadow meetings for big projects. Ask for their opinions. Put them in charge of smaller tasks to get their feet wet. This will help them become comfortable in their role and give them the confidence to speak up and make decisions. Once an employee has had a high level of training and really understands the business, give them a bigger role in future projects.
Role-play
This is one of the best ways to help employees develop their decision-making skills. Run through what a meeting or phone call with a client or customer could look like. Go over a presentation before it has to be given at a meeting. Have them play both sides of the conversation so they become comfortable anticipating what will be said and how they should react.
