Who actually feels a part of an empowered team? The answer is very few. This is not a management fad dreamed up as a label but a reality of what you can have, if you give your teams the right tools. The participants will breakthrough barriers, becoming winning empowered teams.

The term “empowerment” has been thrown around so much in recent years that it has become another “business-speak” term that has lost its juice from overuse. Hearing the term “empowered teams” probably causes a collective rolling of eyes in an organisation’s management. The latest fad, they all agree, and get back to the business at hand.

Ignoring the concept of empowered teams is a mistake. The key to any successful company has always been, first and foremost, its employees. There is no substitute for a knowledgeable and productive work force, and teamwork is an integral part of any effective organisation. Empowered teamwork ups the ante significantly.

Creating empowered teams—people working with all the direct information, decision making power, recognition, reward, and training they need to satisfy customers and achieve business goals—can power a firm to an hitherto un-thought-of level of success.

But establishing truly empowered teams is not something easily carried out. There can be cultural and personal obstacles that create resistance both within and outside of the team. The process of building empowered teams must be sponsored at a high level in the organisation, and takes energy, commitment, and patience from all involved parties.

The business benefits that can be realised from empowered teams, though, are well worth the effort required for their successful establishment.

In this keynote, Anne McKevitt will share the characteristics of empowered teams, how to establish them in an organisation, and what results you can expect to see from them. Topics Anne will cover include:

How empowered teams differ from garden variety teams. There is a lot more to empowered teams than just getting along with each other.

Dealing with the FUD factor. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt about using empowered teams can come from anyone involved in the effort.

Elements in the empowered team equation. There are specific characteristics that must be present to have a team that is really empowered.

Where, when, and why to use empowered teams. There is a time, a place, and a good reason to form an empowered team.

Anne will illustrate the good, the bad, and the ugly of empowered teams by sharing how some of today’s companies have implemented this potentially powerful business tool.