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Last week we talked about authorizing employees. That is when you let everyone in your organization know that they have been authorized to act on your behalf. So how does this differ from empowerment? Empowerment has more to do with allowing individuals to make decisions without checking back with you. The best way to create empowerment is...

One of the most common frustrations I encounter when coaching employees at almost any level is their inability to act and execute ideas without first getting authorization from their leader. This is a colossal waste of time and prevents your people from growing and developing their own leadership skill set. You are also hindering their self-confidence and their promotability.

My wife and I have recently been watching reruns of the TV show “Scrubs.” It’s about doctors who work in a teaching hospital. In this particular episode, a young doctor is now put in the position to train interns. Naturally, the intern he’s responsible for training is very inexperienced and makes frequent mistakes. Not too long after the training begins, the doctor gets very frustrated with his intern and vents his frustrations on the neophyte.

In the next scene, he learns that his intern quit. When the head nurse approaches the doctor, the doctor’s response was...