Enable Others to Act
In our leadership course we use the book The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership by Kouzes and Pōsner. It is the simplest checklist for evaluating your leadership performance as I have found. One of the five practices is called “Enable Others to Act.”
Enabling others to act means fostering collaboration and building spirited teams. Actively involving others while understanding that mutual respect sustains extraordinary effort. You can exhibit this leadership practice by:
Fostering cooperative relationships
Actively listening to diverse viewpoints
Treating others with respect
Supporting decisions other people make
Providing leadership opportunities for others
Giving others freedom and choice
Leaders know that they can’t do it alone. Creating a strong team is the key to success. Leaders use the word “we” rather than “I” when talking about the work of the team. They create new leaders by enabling others to act by fostering collaboration and giving the members of the team room to grow and develop.
