Leadership Institute

Personal Empowerment: Taking Initiative

Learning Format: Classroom, Web-Based

Order No. WD14

If people see empowerment as something that is given to them, they will miss out on opportunities to take responsibility for action, or to take initiative to solve problems, improve processes, and give your company a competitive edge.

This course seeks to change the mind-set that empowerment is something that is given. It helps employees see that they can and should look for improvement opportunities.

Do You Face Any of These Issues?

  • Do people in your organization hesitate to suggest ways to improve work processes or to take prompt action when issues surface?
  • Do people who aren’t the “leader” call a meeting to discuss a potential problem?

Performance Objectives

Helps associates:

  • Make their jobs more interesting, motivating, and rewarding.
  • Become more valuable to the organization.
  • Help their group or organization be more effective and successful.
  • Take responsibility for their own success in multiple aspects of work life.

Primary Competency Developed

  • Initiating Action

Secondary Competency Developed

  • Work Standards

Course Overview

  • Opening and Tower Power: A simulation helps participants see how different types of leadership and their own approach to work affect job performance and satisfaction.
  • What’s Holding Us Back?: A video and activity help learners identify barriers to taking initiative, including the pitfalls of a “powerless victim” mentality. They identify their approaches to personal empowerment on three empowerment continuums.
  • Personal Empowerment Actions: Participants compare two different approaches to a work challenge, learning that taking responsibility for success brings results and greater job satisfaction. They complete an activity on the six personal empowerment actions and take a self-assessment to identify actions used successfully and ones they could use more often.
  • Application: Learners practice applying empowerment actions in a video activity, complete an action plan to improve their effectiveness, and watch a testimonial video.

Video Segment Summaries

  • An employee and leader each wait for the other to give approval or take initiative. This highlights a common barrier to taking initiative—people seeing it as someone else’s responsibility.
  • A two-part segment shows team members failing to take responsibility for meeting a customer need and then approaching the same situation using personal empowerment actions.
  • Opportunities to use the personal empowerment actions are shown.
  • Employees from various DDI client organizations offer testimonials on the value of personal empowerment.

Course Details

  • Target audience: All employees through frontline leaders.
  • Course length: 4 hours, or 2 hours, 5 minutes Fast Track.
  • Facilitator certification: DDI certification not required.
  • Prerequisites: None.
  • Series: Suitable for all environments.
  • Group size: 10 to 20 people.
  • Prework: No.

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