“You can only get what you want, if you help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar
One way to help other people is to empower them because by empowering
them you could literally change their lives for the better.
Empower means “to give somebody power or authority” and also “to give somebody a sense of confidence or self-esteem”.
People always feel motivated and inspired when they feel empowered.
And when they feel motivated and inspired by you, they’d be more than
happy to help you achieve whatever you want.
Once you’ve mastered this ability to get people to help you
voluntarily, it will make you a more powerful, effective and successful
person.
I have listed some of the methods which you can adopt to empower other people.
1. Show More Appreciation
To empower someone, you have to make the person feel good about
himself/herself. And the simplest way to achieve that is to express your
appreciation for everything that person does for you, large or small.
Every one of us has a deep desire to feel appreciated and a sense of
self-worth. If you could satisfy this craving of any individual, he/she
would go to great lengths for you.
The most direct and also the simplest way to show your appreciation is simply to say – sincerely and honestly – “Thank you.”
So often in life, we have taken things for granted – especially
towards those who are close to us – that we fail to say those two simple
little, yet powerful words for the things that they have done for us.
Instead, we often complain about the things they’ve not done for us.
It is time for us to start looking more deeply into the good of other
people and tell them, “Thank you. I really appreciate that.”
By doing so, you’ll be helping yourself garner the greatest support from people to help you get to where you want.
2. Show Your Genuine Interest in Other People
2. Show Your Genuine Interest in Other People
Why do you think most people love dogs? Simple. Because dogs are born to be genuinely interested in people.
They’re always happy to be around you. They’d wag their tails, lick
you, and jump around you to show you just how excited they are to have
you here.
This showing of genuine interest in people is something we have to
seriously learn from dogs. Yes, you heard me right. Learn this from
dogs.
Everybody loves some attention, even though they may not seek
attention openly or publicly. This is because attention shows us that
somebody actually care about us. It shows us that our existence is not
being ignored and neglected. It proves that we’re worth being taken
notice of.
A genuine show of interest can do wonders in nourishing a person’s
sense of self-worth. So, if you want to empower other people and help
yourself at the same time, show your genuine interest in other people.
3. Show The Other Person He or She is Important
To blossom a person’s sense of self-worth to the ultimate, we have to always seek to make the other person feel important.
Sincere appreciation and recognition are the keys to making someone
feel important. Take note that the keyword here is sincere because
nobody wants to listen to cheap and insincere flattery. Insincerity will
only backfire.
The first step to making a person feel important is to STOP TAKING HIM OR HER FOR GRANTED. And show deep appreciation.
If you want to make your team members feel important, you can try something like this:
“Ally, thank you for the great job done. Without your help, the
project wouldn’t have been such a great success. You’ve proved to be a
very important and worthy team player. And I hope you’d continue to
offer this great support to help us move forward together.”
Or if you want to make your kids feel important, try this:
“John, thank you for being such a wonderful son. You’ve been the best
gift to mum and dad. We’ve always been very grateful to having you in
the family. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
And remember, when showing appreciation; always start with a simple “Thank you.”
4. Show Respect
Ego is a fundamental element of the human nature that, which if upset, can cause a major emotional upheaval.
Ego, in other words, means your self-concept. It is made up of two components, namely your self-esteem and your self-image.
Human beings will always strive to raise their level of self-esteem
and self-image, or seek to protect them from being impaired by other
people and circumstances.
Whenever you need to point out somebody’s fault, remember to show
respect to his/her pride by doing it in a discreet manner so that he/she
will not feel embarrassed.
By allowing their ego to remain intact, you’re in essence giving them
a chance to remain empowered. One rule you need to adhere to in order
to empower someone is to first not do anything to dis-empower him/her.
If you find someone that you could look up to, you can always go up
to the person to tell him/her how much you respect what he/she has
achieved or handled a dire situation or overcome an adversity.
Nevertheless, do remember the key to empowering a person is to be sincere and honest with your words and actions.
5. Give Encouragement Instead of Criticism
5. Give Encouragement Instead of Criticism
Now this is a common one. Whenever your kid, your spouse, or your
employee makes a blunder or slip up in their responsibilities, how would
you react?
You’d probably fly into a rage and make all sorts of crude remarks.
No? Ok, maybe you’re more refined and well mannered that all you’d do is
reproach them for committing the mistakes.
However, in spite of the placidness of the criticism, it is still not an empowering approach.
Perhaps you could try an approach like this one:
“Honestly Lesha, I’m disappointed that we didn’t manage to clinch the
deal this time round. However, I do believe you’re a bright young lady,
and I’m very confident that you have what it takes to clinch us the
next deal. You would do whatever it takes to secure it for us, right?
Correct me if I’m wrong.”
Now, that wouldn’t sound harsh, would it?
Every one of us has the magic power of empowering other people simply
by generously giving praise and showing encouragement to help them
realise their underlying potential.
“Abilities wither under criticism; they blossom under encouragement.” – Dale Carnegie
Now that you’ve learnt how to empower other people, so when and where
should you apply each one of them? The answer is: all the time,
everywhere.
Have you got any other suggestions on how we can empower other people? Please share them in the comments section below.
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