My thanks to Professor Bruce Lloyd, London South Bank University, for a great meeting last week. It was such a lovely day in London, warm and sunny. As I walked beside the Royal Festival Hall basked in the warm sun, I felt a feeling of creativity inside. What would it be, I thought? Another book or an idea of a workshop, a seminar or a conference? 

We had a ‘think tank’ informal get together. The topic of our conversation was how to help Leaders in organisations create a culture of Employee Empowerment and what would be the best way to give some valuable insights to Leaders to enable them to bring out the potential of people in their organisations, particularly to front-line employees?

I asked Professor Lloyd what would be the best way to reach out to Leaders and share knowledge with regards to the subject of Leadership and Employee Empowerment. My PhD research was on Employee Empowerment, based on the framework of EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management). During my case studies, I had some deep conversations and interviews with people in management and non-management positions. Valuable insights were candidly shared and out of that emerged a ‘powerful’ tool that I created as a ‘Framework for Implementing Employee Empowerment’. 

Professor Lloyd highlighted the importance of sharing this knowledge with Leaders. He put forward an excellent idea, an interesting way to share my knowledge – through conversations and dialogue. I liked the idea of having a conversation or a dialogue with Leaders who understand and respect the value of empowering employees; Leaders who are passionate and willing to ‘Empower Inspire and Lead’ https://rozanahuq.com/

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a conversation is ‘a talk between two or more people in which thoughts, feelings, and ideas are expressed, questions are asked and answered, or news and information are exchanged’. I like this description and meaning of a ‘conversation’. 

I think Professor Lloyd understood the philosophy of my thinking. He was in the same wavelength. This is what I would like to do, open up a conversation about employee empowerment with Leaders, HR Managers, CEOs and Business owners who understand the importance of empowering employees, who recognise the need to give employees tools so that they can make better decisions, be innovative and creative. By empowering employees, Leaders, CEOs and Business owners can deliver the message that they ‘value’ people and want to make employees feel ‘valued’ at work.    

Another bit I like about ‘what is a conversation’ is this ‘….a talk between two or more people in which thoughts, feelings, and ideas are expressed, ….’. This area of ‘feelings’ is not often talked about in organisations or given much importance. One of the reasons being that Leaders or HR Managers are not taught soft skills. I think this is essential, as the findings of my research revealed that employees do want to talk about their ‘feelings’. Prolonged suppression of ‘feelings’ which are ignored lead to job burnout, stress, depression – ending in absenteeism and a huge cost to businesses and organisations! https://rozanahuq.com/stress-management/

This led me to write a chapter in my book, chapter six, ‘Psychological Empowerment’. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317018735

 Professor Lloyd pointed out that a ‘conversation’ would be a good way to share my knowledge, because Leaders, HR Managers, CEOs and Business owners are also looking for a dialogue and a conversation with someone who has the knowledge about Employee Empowerment, to discuss their concerns, perhaps even fears, how to go about implementing employee empowerment, how to bring managers and employees on board? They would like a platform to discuss these things.

We then did a ‘brainstorming’ this would be a brilliant way to share knowledge, to start ‘a conversation’ with Leaders, HR Managers, CEOs and Business owners. After all, conversations and dialogues are not a new thing, goes back to Plato and Aristotle’s times.  

As we continued our conversation it felt ‘meaningful’ to follow this great man’s advice, as the Professor emphasised how necessary it is to empower front-line employees and give them tools to be able to provide a ‘delightful’ customer experience, one that is solution-based for customers, making businesses and organisations effective and efficient.

Professor Lloyd reminded me of the review he wrote about my book and how important it is for Leaders to manage the relationship ‘between Empowerment and Leadership’. Despite his busy schedule, he read my book, chapter by chapter.

‘Understanding and effectively managing, the relationship between Empowerment and Leadership is one of the central issues of our time. Dr Huq’s research and analysis not only makes an important scholarly contribution to the theory of the subject but, in her well-presented and readable book, she makes invaluable suggestions on the critical area of the practice of employee behaviours within Dr Huq’s insightful ‘Framework for Implementing Employee Empowerment Model’.

By the end of our conversation, I realised what that ‘creativity feeling’ inside was all about? I think Professor Lloyd’s idea is doable. Just hold simple conversations with people who are excited, passionate and are earnestly looking for an opportunity for ‘a conversation’ with regards to this topic of ‘Leadership and Employee Empowerment’. I am excited about it!

I am hoping to start my first ‘a conversation with’ very soon. 

If you have any suggestions to help me while I am planning it or if are interested to have ‘a conversation’ please send an email rozanahuq@gmail.com

Providing Solutions to Leaders in Organisations by Empowering Employees.

www.rozanahuq.com

Ends

Thank you for reading, until the next Huq Post ….

https://rozanahuq.com/dr-huq-posts/

 #HR #Managers #Leaders #Empowerment #business #SMEs #softskills #knowledgesharing #EFQM #Brussels #TQM

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