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Companies can make more money when they empower employees to make decisions that create over-happy customers, says John Tschohl, president of Service Quality Institute.
"Employee empowerment is defined as allowing employees to make fast decisions - on the spot - in favor of the customer. Empowerment is the single most difficult skill to get employees to utilize. That's a problem for businesses and government because if you don't have empowered employees, you will never be a service leader," says Tschohl, who is the author of Empowerment: A Way of Life.
"It is critically important for businesses to give employees the power to make decisions on the spot because one policy can't cover everything. There are too many weird things that happen every day. The best news is that most decisions will cost the company less than $50, which is a pittance when you consider the lifetime value of the customer and the good will that empowered decisions can make," says Tschohl.
"But employees are afraid to make empowered decisions on their own - regardless if the company actively supports empowerment," says Tschohl. There are three key reasons employees don't take initiative to solve problems:
Companies need to adopt an employee empowerment plan.
"If employees knew their jobs were to create happy customers, the company will grow faster. By empowering employees, you can build market share and market dominance. You will have over-happy customers. And you will make more money," he says.