Driving Company Performance

6. Unleash empowerment. There's no point in encouraging your managers' creativity unless they can express their ideas. Those closest to the problem often have the answers, while those in the office aren't even aware of the opportunity. The best companies take care of their customers better than their competitors do. This is accomplished by encouraging their employees to seek out customer problems and solve them - and to do so without gaining permission from higher authority. Help your managers drive empowerment throughout the company.

The highest calling for a leader is teaching their managers to lead because their performance is the ultimate point of leverage for all corporate performance. Use the six keys yourself and help your managers use them to drive company performance.

Linda Hanson, CMC, is a certified management consultant and author of 10 Steps to Marketing Success. She writes, speaks and consults on marketing, management and customer service issues and can be contacted at www.llhenterprises.com. Sign up for her free newsletter The Superior Performance Report.