Helping Your Employees Make Wise Choices

Cathie Leimbach • June 1, 2021

Creating a culture that empowers employees to make good decisions will help their professional development, increase employee engagement, and enable your organization to reach its objectives more efficiently. 

 

Helping your employees to make wiser choices requires providing them the tools they need to make high-quality decisions and the right level of guidance and coaching.  Unfortunately, it can seem time-consuming and much easier to either do it yourself or tell your team what actions they should take.  However, since the research shows that companies that empower their employees with coaching and tools have teams that are nearly four times more likely to make a good decision and outperform industry peers financially, it is well worth the effort involved.

 

Employee decision-making is enhanced when there is a clear understanding of the company's vision, values, and priorities.  Ensure that each of your employees knows how their role and responsibilities contribute to the company's overall success.

 

Embrace reasonable mistakes as learning opportunities. All too often, employees are willing to make no decision rather than make the wrong one.  Unfortunately, that leads to employees lining up outside your door waiting to be "told" what choice is the best one. 

 

Encourage your employees to make decisions on their own. However, be available if they feel they are drifting off course. Supporting your employees to learn how to make the best possible choices means listening to empower rather than jumping in with advice. 

 

Coaching your employees to make good choices requires balancing how much input you give and guiding your employee to make the best decision. Using the following four steps lets you walk an employee through the decision-making process. Your use of reflective listening and open-ended questions will allow your employee to explore the problem with you.

 

  • What are the issues? During this step, encourage your employee to identify all of the issues that are impacting the current situation.  If things are unclear, ask clarifying questions. Before moving to the second step, take a moment to summarize what you have heard. 
  • What is the desired outcome? Starting with the end in mind helps to bring clarity to the decision-making process. It also helps your employee to focus on what might work to get results.
  • What are the options? Coach your employee to identify all of the possible options. Then, keep asking "what else" until the list is complete.
  • Match the option to the desired outcome and make a choice. In this final step, your role is to empower the employee to compare all of the options and choose which one will get results. It is helpful to list the pros and cons. For each option, consider how it will help achieve the desired outcome and the potential pitfalls.

 

There is a time investment required to effectively coach and empower your team. In the long run, however, it is well worth the effort. Your team will be better equipped to repeatedly make the best decisions possible.

 

Ready to help your employees make wiser choices? Reach out for a free 20-minute session to discuss what tools can help you empower your team.

The Empty Chair Is Trying to Tell You Something

By Cathie Leimbach • August 18, 2026
An empty workstation gets your attention. What caused it should keep your attention. When attendance becomes a problem, the first response is often to review the policy, document the absence, or find someone to cover the shift. Those things may be necessary. But they don't tell you why the problem is happening. A conversation might. Instead of starting with “Why do you keep calling off?” try “I've noticed you've missed several days recently. What’s going on?” Then listen. You may hear about something outside of work. But you may also discover frustration with a supervisor, conflict with a coworker, unclear expectations, scheduling difficulties, or an employee who no longer feels valued. Understanding the reason doesn't mean ignoring attendance expectations. It means you know what you're actually dealing with. Also, look for patterns. Is absenteeism higher on one shift? In one department? Under one supervisor? Did it increase after a schedule or leadership change? Those patterns may tell you where another conversation needs to happen. Most importantly, don't wait until attendance becomes a disciplinary issue to start talking. Check in with employees. Ask what's making their work harder. Ask what they need from their supervisor. And when someone raises a concern or makes a suggestion, be sure to tell them what action you are taking or why their idea won’t be implemented. The goal isn't to eliminate accountability. It's to address problems before accountability is the only conversation left. Conversation is Where Leadership Happens™ You Don't Need to Go It Alone. Bring your workplace people challenges to the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic on September 21. Gain insights from Cathie Leimbach and other attendees. Register here for the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic 

Is Absenteeism a Pain in Your Pocket?

By Cathie Leimbach • August 10, 2026
Absenteeism is expensive. Every unexpected absence costs more than a day's wages. Someone else may need to work overtime. Priorities get reshuffled, service slows, projects fall behind, and customers notice. Before long, absenteeism starts taking money right out of your pocket. That's why many organizations turn to attendance policies, incentives, disciplinary action, or tighter oversight. But what if those approaches are addressing the symptom rather than what's really going on? Most people don't wake up one morning and suddenly decide they don't care about their work. Disengagement usually happens gradually. People stop sharing ideas. They stop feeling heard. They begin doing only what's required. Eventually, some stop showing up. By the time absenteeism is brought to your attention, the real issue may have been growing for weeks—or even months. If absenteeism has become a recurring challenge, don't just ask, "How do we reduce call-offs?" Instead, ask "What happened before people stopped wanting to show up?" That question may lead you somewhere an attendance report never will—and may ultimately save far more than overtime costs. Attendance problems. Accountability. Difficult conversations. Team conflict. Every leader faces workplace people challenges, and few have been taught exactly what to do when they arise.  Talking through your challenges with others can be helpful. Ask questions of your network. Get some ideas online. Sometimes another perspective is exactly what you need to see the situation differently. You Don't Need to Go It Alone. Bring your workplace people challenges to the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic on August 17. Gain insights from Cathie Leimbach and other attendees as you explore practical ways to handle the situations you're facing. Register here for the FREE Workplace Conversations Clinic