Empowerment

To wrap up our series on “Power,” we end it the only responsible way: with how to own that Power and encourage it in others.

Dos

• Speak your experiences. Your voice represents your truth and you are entitled to be heard.

• Use your privileges of Power (external and internal) to encourage and empower others.

• Give space for those whose voices don't frequently contribute, and encourage their participation.

• Be an ally and advocate for those in struggle.

• Be a cheerleader and voice your appreciation for work well done, frequently and with specificity.

• Acknowledge your own successes and take a moment to appreciate your contributions and hard work.

• Check and set boundaries with those who infringe on your own sense of value and the value of others.

• Become a mentor and support base for young people, new employees, or new members in your field.

• Continue to self-educate and familiarize yourself with new ways to troubleshoot and better prepare for possibilities of loss or changes of power.

• Disabuse yourself of the idea that power in money is of more value than the power of inventiveness, expertise, creativeness, steadfastness, or devotion.

Donts

• Feed the spite, doubt, or condescension of anyone’s internal power and sense of self.

• Betray your team or those who look to you for aid and advice.

• Pass-the-buck and ignore your responsibilities.

• Use your power to usurp the power of others.

• Sell your worth for promises of empowerment later.

• Act under assumptions of others beliefs, posing as their voice, instead of assuring they have space to voice their own truth.

• Attempt to put a price tag on someone’s basic human right to speak their experiences.

• Marginalize the importance of a person's autonomy based purely on the roles or offices they hold within a company.

• Insinuate any one voice outweighs another in the importance of being heard.

Not sure where to start in exercising your Power? Join us next week for our new series: Responsibility.