When you got started in business, who gave you your first break?

Maybe it was the person who first hired and trained you, the first customer that used your services or the financial institution that gave you your first business loan.

Whoever it was, they gave you confidence that what you were offering was valuable, and it empowered you to continue.

And empowerment is, well, powerful!

Today, let’s talk about empowerment, not from the standpoint of being empowered as leaders, but rather as leaders empowering others. In John Maxwell’s “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” the Law of Empowerment states: “Only secure leaders give power to others.”

When I think about leaders and their ability to give away or not give away power, the major leaders of the world come to mind.

In countries ruled by dictatorships, the leader’s inability to relinquish any level of power stands in stark contrast to countries under democratic rule, where disseminated power is the law of the land.

But what about you? Are you able to allow those you lead to take over and do what it is they do best? Theodore Roosevelt once said: “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

Empowering someone means we are willing to provide them the training and resources they need as well as give them the authority and responsibility to move ahead with their ideas. When we empower someone, we are building them up and showing others that we can not only lead, but lead well.

If we want to empower others, there are a few barriers we need to overcome.

The first barrier is our desire for job security. In other words, if we are concerned that by helping others achieve success it will cost us our position, then we will most likely hold back from helping them.

However, the truth is, by empowering those around us and assisting them to new levels of achievement, it reflects well on us. Would you rather deal with a company in which only one to two people are seen as leaders or a company full of innovative, confident leaders? Most of us would most likely choose the latter.

The second barrier is resistance to change. Change doesn’t come naturally to most people. The best way to achieve buy in is to make people a part of the solution. By allowing them some control in the situation, people are more likely to support decisions made by leadership.

The other aspect of gaining acceptance to change is for leaders to be change agents. We must take on the responsibility of helping others see why the change is needed and the value of the change. No follower will accept a change that a leader is half-hearted about themselves.

The last barrier is a lack of self-worth. For the leader to be able to empower a follower, they themselves must feel empowered. If as a leader you feel a little less than stellar about your leadership ability or your perception of your leadership ability is a false perception, you will not be able to empower others.

Genuinely evaluating ourselves and then working on our weaknesses will show that though we may have faults, we value ourselves enough to invest in ourselves and will in turn, invest in others.

Which barrier is stopping you from taking your followers to the next level? How will you start to empower those you lead? Take it from Harvey Firestone: “The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.”

Elaine Lankford is a John Maxwell certified coach, teacher, trainer, and speaker. She is the founder of Transforming Love Ministries, LLC and a board member of the Christian Business Coalition of Hampton Roads. Email her at elaine@elainelankford.com