Empowered employees--a good personnel investment

Health care has entered a new competitive era in the 1990s, and, combined with the other pressures association with health care, clinical laboratory managers are facing the challenge of having to do more with less. This "pressure-cooker" environment requires clinical laboratory managers to find new ways to motivate their teams to perform at peak levels at all times; the key to doing this is empowerment. By empowering employees, managers create a nurturing environment in which their staffs can learn, grow, improve, and function effectively. This type of environment is created when managers are honestly concerned about their employees and exhibit a true "partner" attitude. This article describes five specific actions that clinical laboratory managers can take to empower their employees to work together to do better jobs. These actions include sharing expectations; providing new employees with helpers, guides, and buddies; giving feedback; involving employees in decision making; and paying attention to customer service and what other laboratories are doing. These actions will help clinical laboratory managers empower their employees to face the difficult challenges of the 1990s.