A leader’s power and influence increase when he or she shares power with others. Empowerment is therefore the basic component of shared or distributed leadership. In its basic meaning, empowerment refers to passing decision-making authority and responsibility from managers to group members. Almost any form of participative management, shared decision making, and delegation can be regarded as empowerment.

Work has meaning when there is a fit between the requirements of a work role and a person’s beliefs, values, and behaviors. A person who is doing meaningful work is likely to feel empowered. Competence, or self-efficacy, is an individual’s belief in his or her capability to perform a particular task well. People who feel competent believe that they have the capability to meet performance requirements in a given situation,

Self-determination is an individual’s sense of having a choice in initiating and regulating actions. A high-level form of self-determination occurs when workers feel that they can choose the best method to solve a particular problem. Impact is the degree to which the worker can influence strategic, administrative or operating outcomes on the job. Another dimension of true empowerment is for the group member to develop an internal commitment toward work goals. Internal commitment takes place when workers are committed to a particular project, person, or program for individual motives.

A leader can empower team members simply by fostering greater initiative and responsibility in their assignments.