Young employees value companies that promote visions fostering the social good. Over 87% believe a company's success should involve more than its financial performance.

They seek organizations that support moral and ethical positions. They like to be with companies that take a stand on socioeconomic issues. Organizations need a worthwhile vision to encourage young leaders.

1. Communicate your vision with your future leaders

Once you have a compelling vision, share it in a simple message. If it’s some vast, unstructured concept your employees won’t relate. Keep it simple!

2. Offer ways to contribute to the vision

Offer ways for your future leaders to deeply relate the vision. Inspire your future leaders to participate in ways that produce measurable, visible results. It’s inspiring to have a role in a vision and see it come to action.

3. Appreciate your employees, their opinions, their input

Nothing can demotivate workers faster than feeling disrespected. Second to that is when employees feel that a supervisor doesn’t respect an idea or suggestion it kills all the commitment and positivity at work.

4. Connect, converse well, and often

Take the initiative to cultivate an environment that encourages open dialogue. You should promote an environment that’s open to new ideas and constructive feedback. Communication should flow from all sides.

Remember, personal communication is key. Families matter to your employees; their “outside-the-workplace” lives matter. It is encouraging for employees to know a supervisor genuinely cares about both professional and personal lives.

5. Believe in a reward system

Reward their efforts, genuine work and success should never go unnoticed. An empowering leader recognizes and rewards effort and success. 

6. Employ failures and mistakes as learning 

Empowering leaders are preparing them, not tear them down. It sounds effortless but the application can be tough and requires honest, objective analysis

Do workers reach you with new ideas, or do they tiptoe around you? Are they daring in innovation? The answers are the type of environment you’ve created.

7. Reward in public; Correct in private

Always reward your employees in public and not correct them in public. End of the day we all have emotions, and we can feel hurt certainly! Nothing can disempower a worker faster than public correction, which is humiliating.

8. Are you a “Helicopter-Supervisor”

The “helicopter-supervisor,” like the helicopter-parent, hovers, corrects, and squelches independence and creativity. Such helicoptering breeds resentment because no one likes being monitored and evaluated all the time. Another word for this is a micromanager. Make sure you’re not one.

9. Empower employees with opportunities for growth

One means of empowering young leaders is to place them in positions of opportunity and leadership. Here are some ideas:

Permit your workers to explore new ways of doing old things

Let junior employees attend higher-level meetings with the expectation that they’ll contribute meaningfully

Let employees tackle challenges that demand innovative solutions and let them work through them

10. Invest in their training/education

One of the best ways to empower future leaders is to invest in their education. Encouraging them in their right to education and learning. Allowing them the opportunity to create a flexible work schedule to attend is empowering. Another idea is for your organization to create a reimbursement program or pay tuition in exchange for years of service. Any of these are a means of empowering young leaders.