Employee empowerment can be defined in a number of ways but generally refers to the process of allowing employees to have input and control over their work, and the ability to openly share suggestions and ideas about their work and the organization as a whole. Empowered employees are committed, loyal and conscientious. They are eager to share ideas and can serve as strong ambassadors for their organizations.

Greg Grabasch is the principal of UDLA, a group of landscape architects and urban designers who work with communities to help them realize a better environment for living. Despite his amazing growth and success, Greg is an incredibly humble but at the same time totally inspiring guy, who’s journey as a landscape architect offers all of us a lot to think about, no matter what creative field you find yourself in.

Greg turns almost every traditional approach not only to design but to doing business aswell, completely on its head. He speaks with a sense of wisdom that is startlingly simple, yet so deeply relevant and actually meaningful that I’m beginning to wonder if the rest of us really do complicate things un-necessarily sometimes.

In this interview we talk about the kinds of things that cultivate employee empowerment, about knowledge sharing, awarding responsibility, and about letting go. Whether you have your own employees, are working in a team, or starting to build one or simply love listening to different ways of going about your business altogether, stay tuned because I know you’re going to find this conversation tremendously thought provoking, and more than likely an affirmation of what you probably already know and feel as a person and as a professional.