What's the best way to counter low empowerment on your teams?

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Wall the walk as well as talk the talk, show how the results/ actions of the teams are actually utilized and making a contribution

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Sometimes it's important to let go when you delegate a task and let your subordinate actually OWN their task from A-Z. And then show to them once it's live what impact it had on your whole team's result, or business performance.
We often too publish appreciation messages in the group chat when certain initiatives had a great impact on our metrics.

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Empowerment comes from culture, and it's been my experience that if a company doesn't have this culture it's very difficult to shift.

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Empowerment flourishes in an environment where an organization builds psychological safety for their teams.

HBR definition of psychological safety:

Psychological safety is a shared belief held by members of a team that it’s OK to take risks, to express their ideas and concerns, to speak up with questions, and to admit mistakes — all without fear of negative consequences.

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Addressing low empowerment starts with the culture of the organization. It is essential to foster an environment where it is acceptable to fail. Generally, staff must feel secure in taking responsibilities into their own hands, understanding that if something goes awry, it's alright - the team will collaborate to revise and rectify the situation. Without room for failure, there's no advancement in empowerment, and employees will be significantly less likely to feel empowered.

Trust is, unquestionably, a significant part of this equation. In my field, healthcare technology, this is a quality I don't often encounter. From my experience, the trust relationship between leadership and staff is frequently absent. Many decisions tend to go through individual parties, or there's paralysis by analysis for straightforward decisions. People are apprehensive about making choices that could potentially fail, and this fear permeates organizations.

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Train leaders, demonstrate trust and ask team members for input, ideas, and insights from your team. Engage them in the creation process not just the outputs.

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I think the answer requires self-reflection as a leader and an examination of the broader organizational culture. A culture of empowerment involves promoting transparency, fostering trust, providing opportunities for growth, recognizing achievements, and creating an inclusive and supportive work environment. Is it your own leadership style, the team's dynamics, or the company culture?

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Making the connection between personal tasks / projects and bottom-line results is impactful, I'd say. Help employees understand that their work matters, always, and that is additive to the overall results.

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Change of the leaders. If there is lack of progress, many times it is very clear that they are simply not capable of leadership positions, so those have to be changed to capable ones.
I've seen many of these EI training outcomes and none delivered (not because of the training providers!!).

What's the best way to counter low empowerment on your teams?

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