Top Workplaces special award winners say employee empowerment is key to strong leadership

To this year's winners of Top Workplaces leadership awards, empowering team members to do their best is their goal as their organizations' top managers.

"One of our founding beliefs as an organization is trusting people to do the right thing," said Dale Nitschke, CEO of Ovative Group, the winner in the large company category. His job, and that of other company leaders, is to set clear expectations and objectives, and then to trust the teams to work together to drive growth.

"We recognize the new trends in what is important to our team and are always leaning in with curiosity to identify new evolutions to how we work and what we offer to maintain this balance of connection and growth," he said. "We know the world is always changing, so we're here to keep listening, learning and investing in ways to be a place people want to come, belong, and contribute to the impact we drive."

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, winner in the midsize employer category, also said he believes a clear mission is key to a well-run organization.

"Our objectives are to help people afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect. We organize the people at our office around those objectives," he said. "Everyone having a clear sense of what we're here for is enormously powerful. When people buy in to the mission and then you give them the freedom to bring their creativity to that mission, they feel a certain sense of achievement and leadership themselves because they are advancing that mission."

Here is the complete list of this year's Top Workplaces special awards:

Leadership, large firm: CEO Dale Nitschke of Ovative Group

Leadership, midsize employer: Attorney General Keith Ellison

Leadership, small company: CEO Nicholas Hackworthy of Creative Homes

Direction: Gardner Builders

Managers: Van Meter

New Ideas: KLC Financial

Doers: Right at Home

Meaningfulness: Coloplast

Values: Bell Bank

Clued-In Senior Management: Channel

Communications: Froehling Anderson

Appreciation: KLC Financial

Work/Life Flexibility: Accurate Home Care

Training: Lockton Cos.

Benefits: Midwest Reliability Organization