Empowering Your Employees

by BNET Editorial

The word “empowerment” has received a lot of bad press in the business world. Too often, it has been used as a gesture to appease discontented employees and as a means of abdicating responsibility on the part of managers: if you can get employees to adopt a sense of ownership and power, your own load is less onerous!

Empowerment, however, is a good thing. Research tells us that individuals experience increased initiative and motivation when they are empowered. This also affects their self-confidence and the level of tenacity they display when faced with setbacks. Empowered people take responsibility for making decisions and following them through to completion; they feel energized and excited by what they do; and are prepared to make a commitment to achieve mutually agreed goals. Genuinely empowered people often find themselves completely involved in their lives and work and have boundless energy for what they do.

Being able to imagine what an empowered organization would feel like and the heights of success it could achieve, may give you some sense of the amount of disempowerment that exists in modern organizational structures.

What You Need to Know
I have tried to empower members of my team, but they still seem to be dependent on being told what to do. How can I get them to re-engage with their work?
It sounds as if they are not motivated to contribute their brain- or brawn-power to your collective efforts. This means that you have to carry the load on your own and probably feel exhausted and somewhat demoralized. Try asking them what motivates and energizes them and see if you can entice them with something that interests and excites them.

I work in a technically specialized area where mistakes are just not an option. I’d like to empower my direct reports, but when I emphasize the limited margin for error that exists, they just seem to give up trying. What can I do?
You may be controlling your direct reports too much. Try giving them the resources they need to do their job and the discretion to use those in the way they feel is appropriate—within critical bounds of course. They may make a few mistakes but if they feel truly empowered, they will take responsibility for dealing with these.

I have managed to empower my team but I feel usurped and out of control. I need to call them back but I don’t know how. What can I do?
You may need to remind them that your role is to set the course and direction in the context of the organizational objectives. Praise them for their initiative; find some concrete examples of where this has made a real difference; encourage them to do more; AND ask that you be kept informed so that you can help to guide their activities. State the importance of needing to know what is happening in order to present their achievements to members of the senior executive team.

I’m not sure how to go about empowering my direct reports. What is the best way to start?
Have you ever thought of creating a coaching culture within your team? Effective delegation is a good way to lead up to empowerment. You could try using the GROW model as a framework for your coaching conversations: G-Goal (What is the SMART goal?) R-Reality (Where are you starting from?) O-Options (What ideas have you got to get you from R to G?) and W-Way (Which option will you select and what is your plan to get you there?)

What to Do

Take Responsibility
In our current business environment, much is unknown, untried, or unexpected. In an ideas-based economy, we no longer experience predictable problems, nor can we anticipate what our competitors will do based on a mutual understanding of the market or a shared technology. Ambiguity presents itself over and over again to employees who are beginning to suspect it is the “norm,” and they probably feel ill-equipped to deal with it. This is why it is so important to allow people to take responsibility for managing their way through uncertainty. By using their ingenuity, curiosity, and spontaneity, employees can meet the business challenges head-on, instead of waiting to be told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.

Although threatening to some managers (because the gateway for good ideas is no longer governed by them) it is important to make use of every vestige of enterprise that exists in the business. To do this, managers must move from being a governor to being a channel; promoting the flow of energy and power so that people can add value and the business can benefit.

Empower People

~Create the vision. If you want to empower people, you need to harness their enthusiasm and their creativity. This means painting a meaningful picture for them of what the future could look like and how they could contribute to it. Even if it seems beyond credibility or beyond reach, try to create a sense of “we’re in this together” and invite people to add their efforts to the collective goal. If they accept your invitation, you can strengthen their commitment by allowing them to use their discretion and talent in the way that they feel is most fitting.
~Motivate. You will need to understand the values, goals, and motivations of the people who are critical to your success. By understanding their passions and motivations, you can align their energy with what you feel needs to be done in the business. If you do not know what these are, ask them to share their aspirations in the context of the business and what and how they wish to contribute in order to achieve this personal vision.
~Root out the blockages. Organizations, unwittingly, often ask for one set of behaviors while systematically encouraging another. For instance, if an organization wants to achieve its goals through team work, it is no good putting in an incentive scheme that rewards individual achievement. If an organization wants to be known for its responsiveness to customers, it is no good creating rules that prevent members of the customer service team from using their initiative. Have a look at the processes that exist in your business and see if there are any contradictory messages that are being sent out through the existing systems and processes.
~Ensure the resources are in place. If you are going to empower people, you need to make sure they are properly resourced and supported. Ask yourself what resources are needed in terms of information, knowledge and skills. You may think that members of your team or organization have sufficient internal capability to make the transition to empowerment, but perhaps they could do with some concrete encouragement to release this.
~Provide encouragement and support. Think about how you can support empowered behavior. Try to identify the existing channels of communication that allow the necessary information to be shared. Are these channels clear and free flowing or are they blocked by organizational politics or etiquette? You may need to be proactive in asking your team what provisions they would like you to make to ensure the change to empowered behavior is possible. You may also need to act as a sounding board so that concerns, frustrations, and disappointments can be fielded positively rather than leak into the social culture of the organization as negative stories.
~Eliminate fear. Most people find behavioral change threatening. They are being asked to do something that they have never done before and they are likely to feel exposed and vulnerable. They may be asking themselves what will happen if they “get it wrong.” When things fail to go according to plan, you will need to manage your response consciously. It is important not to deny the existence of problems, but do debrief them appropriately and create a sense of positive learning rather than of criticism.
~Monitor and celebrate success. When things go well and you see good examples of empowered behavior, make sure it is rewarded and celebrated. This sends a message of seriousness and encourages more of the same. Try circulating some successful stories so that they join the ongoing legend of the business. Theater and drama, effectively done, can emphasize a point well, so there is room for some imaginative celebrations and rewards.

Think about the Bigger Picture
Empowering people does not necessarily stop at the office door. Some companies empower their customers. Think of the “self-service” revolution, the helplines, and the choices that can be made on the Internet. Think of the products that have brought about the mobile technology revolution and have enabled less naturally resourced or privileged countries to compete in the world economy. Of course, some people think it has gone a step too far and that organizations are abdicating their responsibilities to customers, but if you identify with those on your market interface, you will soon root out the contradictions in your interactions.

What to Avoid

You Fear You Will Lose Control
Some managers fear losing control by empowering their teams and, therefore, keep them on a tight leash with very little discretion to make decisions when they meet new challenges. If this describes you, be careful that you are not creating a “job’s worth” environment in which team members rescind responsibility and say “It’s more than my job’s worth to use my initiative and break the rules.” Meet with your team to see if you can root out these susceptibilities by asking them to share the challenges they have encountered and the way they would have preferred to have dealt with them.

You Do Not Know When to Let Go
Knowing when to get involved and when to let go is a difficult call. Sometimes it is necessary to let people learn from their mistakes, even if you think you could have prevented them from happening. Perhaps you could intervene only in “business-critical” situations and be there to debrief and distill the learning when the time comes. Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model may help you to determine what level of support and direction is needed at any time.

You Fail to Understand the Nature of Empowerment
Mistaking “empowerment” as a goal for the business or as a tool to manage behaviors is not helpful. The business goal remains the same. The tools and techniques required to reach it probably remain largely the same. “Empowerment” is a management philosophy that must imbue the organizational culture if it is to be successful. Make sure it is present from the employment contracts to the level of autonomy you give to each individual.

You See Empowerment As a Substitute for Engagement
Seeing empowerment as “an easy way out” is not what it is about. Empowerment still requires interest and involvement. Although empowerment gives people a sense of ownership and autonomy, it is not a substitute for engagement from the managerial level; rather it acts as a conduit for purposeful and fruitful conversations and actions.