There have been some great strides made over the last thirty years in organizational behaviour as it relates to empowerment. It has become fundamental to sound leadership.
Sometimes missed in the empowerment discussion is the responsibility of employees to choose to be empowered.
What this means is there is something of a dual responsibility at play here, a balancing act between the Leaders, and Team members responsibility. This post will look at the two sides to that balance.
THE LEADERS RESPONSIBILITY
1. Be Clear on Expectations
The setting of expectations is the first discipline of sound leadership. A discussion based on the answers to two simple questions:
What do I expect from you?
What can you expect from me?
In the empowerment discussion, it is being clear on expected outcomes, levels of authority and the support the employee can expect from the leader.
2. Provide resources.
What are you going to provide the employee with to be successful? This is not just about money and equipment, it also relates to training, support and, access to the information required to be successful.
3. Step away.
Perhaps the most important and toughest part for a lot of leaders is to step away. You have to give people the opportunity to do their job the way they want to do it, even if (god forbid) they do it differently to the way you would do it. The best way to kill talent and employee motivation is to step in, take over and do it yourself.
4. Keep the door open.
The employee needs to feel comfortable coming to you if they have a problem. That they can trust you and seek guidance when it’s needed. Your role is simply to make them better and help them improve, not do their work and make decisions for them.
THE EMPLOYEE’S RESPONSIBILITY
1. Treat it like it's yours.
Empowerment implies ownership. It means the project, strategy or team is now yours and with that comes responsibility. Although this seems straightforward, there is an important mind shift.
2. Don’t be frightened to ask for help.
Although you now have added responsibility, perhaps additional pressure, you are not alone. Nobody ever achieved anything significant purely by themselves. Involve your team, reach out to mentors and colleagues and yes, your boss as well.
3. Don't hide bad news.
The biggest danger in the empowerment balance is hiding bad news. Sure, there are some bosses that don’t like hearing bad news, but if they had a choice most reasonable leaders would want to know sooner rather than later.
4. You have a right to be confident.
Feeling that pressure that comes with accountability is absolutely normal (and perhaps even doubting your own ability). Just do your best, play to your strengths and grab the opportunity with both hands. You have earned it.
SUMMARY
Any enterprise’s greatest asset is going to be the collective intelligence and talent of its people. Tapping into that resource has two dimensions.
Creating an environment in which people have an opportunity to be empowered and having that opportunity accepted.
