Empowerment
Lynn Harris
(5-minute read)
Every organization I’m working with right now is talking about empowerment. And in every one of those organizations many senior leaders are frustrated that they are giving empowerment, but people are not, in their view, stepping up to take it.
This short article clarifies the meaning and importance of empowerment, and outlines five actions you can take to make it work for your business.
What is Empowerment?
Empowerment is the act of giving others the authority or power to do something. In a business context, empowerment means giving your people the power to make decisions and take actions on their own, without having to constantly seek approval or guidance. It means creating a culture of trust, where people feel confident in their abilities and are motivated to innovate and take initiative.
Three reasons why Empowerment is important for your business.
Employee engagement: when people are empowered, they are more engaged in their work and more likely to take ownership of their tasks and outcomes. This can lead to increased motivation, better job satisfaction, and higher retention. “Based on over 50 years of employee engagement research, Gallup knows that engaged employees produce better business outcomes than other employees – across industry, company size and nationality, and in good economic times and bad.”
Innovation and agility: when people are given the power to explore new ideas, make decisions and act, they are more likely to generate innovative ideas and solutions. Seven in 10 of the world’s most transformative innovations – the internet, email, mobile phones, MRIs, solar energy systems, even the Post-It Note - came from employees unleashed to explore novel ideas. It’s easier to respond quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs if you don’t have to wait for approval from higher-ups. This inevitably leads to increased agility and competitiveness.
Performance: research indicates that empowerment at work is associated with stronger job performance, job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. For many, being empowered can lead to more productivity and efficiency, which can lead to cost reduction, better customer service, increased customer loyalty and revenue.
Empowerment mindset and actions
It’s easy to agree that empowerment of employees is important and beneficial. To reap the benefits, however, requires a foundational mindset shift. Leaders must let go of at least some of the control that makes them feel secure, and trust others to make decisions and act. This is challenging for a lot of leaders who achieved their position in the hierarchy through taking control and making things happen themselves.
To help you make this mindset shift and create the conditions for Empowerment in your organization, experiment with these five actions:
Role-model empowerment: To implement empowerment in your organization, you must lead by example. You need to let go of at least some of your control and trust your people to make decisions and act. You can also take the opportunity to step into empowerment yourself by taking initiative and action where it’s needed, without waiting to be told to do so.
What could you let go of, or loosen control over, that would empower others?
What do you know that currently needs to be solved or created in your business and how can you take the initiative to solve or create it?
Agree clear expectations: Have a conversation with every person you lead or manage and ensure that you and they are clear on their role and responsibilities, as well as your expectations for their performance and delivery. Have the same conversation with your own direct line manager to clarify and confirm their expectations of you. Clarity of role, responsibilities and performance expectations make it easier to give and take empowerment and to gain commitment and accountability.
How sure are you that there is currently no disconnect between your expectations of your people and their understanding of your expectations?
What needs to happen for you to feel more empowered in your own role?
Provide coaching and resources: Empowering people requires giving them the tools and resources they need to succeed, e.g., coaching, access to information, and technology tools. Empowering people doesn’t mean leaving them alone or abdicating responsibility. Depending on the skills and experience of your people they are likely to need differing levels of support. If you regularly check-in with people to ensure they have the knowledge and resources they need, they are more likely to own their work and make informed decisions.
How do you currently ensure your people have the skills and resources to do the work you have empowered them to do?
Are you clear on the resources you need to take empowered action where it’s needed?
Create a culture of trust: Empowerment doesn’t work without trust. You must trust your people to make decisions and act without constant oversight. If this makes you nervous, start with smaller acts of empowerment and work up. You know you have achieved a culture of trust when people feel valued and respected, when they receive regular feedback and recognition, and when communication is open and honest.
How helpful would it be to have honest conversations with the people you lead about how valued and respected they currently feel, and how you can both give and receive helpful feedback?
How valued and respected do you currently feel, and how open and honest can you be with your direct line manager?
Encourage calculated risk-taking: True empowerment includes giving people the freedom to take calculated risks and to make and learn from mistakes. As the racing driver Mario Andretti once said, "If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough." There is little room for perfectionism in today’s rapidly changing business environment. Adopting an approach of test an idea, learn from the results, and then refine for the next iteration empowers people to speed-up decision-making and increase innovation.
How could you and your team experiment with more calculated risk-taking?
If you are a perfectionist, how can you learn to live with the discomfort of test-learn-refine – at least until you get used to it?
It’s not enough to tell people they are empowered. If Empowerment is an essential component of your leadership culture, strategy, and behaviors, you need to be intentional about rolemodelling it yourself and creating the conditions to make it work for your business.
Lynn Harris is a founding Partner of Leadership Mindset Partners