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The purpose of this article is to enrich the general understanding of the term empowerment, frequently used by HR professionals when referring to leadership and teambuilding. This is necessary because when the term “empowerment” was popularized over a decade ago, it was vaguely defined, creating misuses of the term and misunderstandings that endure to the present day. The dictionary defines “empower” this way: “to invest with power.” This is actually an excellent working definition, except that many people think that power equates to decision-making authority, even though this is only one of many forms of power operating in organizations. Unfortunately, this limited view of the concept of empowerment has caused people to believe that in order to empower employees, you have to turn authority over to them. This vague understanding of empowerment has created inappropriate sharing of authority. Since “empowerment” has been put forth as a positive leadership concept, this has led many well-intentioned managers to think that to be an effective leader they have to let employees decide what to do or how to do it—including letting them set their own goals and objectives. This blanket sharing of authority takes empowerment too far. Enlightened managers understand that certain decisions can and should be made by employees. Sharing this kind of authority involves and motivates them. But you don’t have to let employees make decisions in order to involve them. You can involve them significantly simply by getting their input. In fact, it may not appropriate to involve employees at all in certain decisions, either because they aren’t capable of giving meaningful input or because the decision doesn’t affect them. The effective manager consciously decides how to decide. He or she is always aware of how a decision should be made, making the call whether to involve employees and how much, using empowerment like a finely tuned instrument. More significant than the inappropriate sharing of decision-making authority is the reality that empowerment encompasses a lot more than that. Power takes many forms. In an organization, decision-making authority may equate to power, but so does knowledge. Information is power. Having enough time or adequate personnel is power. Access to and the support of decision-makers is power. Having clear boundaries and parameters is power. All kinds of other resources equate to power: time, money, facilities, transportation, communication, supplies, equipment, etc. Virtually all these forms of power are controlled by the organization. In order for employees to get what they need to do their jobs, management needs to support them with the resources they need. This transfer of organizational assets is called “empowerment.” Empowerment Principle #1: Employees cannot perform as expected—cannot do their best work if they aren’t given what they need (forms of power) to do the job. Empowerment Principle #2: When employees are given responsibilities, delegation is not complete until they are given adequate resources (forms of power) to carry out their responsibilities. Managers fail to adequately empower employees all the time. It’s one of the “dirty tricks” of “bad bosses.” Teachers are told they must meet academic performance standards, but they aren’t given adequate classroom resources. New employees are expected to perform to standards, even though they haven’t been given adequate training or coaching. Often they aren't even told what the standards are. When work units are downsized, the remaining employees are told to take on the responsibilities of those who left—without additional time or know-how. Ultimately, employees are blamed for shortfalls; the consequences created by the failure to empower are made a matter of record on employees’ performance evaluations. Organizations suffer from this lack of leadership: good people are fired, or they become frustrated and quit their jobs. Tasks and projects aren’t completed, and the organization’s goals aren’t met. Understanding and using empowerment appropriately is therefore one of the chief contributors to high levels of performance, along with competence, motivation, and character. It’s important for a leader to empower employees appropriately. Otherwise he or she may “over-empower” or “under-empower” the people who have to carry out important tasks, creating disastrous consequences.
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Dennis E. Coates is CEO of Performance Support Systems, author of MindFrames, a brain-based personality assessment system (www.initforlife.com) and co-founder of the Train-to-Ingrain alliance (www.train-to-ingrain.com, info@train-to-ingrain.com, 800-488-6463), which delivers a reinforcement-centered approach to learning and development that achieves permanent, measurable improvements in workplace behavior and positive impacts on business results.
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