Developing and Empowering Employees
In Developing the Leaders Around You, John Maxwell (1995) said, “Great
leaders produce other great leaders” (p. 3).
He explained his point further with, “An organizations growth potential
is directly related to its personnel potential.
In short, a company cannot grow without until its leaders grow within”
(p. 4). Forrester (2002) believes one of
the best ways to grow employees into leaders is through the oft-misunderstood
management practice commonly known as empowerment.
Forrester identified six
strategies that aid leaders in enlisting the power of employees more
effectively:
1.
Enlarge power, by building knowledge, skills, and competence
alongside increased discretion
2.
Be clear how much you want to extend employees’ power, the extent
you are prepared to extend their power, how you plan to fund it, and the
appetite within the company for empowerment initiatives
3.
Differentiate among employees
4.
Support power sharers
5.
Build closely aligned management systems
6.
Focus on results
These six strategies focus on empowering and equipping
an organization’s workforce more effectively.
Correctly managed, these initiatives will both develop employees and
increase productivity. Empowerment is
more than a position; it’s an opportunity.
Whetten & Cameron (2011) explained
that empowerment “enables people to develop a sense of confidence; it helps
people overcome feelings of powerlessness or helplessness; and it acts as a
means to energize people to take action and mobilize intrinsic motivation to
accomplish a task” (p. 445). In today’s
fluid and sometimes-chaotic business atmosphere of rapid technological change
and cutthroat competitiveness, managers risk burnout and an organizations rapid
decline if leaders fail to empower and equip employees.
The days of withholding
information and power from employees as a means of control are over. Rather, as Whetten & Cameron (2011)
clearly point out, “Evidence shows that empowered employees are more
productive, more satisfied, and more innovative, and that they create
higher-quality products and services than unempowered employees” (p. 443). To achieve these ends, they identified five
dimensions, or benefits, of empowerment that relate to Forrester’s six
strategies above: self-efficacy (competence), self-determination (choice),
personal consequence (impact), meaningfulness (value), and trust
(security). These dimensions
specifically and measurably strengthen and develop an organization’s most
precious resource: its people.
John Maxwell (1995) said, “You
can’t turn people loose without structure, but you also want to give them
enough freedom to be creative. The way
to do that is to give them the big three:
responsibility, authority, and accountability” (p. 98). Both Forrester’s strategies above and Whetten
& Cameron’s five dimensions for empowerment echo the big three and confirm
the importance of manager-employee communication.
Whether it’s Maxwell’s big three,
Whetten & Cameron’s five dimensions and nine prescriptions, or Forrester’s
six strategies, each underline three common threads inherent in empowerment
programs: responsibility, resources, and results. First, everyone wants to believe that his or
her efforts are personally making a difference in society in one way or
another. Whetten & Cameron (2011) call
this, “personal consequence” or impact.
They said, “Empowered people have a sense that when they act, they can
produce a result. It is the conviction
that through one’s own action, a person can influence what happens” (p.
449). Forrester highlights the importance
of building an employees’ power by increasing their abilities and skills. Developing employee’s skill and demonstrating
their impact with responsibility provides them with the personal motivation
that produces positive results.
Once employees are empowered
with responsibility, they must be given the resources to function effectively
and efficiently. Resources consist of
the tools and techniques necessary to follow-through on assignments. Some examples include, funding, information,
special equipment, the latest technology, and most importantly, the authority
commensurate with their responsibility. Too often employees are set-up to fail because
managers did not provide them with the authority to make decisions and enlist
others to achieve the task. Finally, another
critical resource is to understand the boundaries and limits of their
empowerment. Working under or stepping
over boundaries has the potential to doom a project before it has a chance to
begin as well. Whetten & Cameron
(2011) said, “No empowerment can occur without employees knowing what these
boundaries are” (p. 466).
The final element of
empowerment as identified by Forrester, Whetten, Cameron, and Maxwell as
results. When it comes to empowerment,
both the organization and the front line supervisors are stepping out in faith
and trusting the employees will produce as good or better results. One of the key motivations behind producing
good results is accountability. I have
heard is said, “You get what you inspect, not what you expect.” Either way, accountability does not have to
entail looking over an employee’s shoulder throughout the process; however,
regular and consistent follow-ups and feedback sessions are critical to the
empowerment process.
The results element of empowerment
is often defined in terms of the organization’s bottom line. While that is true, I believe there is
another aspect of results that cannot be overlooked: the employee’s personal
growth as a leader. Managers should not
judge the effectiveness of an empowerment program solely on profits; but
rather, the people. John Maxwell (1995) surveyed
hundreds of leaders and identified empowerment as the characteristic that adds
the greatest value to leaders. He said:
“Motivation, believing in,
mentoring, and all the other traits tap into what is inside the person. Empowerment adds a new dimension to the
person that did not and often cannot exist or come into existence on its own…There
is a great responsibility with the gift of empowerment. With the wrong motives a leader can empower
for his/her own good rather than the good of the people and the organization. Great leaders always put the organization and
individual people before himself” (p. 178).
Whetten & Cameron (2011)
said it best when they summarized their view of empowerment and
delegation. “Strong leaders are not lone
rangers so much as they are savvy individuals who know how to mobilize those
they lead and manage” (p. 472). Empowerment
is the bridge that makes great leadership happen.
Steve
References:
Forrester, R. (2002).
Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea. Measuring Business Excellence, 6(2),
68. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/208740450?accountid=27203
Maxwell, J. (1995).
Developing the leaders around you. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Whetten, D.A., & Cameron,
K.S. (2011). Developing management skills. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
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