Chapter 9 EMPOWERING PEOPLE
While the previous chapter focused on the importance of developing people, this chapter focuses on the need to empower people after they are ready to assume responsibility. Today’s workers want influence on decisions that affect the way their expertise is used. They want to be treated as “partners” rather than as employees, with information and opinion flowing up as well as down. In addition, leadership expectations for employees have increased significantly. At a minimum, every person is expected to lead herself or himself; most employees at some point are also expected to lead formal and informal teams and organization units.
Because we are working in a business environment with less and less hierarchy, leaders are “thought” leaders who must use knowledge to lead their teams. Global leaders must be willing to give leadership to the person with the most knowledge about the particular challenge or issue at hand. There must be an open environment to communicate and share information, which will stimulate creativity, increase knowledge, and create a team environment. Global leaders of the future must let go of control that is not necessary. The CEO of one of the world’s largest global companies received feed- back that he was too stubborn and opinionated. He learned that he needed to do a better job of empowering others to make decisions and to focus less on “being right” himself. For one year, he practiced a simple technique. He would take a breath before speaking and ask himself a question: “Is it worth it?” He learned that 50 percent of the time, his comments may have been correct, but they weren’t worth it. He began to focus more on empowering others and letting them take ownership and commitment for decisions, and less upon his own need to add value.
Builds People’s Confidence
After training employees to understand their tasks, roles, and functions within the company, empowering these individuals requires the leader to first give people opportunities and then let go of the process in which the job gets done.
Give people the space and opportunity to grow…. Trust your people and give them opportunities.1
However, a crucial point may be missed if the following concept is not grasped: It is not possible for a leader to “empower” someone to be accountable and make good decisions. People must empower themselves. The effective global leader can facilitate empowerment only by encouraging and supporting a decision-making environment in which people feel comfortable making decisions and by giving people the tools and knowledge they need to take action upon those decisions. In our work in executive coaching, we have done extensive “before and after” studies on the impact of coach- ing on the long-term behavioral change of the person being coached. The key variable in increased leadership effectiveness is the leader, not the coach. In the same way, managers must ensure that their teams are composed of individuals who are willing to take personal responsibility for the organization’s success, and they must provide a favorable environment in which people are encouraged to grow.2
In other words, the leader must build confidence within the organization. By creating an environment within which employees feel they can make decisions and act upon their own initiative, the leader has helped them reach an empowered state. However, the leader didn’t empower the person; he or she created an environment in which the employee feels strong enough to adopt the behavior of an empowered employee.
Create an environment where they get the chance to surprise themselves.3
Going about the process of empowering by building confidence in the organization takes longer, but it is effective. For instance, if a company has a history of shutting down or letting go of initiators, a leader can’t just tell employees that they are empowered to make decisions. The global leader must first create a safe environment by encouraging constructive dialogue, asking for input, and sharing knowledge. However, it is counterproductive for executives to “announce” that employees are empowered. Employees will only believe they are empowered when they are left alone to accomplish results over a period of time.
Sometimes, leaders may need to restore confidence, and leaders should al- ways maintain the positive and cut down on the negative.4