LEADERSHIP AND EMPOWERMENT

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.

The next best the people honour and praise.

The next, the people fear.

The next, the people hate.

But when the best leaders’ work is done, the people say, “We did it ourselves”.

Lao Tzu (c. 500 BC.), the way of Lao Tzu, Number 17.

Overview

One of the misconceptions of many managers about empowerment is the notion that to empower people they have to give away some of their power. However, effective leaders empower people to be able to do what needs to be done. Studies show that empowering people enhances both job satisfaction and organisation performance, measured in a variety of ways.

Empowering people is giving them the knowledge, skills, self-awareness, authority, resources, opportunity and freedom to manage themselves and be accountable for their behaviour and performance. If knowledge is power, then empowering people also means sharing knowledge with them. Empowerment is necessary to create a learning organisation in which people can be creative and innovative. Effective leaders transfer credit for achievement to their followers or group members.

Inspiring the organisation and its stakeholders with a clear vision and compelling sense of purpose is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for the development of an organisation that can learn, adapt, and respond effectively to change. Empowerment, providing motivated employees with the responsibility and authority to implement the vision is equally important.

The impact of empowerment

Study after study finds that when employees have more control – when they help to define their goals and hours and when they participate in decision-making – their job satisfaction rises (Myers, 1993).

A positive relationship has been established between participation, satisfaction, motivation, quality, productivity and performance (Hollander and Offerman, 1990). Peter Turney found that empowered employees have a sense of ownership and responsibility, satisfaction in their accomplishments, a sense of control over what and how things are done, and knowledge that they are important to the organisation.

Actions and behaviours that constitute empowerment

Supporting people to help them to become more aware of their strengths and limitations, preferences, interests and motivational drives, values, beliefs and attitudes

Delegation of challenging tasks and authority to make decisions and take action Stimulating people’s intellects, imagination and intuition, questioning the status quo, and getting

them to do likewise Providing the opportunity, resources and support for people to perform Sharing knowledge and rewarding learning and well as performance Coaching and training for skills acquisition and improvement Allowing and encouraging self-determination and autonomy – the freedom of people to manage

themselves Acceptance of responsibility (sense of duty and obligation) and accountability

Potential pitfalls

1. The leader may becoming too laissez faire and lose control2. People whose goals are not closely aligned with the organisation may go off on a tangent3. Inexperienced groups, who are encouraged to groupthink without some guidance, may become

dysfunctional or come to unhealthy conclusions. Teams need some structure and process to empower them.

4. Empowerment needs to come with accountability, otherwise people may take on extra freedom without taking on responsibility

Barriers to empowerment:

5. bureaucracy6. risk aversion7. the need to control others8. fear of loss of control9. lack of trust10. the skill and time required to do it

Empowerment and culture

What’s in it for the staff?

Empowerment influences and reflects the organisational culture. For empowerment to work the organisation needs to value it. When uncertainty avoidance is high, employees prefer goals, policies, procedures and assignments to be precisely spelt out. When uncertainty avoidance is low, people tolerate unclear structure in relation to roles and procedures. In most organisations, for empowerment to work, management need to clarify team goals, roles and procedures. The cultural norms need to be taken into account and empowerment planning adapted.

Empowerment in practice

The basic organisational requirements for successful empowerment are a clear vision, mission and challenge, openness and teamwork, individual goals aligned clearly to the vision, with clear boundaries for decision-making and clear task responsibility, mutual support and a sense of security.

A useful approach to empowering staff focuses on achieving several situations:

1. Win-win agreements whereby followers satisfy with own needs, goals and aspirations by achieving what is expected of them at work. This is done by ensuring a clear mutual understanding and commitment regarding expectations in five areas:

a. Specifying desired resultsb. Setting guidelinesc. Identifying and providing available resourcesd. Defining and agreeing accountability and how results will be evaluatede. Clarifying and delivering the consequences in terms of reward and benefit

2. Coaching, sponsorship, mentoring, providing learning and development opportunities, recognition of learning new competencies, and taking ownership of employee development

3. Self-management – people manage themselves according to the agreement. The leader provides help and support, together with the necessary organisational structures and systems. People appraise themselves according to the agreed results criteria

4. The character traits associated with a genuine desire for other people’s accomplishment and success:

a. Integrityb. Maturityc. success

5. Skills of communication, planning and organisation, problem-solving

Empowerment, risk and resistance

Take into account the great love and great achievements involve risk.

The need for control dictates the extent to which empowerment is possible, some employees may abuse the increased power they gain; some may not have the desire or aptitude for the increased responsibility. Managers may resist empowerment as they will see it as taking power away from them. Junior managers and non-managerial employees may resist empowerment because the fear a lack of support from their bosses when they fail. They may also fear failure itself if they perceive a culture of blame.

Empowerment, knowledge manag ement a nd creativity

Empowering people means sharing knowledge with then. This means people need to have access to lessons learned. Leaders should participate in development programmes, mentor high-potential managers, and have senior managers share their mistakes and what they learned, and promote people who actively share knowledge to help the whole organisation.

Employees must feel sharing knowledge is part of their job and that it is recognised and rewarded. Many leaders reward performance, but not learning. Knowledge management is about people not IT. It is about learning, communication, using knowledge from various sources and developing a culture of knowledge sharing. Effective leaders share knowledge and information across the organisation and encourage informal sources of information (Dess and Picken, 2000).

There are some further implications for leadership. Creative people’s bosses must welcome disagreement and contrary views, using empathy and suspending judgement. Creative people must be made accountable for the changes they suggest. Creative ideas must reach the decision makers. In addition, those who are expected to implement creative ideas must be involved in the creative thinking process, with flexibility in applying them. All of this is required to create and reinforce a culture of creativity. For example, group creative activity requires a participative leadership style.

Further reading:

Chris Argyris (2000), Flawed advice and the management trap. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

K. Blanchard, J. P. Carlos and A. Randolph (1995), Empowerment takes more than a minute. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

William C. Byham (1988), Zapp! The lightening of empowerment. Pittsburgh, PA: Development Dimensions International Press.