BiteSizedTraining Empowerment

© Mind Tools Ltd, 2008. 1

Bite-Sized Scenario TrainingTM:Empowerment and

Delegation

Bite-Sized Scenario Training™ The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club™

Bite-Sized Scenario Training™:

Empowerment and Delegation This e-booklet is published by: Mind Tools Limited Copyright © Mind Tools 2008. All rights reserved. Version 1.0 This e-book is protected by international copyright law. It may only be copied and used by registered members of the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club™. If you receive this publication and you are not a member of the Career Excellence Club, please notify us at [email protected].



Bite-Sized Scenario Training™:

Empowerment and Delegation To compete in today’s business environment, companies have to rely on the knowledge, energy, and creativity of every employee they have. From those on the front lines to those in the back office, the ability to capture and make the most of people’s ideas is essential to business success. In an organizational system with directors, managers and supervisors, how can you give people the freedom they need to be able to contribute meaningfully to their work? The answer lies in empowerment. Empowerment practices give workers opportunities to use judgment and discretion in their work, and participate more fully in decisions that impact themselves. By reallocating power from the upper levels of the company, and giving lower level workers more control, you can start to bring your company’s vision to life through every person in the organization. Some people balk at giving away power, and when it’s done haphazardly or half-heartedly empowerment is not usually very successful. Effective empowerment is a delicate balance, where you need to know how much support and guidance to give, and how much control to keep. Once their managers master this skill, empowered employees feel much more a part of the organization, and their commitment levels and satisfaction increase significantly. This Bite-Sized Training™ scenario is designed to help you find that balance in your workplace. We’ll provide some empowerment basics, and then discuss how you can use delegation to empower people effectively. Then you’ll have an opportunity to apply your knowledge, and suggest what should have been done in two scenarios where people have made mistakes with empowerment. As you work though the lesson you’ll learn:

• The basic attitudes necessary for an empowered workplace. • The key elements of empowerment, and how to develop these in yourself and

your team. • How empowered delegation can improve workplace performance.

Share your thoughts and experience, or ask any questions of your Mind Tools’ trainer at the Bite-Sized Training™ forum, by replying to the posting for this lesson. Just visit the “Bite-Sized Scenario Training: Empowerment and Delegation” thread of the Bite-Sized Training forum here http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5.


http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5


Empowerment Empowerment is an emotionally-charged and value-laden word. It is used to describe giving economic and political power to marginalized populations. It is used in self-help circles to describe building self-awareness, feeling more confident in one’s abilities, and improving self-motivation. For the purposes of career development and leadership excellence, we refer to empowerment as allowing people the freedom and responsibility to accomplish their goals and objectives, without being told exactly what to do, when, or how. Empowerment provides the means and opportunity for people to do what they know needs doing, and to do that in a manner that they choose, according to their experience and judgment. It’s very much a “pull” strategy whereby the work environment is designed so that workers develop intrinsic reasons to meet objectives and perform to expectations. In the modern workplace where change, complexity and competition are all in overdrive, trying to control work, maintain formal rules and standards, and issue top-down mandates is slow and cumbersome. Flexibility, autonomy and trust allow organizations to be much more dynamic. Producing these conditions, though, requires letting go and giving up some control. Letting others make decisions, set goals, and reap the rewards of their accomplishments isn’t necessarily easy. When you’re assigned to lead, the natural reaction is to take charge, run a tight ship, and make sure people follow orders. The flip side of this, unfortunately, is that the people who are being given your orders may feel disengage and demotivated. By learning to empower people you keep their motivation high and your anxiety low. This combination is ripe for high performance and high satisfaction. When workers are empowered they:

• Trust that information will be shared with them. • Perform work that is meaningful. • Have significant control over the work they do. • Are confident they have the ability to meet objectives. • Believe their opinion counts. • Are self-motivated to complete high quality work.

Why People Don’t Empower Given this compelling list of what an empowered worker feels and does, it’s hard to understand why empowerment isn’t second nature. There are three main reasons for the reluctance of people in charge to empower those they work with: Personal insecurity – many people associate being in charge with reaping rewards. By holding onto control of the most high-profile tasks and protecting their expertise and information, they believe that they can maintain their status and power. Working on



things themselves means they get the glory, and that those activities are done exactly the way they want (which means they’re done best, right?) Need for control – people who don’t empower others often enjoy the feeling of being powerful that comes from being in charge. And they link giving orders with achieving objectives. Giving explicit directions and setting strict performance goals means that what they want done will get done on their terms. Managerial presumptions – many people in management positions believe that they are simply more competent than those they manage. The notion that their direct reports would relish more responsibility and enjoy expanding their skill sets is unfathomable. If they had these desires, surely they’d be managers themselves! More than this, they may subscribe to “Theory X” – the assumption that people tend to shirk responsibility and slack when not closely supervised – rather than Theory Y”, which assumes that people are happy to work and will give their best if helped to do so. (Premium Members can read more at: http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newLDR_74.htm.) As outlandish as these assumptions may sound, there may be a ring of truth to each of them, no matter how much you believe yourself to be completely open to the idea of empowering others. The risk and uncertainly of a situation can bring out the need to control in all of us. That’s why you need to understand the dynamics of empowerment and make a conscious effort to practice them consistently. Developing Empowerment When you empower people they feel competent, they understand that they have control over their work, and they derive value and meaning from their work. This can produce a great deal of trust and satisfaction. To create this type of work environment, there are four key elements you need to provide: 1. Personal mastery – create situations where people can experience success. The

more accomplished a person feels, the more confident they are to tackle more responsibility and more complexity. This creates a highly competent individual capable of achieving great things.

• Recognize small accomplishments. • Provide opportunities for small-wins. • Increase responsibility and challenge slowly and regularly. • Provide opportunities to manage and lead others.

2. Compelling vision – paint a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished and

why. Link the everyday work to the big picture and allow your team to find ways to connect the dots.

• Talk about values. • Create positive emotions around the current objectives. • Communicate results often. • Use motivating language and keep excitement levels high.


http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newLDR_74.htm


3. Sufficient information, resources, and support – the more information people have to work with, the better able they are to recognize what needs to be done. When they have the resources and support to use that information to the best of their ability, you create a really empowering environment. When you provide these necessary foundations, you send the message that you trust your people to find the best way to do something, and you are in their corner, rooting for their success.

• Provide a context for the work that is needed. • Talk about progress and give regular status reports. • Check to make sure people have sufficient time, space, training, equipment, and

so on to achieve their objectives. • Take time to really listen to workers’ concerns. • Use open communication to help people cope with uncertainty and change.

4. Trustworthiness – for people to feel empowered they have to believe you can be

trusted to back them up. Just as it is scary to give up some of your control, it can be equally scary to accept that control. In an environment of trust, your team is free to experiment, to learn and grow, and to contribute their ideas freely without feeling judged or intimidated.

• Be reliable, consistent, and dependable. • Do what you say and walk the walk. • Be fair and apply the same standards to everyone. • Show you care about each person’s success. • Maintain openness and be honest. • Demonstrate your own competence and skill so that your team knows their trust

in you is deserved. Empowered Delegation When you put all the elements of empowerment together you have the conditions required for successful, effective delegation. Because the work that needs to get done within organizations depends on delegation and task allocation, empowerment is essential. In a complex team environment, no one person can do everything, so creating conditions where everyone feels responsible for and capable of achieving success is crucial. This is done through empowered delegation. From this perspective, delegation becomes much more than a time management tool. It is used as a personal development tool to build individual capabilities, encourage personal success, enhance trust, and improve work coordination. When work is delegated without any of the elements of empowerment, commitment isn’t always generated and feelings of resentment and confusion can surface. Empowered delegation expands the capabilities of others. Making sure you delegate work meaningfully, fairly, and consistently is the challenging part of bringing empowerment to your delegation decisions. Actions that undermine effective empowerment and delegation include:



• Second guessing decisions (using hindsight critically). • Giving and then rescinding responsibility. • Failing to hand over all of the information the other person requires to complete

the task. • Giving up all accountability for delegated tasks when responsibility for carrying it

out is delegated. • Focusing on the methods used to carry out the task, rather than the end results.

If you look at delegation as both a way to free up your time to concentrate on your work priorities and as a way to develop the skills and competencies of the rest of team, you have the recipe for empowered delegation. This creates the perfect foundation for a high performing workplace – one where workers feel confident in their ability to perform and where teams find ways to maximize everyone’s contributions.

For more tips on effective delegation, see our articles on avoiding micromanagement at http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=698 and on successful delegation athttp://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1997.


http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=698

http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1997


Scenarios Now that you’ve learned more about empowerment and its application to delegation, test your understanding with these two scenarios. As you read, ask yourself if you’d feel empowered in the situation and whether the leader is applying the basic elements of empowerment.

Scenario 1

Belinda had just been promoted to Manager of a branch for a national bank. Her boss at Head Office, Jonathon, was a real go-getter and a very dynamic person. His expectations were that she would manage the branch and make it one of the top branches in the country. Having worked her way up in other branches within the organization she understood the challenges her front line staff experienced. One of her first decisions was to increase the pay scale points of the five experienced bank clerks in her branch to bring them in line with other administrative personnel in the organization as a whole. When Jonathon heard about this he commented that it was risky move and he was upset she hadn’t run the decision by him first. He was worried about the precedent it set for other branches in his region and he also felt it made him look like he didn’t have control over his people. Belinda stood her ground and defended her decision and prepared to back-up her decision with performance measurements that she would track regularly. A few weeks later, when a regional Women In Business magazine approached Belinda to do a feature on her job and progression in her career Belinda was very excited. She figured it would be a great chance to inspire other women about the finance industry and to promote her branch and her approach to customer service. The day after the magazine was distributed, Jonathon called to express his disappointment that she had gone ahead with the article without consulting him. He pointed out that the bank had communication and public relation specialists who were highly trained in handling the media were the only ones who should be making public statements. Belinda apologized and said she would educate herself regarding these types of policies. A month or so after this incident, a customer came to the branch with a $10,000 check in foreign currency. He was a regular customer who had had an account with the branch for 35 years. Policy stated that any foreign currency check deposit over $2,500 be held for five days until the money cleared the originating bank. Belinda told the customer she was not authorized to clear the funds immediately. About an hour later she received a phone call from Jonathon who was livid. The customer had called Head Office asking what could be done to clear the funds quicker. Jonathon reminded Belinda that this was a long term customer who did all of his banking with them, had a mortgage with them, and significant investments as well. He told her she needed to use more common sense when handling delicate matters like this and was very upset he now had to run damage control for her. When Belinda got off the phone she was ready to quit.



Questions

Has Belinda been empowered in her role as Branch Manager? Why or why not? Discuss in terms of fundamental elements of empowerment and delegation. .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................

What do you think Jonathon needs to do differently so that Belinda doesn’t quit? .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................

What advice would you give Belinda for dealing with Jonathon? .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................



Scenario 2

It’s Brad’s fourth day on the job. He’s a Creative Director for an advertising company. He’s been assigned a campaign to create and he has a team of people he can allocate work to. There are three other Creative Directors with the same type of portfolio that he has and they all report to the George. George believes that his team of Creative Directors has what it takes to get the work done. He tells them all the time that they are doing a fabulous job and trusts that they will achieve the results he expects. Simply put, he expects them to create an amazing ad campaign to present to him for approval within the three or four weeks given. Brad dives right in. He masterminds a provocative ad for a new store. He describes his basic concept to his team at their first meeting and sends them off to do their work. George trusts him to manage the project and he trusts his team to deliver the goods. This is a creative shop and everyone needs a lot of space to think outside his or her box. As Brad talks to his colleagues he is confident in the relaxed approach he’s taken. The other project managers have been given lots of leeway from George and they seem to be doing great. So giving his own team a lot of freedom to bring his vision to life must be the right approach. At the beginning of the third week, Brad calls his team together to consolidate everyone’s efforts. He’s horrified by the results. The copy is feeble, the artwork totally amateur, and even the tag line has been totally changed from the first meeting. He trusted these people to produce. This company’s management philosophy is built on trust and empowerment and he can’t understand how these incompetent people have managed to keep their jobs this long. Surely he’s been given the worst team at the firm. After he finishes lecturing everyone on the poor execution of his vision and sending them off with specific instructions and timelines for what he wants done, he phones George to request a meeting - he’d like to discuss a team reassignment.

Questions

What went wrong here? After all, Brad gave his team a vision and handed over responsibility to execute it. Why were they not able to deliver? ......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................



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What is Brad’s idea of empowerment? What elements does he use and not use to create an empowered workplace? .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................

What is George’s responsibility in all of this? What can he do to help Brad adjust to his new position? .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................................................... ..........................................................................................................................................

Don’t forget – to get the most out of this scenario-based training, post your answers in the Empowerment and Delegation thread of the Bite-Sized Training forum here: http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5, and discuss other members ideas there too. We’ll publish some suggested solutions during the week after this Bite-Sized Scenario Training session is first released.


BiteSizedTraining Empowerment

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