Empowered

Assignment 2

Subrata Behera

Northwestern University

Foundations of Leadership – MMI 481

Summary

I would like to summarize an article called “Empowered” by Josh Bernoff and Ted

Schadler. New technologies and the evolution of social media have made it possible for single

dissatisfied customer to inflict lasting damage to a particular brand. The article lists various

experiments taken by large organizations to empower there employees to solve customer

problems. It is a new and challenging concept to put in place for any organization in today’s

world with social media where any wrong step by an organization can have serious repercussions

to its image. Empowering employees to experiment with new technologies, making high-profile

decisions on the fly, to build the systems that customer can see and to speak for the organization

is a tricky issue and most of the organizations are too scared to deal with the same.

The article provides many examples of various organizations that have empowered their

employees to speak on their behalf. Best Buy as an organization is also susceptible to negative

online publicity, but were able to deal with the same faster as they have empowered employees

from its workforce who can respond quickly. The Twelpforce program is one such example and

has been a success. The program had participation of the about 2,500 employees from various

divisions and they acted as the eyes and ears of the company responding to online customer

complaints and resolving the same, thus saving Best Buy embarrassment in the online media.

The article speaks about the concept of HEROes. Managers and IT managers need to give

these resources (HEROes – highly empowered and resourceful operatives) guidance, help and

limits. The HERO refers to employees who innovate with technology helping the organization.

In most organizations empowering employees to use technology is often meet with resistance.

Technology has always been under the control of IT to prevent chaos and limits the risk. To deal

with empowered customers organizations need to empower employees. Thus the solution called

HERO compact and have the following characteristics. HEROes agree to innovate within a safe

framework: Operate safely within the set policies of the organization. Aware of customer needs

and use technology to better serve customers. Managers agree to encourage innovation and

mange risk: Make innovation a priority. Support HEROes by empowering them and work with

IT to manage risks. IT agrees to setup and scale up HERO projects: Empowers the HEROes with

technology. Helps in scaling up the innovation and provides tools to manage the risks.

The organizations that have implemented the HEROes approach have a common attitude

towards their employees and encouraged employee innovation. The leaders/managers at those

organizations followed the following for principles: Firstly, communicating clearly the corporate

priorities to the employees. Secondly, encourage innovation and experimentation as long it is

doesn’t affect the brand image and steers clear of any identified security risks. Thirdly, they

tolerate failure as long as it leads to learning and applying the lessons learned to make the other

projects a success. Fourthly, create an organization culture which allows the HEROes to share

their learning and connect with other like minded in individuals facing the same issues.

The organizations future is dependent on employees who are up for innovation in this fast

faced age of internet and social media. It is up to the management to decide whether they would

like to be secretive and lock down IT systems and conveying a message to the employees that

they are not trusted and there no room for innovation. Else recognize the need that employees

hold the key to customer issues and find a way to stimulate, harness and channel their

innovations. Research has proved that the technical innovation can start anywhere in the

company. It is the key for the organization that it has the necessary infrastructure in place so that

the innovators can become HEORes.

Application in Organizations

I really liked the quote in the article “Concentrate a little more on saying “Yes, and here’s

how,” and less on saying “No, that’s unsafe/too expensive/not possible.”” This quote represents

the dilemma faced my most of the leaders/managers in any organization. The dilemma is

whether to loosen the organizational policies and allow innovation to occur. The leader/manager

of today should be open for new innovation and should be a contributor and work towards

getting the roadblocks cleared in order to make way for new ideas (Bernoff and Schadler 2010).

I like the HEROes concept where the various units in an organization can come together,

collaborate and create a product that can in turn benefit the organization. This concept can be

used by any organization that is willing to change its culture and ready for innovation. With

respect to the healthcare industry this can be helpful and can be put towards good use. For e.g.

the admission department at a hospital has mentioned that the check in process takes a long time

and the wait time has increased substantially with the new patient registration system being

recently installed.

HEROes agree to innovate within a safe framework: The registration clerk who recently joined

the time has seen self check in kiosks work at other places and reduced check in time. He comes

with a proposal to have the new process implemented for check in.

Managers agree to encourage innovation and mange risk: Admission managers try working out

the details with the leadership and other departments to pave the way for the install. They help in

getting any legal roadblock cleared for the new installation.

IT agrees to setup and scale up HERO projects: Helps ironing out the details of the new system

install and helps understand the risks associated with the new check in process.

References:

Bernoff, J. and T. Schadler (2010). "Empowered." Harvard Business Review: 94.