Empowerment

by: Larry Girouard

Empowerment: Is all you have to fear, just fear itself?

Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his first inaugural address in 1933, stated that the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. The depression had reached its depth in 1933, and there was little reason for optimism.

This quote came to mind as I was writing this article. Fear is a most powerful emotion and can motivate people into action, or inaction, depending on the circumstances. Regarding employee empowerment in business, most business owners want to empower their employees to make decisions because they recognize the value of a motivate workforce, as well as the cost of an unmotivated one.

It is important to note that employee empowerment does not mean providing employees with absolute power over their work environment. Empowerment is best defined as the extent of both responsibility and authority given to an employee, or to a team of employees. Effective empowerment requires an open dialogue between the manager and the employee.

That said, what business owners and managers usually fear is the cost of empowerment. This fear is steeped in their concern that employees will not think the way they do regarding the decisions these employees would make, thereby costing the company in some way. One thing for sure is that business owners do not have good decisions cornered. There is plenty of bad decision making to go around in the executive suite. It is really an arrogant position for a president to take when they feel that they are in the best position to make decisions as compared to their employees.

When you think about it, employees do what they do every day. They know their segment of the business better than anyone else, and therefore are in the best position to make decisions that would have a positive impact on what they do as it relates to the success of the company. For employee empowerment to be credible, the business owner must accept the reality that the employee is in a position to make good decisions, even better than decisions business owners would make. To really empower employees, owners must have the courage to support the employee’s decision – even if it is counter to their own intuition.

The fear of empowerment actually goes both ways. While management fears letting go of control, and the potential business repercussions that might follow, the employees who are the recipients of that empowerment have fears also. Empowerment represents change in the status quo for them. James O’Toole, in his book Leading Change stated “ … people resist change due to the fundamental human objection to having the will of others imposed upon them…”.

Employees fear change because they feel it will negatively impact them in some way. Perhaps this is because of a basic distrust employees have in management, and therefore they work very hard to preserve the “we have always done it that way” culture. There is a certain security in the maintaining the status quo because it is predictable, and in the eyes of the beholder, 100% rational.

There are many reasons why employees resist change, a form of which is empowerment. A few prime reasons are: loss of their job if they make a mistake, fear of the unknown, sense that they are not capable of making these types of decisions, the possible loss of a support system (peers), poor communication from above, and past experience with management.

To improve corporate performance, employees must be engaged and empowered to make decisions for the things they have control over. Leadership must encourage this empowerment through their own actions. The fear of letting go control by leadership and the fear of taking more control by the employees is an acquired taste. There is one thing that is certain in this evolution – leadership must lead this transition by example. Leadership cannot have its privilege. Organizations to not transform, people do.

Empowerment seems like an obvious solution in order to best align the effort of management and the employees toward a successful implementation of strategy. The process of empowerment implementation takes time because of the fears discussed above. These fears are real for both sides and need to be addressed as part of the transition process. As employees are more empowered to improve the processes that surround them every day, their job satisfaction level will improve, and they will become more engaged. This addresses the coveted win/win in decision making:

• Employees are happy because they can solve more problems.
• Customers are happy because problems get solved faster.
• Bosses are happy because they aren’t constantly interrupted.

If management generally agrees with the business advantages of employee empowerment, yet fear is the biggest hurdle that management must first overcome, it is suggested that a beta site within the company be set up. Pick an area within the company and try empowerment to see if the area can be improved by the employees. Set up a few rules regarding expenditures that employees can implement without management approval, and have them work with an outside consultant as needed to help them with process optimization.

Before any changes are made, measure the current state performance level of the processes in question. This is most important because improvement without measurement has no meaning to anyone. Every journey begins with the first step. It takes courage to change, but the benefits of empowerment, if done correctly, make it well worth the risk.

Larry Girouard

CEO of the Business Avionix Company, LCC, A Business Consulting Firm

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