Empowerment

"to enable, permit and allow responsibility and accountability for an action or decision".
Macquarie Dictionary

"EMPOWERMENT" can only succeed in an environment where the desire for empowerment is greater than the desire for power. However, the worst method of seeking to implement empowerment is by abdication of management responsibility i.e. "from next Monday onwards you are an empowered workforce". Does a responsible parent give a child its first bicycle without considering how the child is going to learn how to cycle?.

Successful implementation of empowerment is a "Process" not a single event. The "Process" is heavily dependant on the leader’s ability to coach/facilitate the employees to a higher level of ability and autonomy. The knowledge, understanding, skill and motivation levels of the employees dictate the level of empowerment at any given time. The leader’s job is to coach/facilitate the employees training and development so that they can move up the competency ladder and thereby be in a position to take on greater levels of empowerment in a confident and comfortable manner.

The "Process" of implementing empowerment, like all business processes should be well thought out, clearly defined with the inputs and outputs fully understood. To achieve successful implementation it is imperative that the relationship between "competency" and "autonomy" levels for individuals and groups/teams of employees is clearly understood, measurable & documented. Therefore it is critical for the successful implementation of empowerment that the leaders responsible be fully trained and educated in all elements of the "Process".

Many organizations have started the journey towards empowerment but only those with a clear roadmap have completed the trip. The route is littered with well intentioned but misguided companies.