ISSUE REPORT NO Seven Principles for Employee Empowerment

Transcription

1 ISSUE REPORT NO Seven Principles for Employee Empowerment YE Ji-Eun July 2012

2 I. Barriers to Sharing Decision-making A recent IBM Research survey of 1,700 high-ranking managers in 64 countries found that empowering employees is a key factor in achieving outstanding corporate performance. A gap between recognition of the need for empowerment, and actual practice, however, persists in many organizations. Three types of barriers to empowerment are commonly found in companies. First, leaders may feel anxiety about their own job security. They equate empowering employees to ceding control and fear it will backfire on them, endangering their position. Second, distrust in employees hinders the delegation of authority. Leaders may doubt their employees ability to perform important tasks properly without close supervision. Third, lack of communication may leave employees unable to deliver results that live up to expectations. Unsatisfactory performance can result in an attitude of If I want it done right, I should do it myself among leaders, hindering their efforts for better communication. On the other hand, employee response to lack of empowerment differs according to their mindset and capability. Employees who want to show their capabilities and think that they are up to important tasks may feel low work motivation and morale. However, those who think they are less capable themselves may not want significant changes to their duties. Some may even feel secure by working on directions with no power and thus no responsibility. The speed of change in today s business environment and the complex internal and external challenges that companies face has made it impossible for one person, or even a small circle of senior executives, to efficiently manage all operations themselves. Middle managers and rank-and-file employees must be sufficiently empowered if they are to effectively satisfy customer needs. This paper presents seven principles to overcome obstacles to employee empowerment.

3 Figure 1. Obstacles to Employee Empowerment and Seven Principles II. Seven Principles for Employee Empowerment 1. Empowerment is the extension, not the dilution, of authority Obviously, leaders recognition of power affects empowerment. Their obsession with power hinders them from ceding control, doing harm to the development of skills by subordinates and performance of the whole organization. For example, Henry Ford who invented the Ford Model T, the world s first automobile mass produced on moving assembly lines, forbade shifts in models for nearly two decades since the launching of the Model T. He even broke up a new model built by a company designer. Ford was notorious for regarding employees as parts to be regularly interchanged and for closely supervising and undervaluing them. It was not until 1927 when the Model T s market share plunged to 28% (from a peak of 50% in 1914) that he allowed the roll out of a new Model A. Empowerment is not a zero-sum proposition of ceding authority. Rather, empowerment means the broad extension of influence throughout the organization. Empowerment allows employees the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities, extending the power of leaders.

4 John Maxwell, an expert on leadership, describes this as the paradox of empowerment. Empowerment leads to personal growth among employees, resulting in an improvement in team performance. This in turn enhances recognition of the capabilities of leaders, expanding their scope of authority. Figure 2. Two Perspectives on Empowerment Perspective My behavior Counterpart s behavior Total value Dilution (loss/gain) I give power to you (-1) You take power from me (+1) = 0 (zero-sum) Extension We share influence with each We share influence with each >1 + >1 = (gain/share) other and with others (>1) other and with others (>1) Unlimited Source: Empowering Employees, Murrell, K. & Meredith, M. (2004). 2. Define the scope and content of empowered work Empowerment can make leaders and employees alike uncomfortable if the scope and duties of authority are not clearly defined. In this case, leaders may be concerned as to whether employees fully understand their enlarged responsibilities, or whether the role of employees will infringe on the domain of leaders. Employees may also become confused about the amount of freedom they are assuming and the specific expectations that management has of them. When empowering employees, leaders must be explicit about what is involved and the goals that must be reached. The scope of authority delegated needs to be explained in detail to raise employees sense of responsibility. The duration of authority, partners available for assistance and specific targets also need to be specified. 3. Understand and develop employees capabilities Even if employees are empowered, empowerment will fail if employees cannot cope with their new duties. Before introducing any empowerment related changes, companies need to fully understand the capabilities and strengths of individual employees. Understanding the skill sets and speeds of each employee will facilitate the proper matching of assignments.

5 Any shortcomings, of course, will require coaching that can be addressed through companywide training. Starbucks, for example, simultaneously shut down 7,000 shops in the US for three hours in 2008, when the company was underperforming. To revive the Starbucks experience in the minds of customers, it re-trained its 130,000 employees on how to make the perfect cup of coffee. Coaching and feedback are also important to improve the specialization of employees. At telecommunications company Ericsson, managers and employees meet six times a year to discuss what to do to improve employee skills. Peer learning is an effective way to disseminate practical knowledge among employees. For example, Google established an internal database for classes on diverse topics, including jobrelated certificates to boost peer learning. Employees can make and upload educational videos to the database or just use them. This way, they become teachers and students to their co-workers. 4. Help employees accumulate successful experience Employees capabilities and confidence are strengthened further when they perform challenging tasks. The challenge is finding the right balance in assignments. If the work is too difficult, it can be intimidating. But if it is not difficult enough it will not force employees to go beyond their comfort zone. By assigning work that is one step higher than employees capabilities, leaders can help them accumulate experience and gain confidence for bigger challenges. Karl Weick, a professor of business at the University of Michigan, calls this a small wins strategy. When assigning tasks, leaders must ensure that employees have opportunities to understand the whole process of their work. Situations where only a small number of employees assume simple work that denies them such opportunities must be avoided. Proctor & Gamble, for example, has new employees perform tasks that allow them to understand the entire operations of their division. Through the Early Responsibility program, P&G focuses on making employees fully understand their duties and gain a sense of accomplishment after completing their task.

6 5. Allow for autonomy in work Granting autonomy to employees involves delegating the details of work to employees within a broad framework. When employees are internally motivated to choose the path they think best, rather than relying on prefabricated directions and manuals, company performance as a whole will improve. US Internet company Zappos, a retailer of shoes and apparel, has no customer response manual at its call centers. Zappos allows employees to decide how best to confer with customers. This is in sharp contrast to other Internet shopping companies, which have detailed work manuals and assess employees by the number of customers they handle per hour. Zappos goal is to provide a Wow experience in customer service. The wide latitude given to employees produces a workplace environment that is unimaginable at other companies. It is not uncommon to see a Zappos service representative on the phone with a single customer for hours, or even giving customers recommendations on how to get what they want at Zappos rivals. Despite their unconventional methods, sales at Zappos continue to rise steadily amid a growing influx of Thank you letters from customers. Autonomy, as always, requires that employees have a sense of responsibility. Managers must clearly inform employees that more autonomy requires more responsibility, and their freedom to make decisions must not harm corporate value or exert negative influence on corporate performance. 6. Ask open-ended questions and listen closely Leaders may prematurely give up on empowerment initiatives when they are dissatisfied with the results of the work they assign. They tend to think that it is more efficient and effective to do things themselves rather than discuss objectives. However, spending time and effort to communicate with employees is a prerequisite to ensure successful empowerment. One way to pre-empt disappointment is to ask open-ended questions such as How is the project going? or What areas do you need help with? instead of questions that can be answered with a firm yes or no. Such questions facilitate communication and thus prevent something totally unexpected from happening in the end. The next step is to listen carefully.

7 If leaders cut off employees responses and don t pay enough attention to talks with employees, employees will feel their opinion and suggestions are not being heard or respected. 7. Give positive feedback Leaders need to provide positive feedback when employees do their jobs well. Compliments and acknowledgements enhance their confidence. In many cases, however, leaders austerely ration positive comments, forfeiting opportunities to inform employees about where their strengths lie. Management guru Peter Drucker has said, The role of a leader is to harmonize and integrate the strengths of members of the organization. Allowing employees to see the results of their work themselves is another way of providing feedback. Meeting with consumers who have actually used the work assigned to employees or opening consumers thank you letters within companies are examples. Medtronic, a US medical equipment producer, regularly invites people who survived illness using its medical devices to internal presentations. Let s Go Publications passes thank you letters from people who ventured overseas using the company s travel guides to all employees. When leaders give negative feedback to employees, they must be careful to do so without emotion. Comments must be restricted to areas needing improvement and ways to improve them. Dr. Stephen Covey, a US educator and author of the bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, suggested STC (Stop-Think-Choose) as a way to control emotion. The STC model advises that in situations where emotion clouds judgment, you should stop (take a pause), think (calm down), and choose (judge and react based on the expected results). In other words, leaders should avoid reflexive and emotional reactions by allowing more time between stimulus and response. III. Implications The foundation of empowerment is trust between leaders and their subordinates. Leaders should show trust in their subordinates first. If leaders lack confidence in their employees and

8 think empowerment reduces their power, they cannot instill self-confidence in the workforce. Empowerment can be successful only when leaders are committed to trusting and enhancing the capabilities of employees. Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, said, The conductor of an orchestra doesn t make a sound. He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful. Likewise, leaders should steer employees into roles that enhance their skills and develop initiative, including higher roles like examining the overall strategy of an organization. This is the essence of empowerment.