There’s a right way and a wrong way to do something. All too often people complain because things aren’t working as they should, and by investigating exactly what is happening, the answer turns out that the “right†goal is being pursued, but the actions people are taking are faulty. It’s analogous to leadership vs. management: the former makes sure you’re going in the right direction; the latter makes sure you’re doing it correctly. Delegation isn’t enough; management must be sure that workers are equipped (responsibly empowered) to execute as desired in order for people to achieve the goals set by the leaders.
Human Resources often is committed to talent management: hiring the right people, engaging, training and empowering people to take on those responsibilities which will lead to goal achievement – for the individual, team and company. Yet, all too often employees and freelancers fail to deliver on the hiring promise, leading managers to wonder why the people they supervise “isn’t the person they hired.â€Â (Barry Deutsch).
“Responsible empowerment†requires more than just issuing a job description, telling the person to take charge, and then reviewing in a global annual review. It means making sure the worker is properly empowered to do the job correctly through ongoing reviews at dyadic accountability and improvement meetings.
- Providing a detailed description of a person’s job responsibilities and the standards by which performance will be evaluated.
- Reviewing with new employees as often as necessary what challenges they’re having in fulfilling their jobs, enabling the person to adjust behaviors to “get it rightâ€, and providing ongoing feedback including steps for improvement. (For instance, during the first month, each employee and supervisor might meet weekly, then monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and eventually annually. Whenever the person has a changed job description, the cycle begins again in relation to the new activities. (See eval2win.com.)
Without ongoing accountability for mastering one’s job responsibilities, supposed empowerment is likely to fail. For the supervisor, responsible empowerment includes addressing a range of leadership and management issues. Does the employee have the skills and tools and motivation to do the job well? If not, enable him/her. For long-term employees, just because he/she did the job originally hired for well, doesn’t mean he/she will be competent with new responsibilities (e.g., the Peter Principle). Are there other members in the team that are making it difficult to do the job? If so, address these issues with those members, after getting input from others involved to determine the facts. (Vistage CEOs often share that they hire too fast, fire too slow and almost always discover that other were grateful that the person was finally let go!)
In sum, be a leader who builds a great team with effective management systems. As a manager, use responsible empowerment to ensure that each worker know exactly what he/she should be doing, how it contributes to the strategic direction of the company, and ongoing, job discussions, performance monitoring, with suggestions for continuous improvement.
How are you ensuring that you use responsible empowerment – and not just delegation? Share your experiences.