INSIGHTS (on leadership/self-leadership)
A good leader understands the importance of empowering their team to work freely and achieve goals without micromanagement.
But what happens when empowering the organization isn’t working? Research shows it happens more often than you think.
Here are the top three reasons empowerment fails, and what you can do to prevent empowerment from backfiring.
1. Absence of trust. Empowerment fails when employees don’t understand why they are suddenly being empowered and don’t believe that management will actually keep their hands off if something goes wrong.
The fix: Take the time to explain the reason for empowerment. If the team runs into trouble along the way, facilitate, don’t fix (help facilitate finding a solution, but don’t step in and take over).
2. Fear of failure paralyzes them. Having autonomy comes with more responsibility. That worries a lot of people if they aren’t used to it. To the point that they may become overly cautious out of fear of making a mistake.
The fix: Discuss with your team the importance of not playing to lose. Show up in a way that feels to them that you’re assisting success, rather than trying to avoid failure.
3. They’re not ready for the empowerment/don’t want it. This, especially, happens more than you think.
The fix: Provide the resources they need to help them succeed in the empowered state. Too often, leaders make empowerment feel like they’re dumping work rather than effectively delegating it. In other words, do the work it takes to give away the work. And explain the benefits of being empowered (freedom to operate, personal learning and growth, speed of execution, etc.)
IMPERFECTIONS (a mistake many make)
I recently attended a Glen Hansard concert, where the singer shared a story about a friend who had just finished a long vacation touring many countries. He asked his friend what the best part of the trip was. The friend answered:
I was overwhelmed by the number of kind, caring people I met. It reminded me that there are 8 billion people on earth, but only about 10 million are fighting.
That’s a tenth of a percent.
The point is, he was reminded that there is so much good to look for, so much peace and harmony. It’s easy to make the mistake of forgetting that when the world feels so broken.
So, the next time you find yourself down and discouraged about the state of affairs in the world, remember to STOP… and:
See The Overwhelming Peace.
IMPLEMENTATION (one research-backed strategy, tip, or tool)
Here’s an easy way to make high-performers feel valued.
Have a marketing plan for them.
Here’s what I mean. Career advancement can be especially important to your superstars. Just like a brand needs exposure and “brand impressions” to be bought, so do people. Get your superstar exposure to key career influencers. Help them make high-quality brand impressions at key times with those influencers. Know their exact contributions so you can talk them up in talent reviews. Ensure key stakeholders see them in action. Put your marketing plan on paper and share it with them–without creating unrealistic expectations. They’ll be blown away at the thought you’ve put into their career advancement.
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