The Magic of Empowerment

One of my favorite “tricks” to use in training sessions involves this question:

If I gave you a dollar today and you were able to double it every day (so tomorrow you would have $2 and the next day $4), how much money would you have on day 21?

Wait for it…

Believe it or not the answer is over $1,000,000! $1,048, 576 to be exact!

This is a great way to illustrate the power of compounding interest but it is also a good metaphor for business. The best way for a business to experience the explosive, exponential growth seen only in a handful of companies is to harness that same type of power. In business, the counterpart of compound interest is employee empowerment.

Or, as legendary sales trainer Zig Ziglar put it, “You don’t build a business. You build the people, then people build the business.”

Ok, admittedly, empowerment seems to be one of the corporate buzzwords of the moment, tossed about in management meetings, rarely followed and quickly forgotten. But before you toss it onto the stack of unfollowed sales trainings, change management strategies that didn’t work in your company, and yards of consultants’ reports and recommendations, consider the benefits of a REAL employee empowerment initiative.

1.      True empowerment reduces turnover.

Studies show that the majority of employees don’t like their jobs. A worldwide study by Gallup published by the Washington Post in 2013 put the number at over 80%. Even in 2014 Forbes reported that about ? of Americans enjoyed what they did. More interesting in the Forbes article was the fact that the number one reason people did like their job was simple: they were interested in what they did.

In 1913, Henry Ford’s assembly line was in full swing. Cars were being produced at record rates. What most don’t realize is that the assembly line took away the ownership, the pride of craftsmanship, that people craved. The result was rampant turnover. In 1913, Ford hired 53,000 people to keep its 14,000 positions staffed.

Years ago I had the opportunity to build and staff a department completely from scratch. I hired a group of people with no experience in the industry, trained them and required them to earn various applicable professional designations. I also told each one that his or her training period would work thus: for 6 months I would answer any question they asked. For the next six months, I would still help them, but only after they presented me with their solution first. After a year, my answer would most likely be “I don’t know, go figure it out.” Of course I would still get involved if needed.

The results were impressive. Turnover was virtually 0, every single one of the 6 core hires were promoted either in the organization or recruited to a higher position somewhere else. And, after almost 20 years, every single one is still involved in the industry.

How much does turnover cost your business?

"An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire, and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success."  --Stephen Covey

2.      Empowerment is a function of trust.

I learned early on that the willingness of a manager to truly empower employees boils down to one thing: trust. Those micromanagers so common in business are living by the principle that no one can do it as well as they can. Or, put another way, if you want something done, you need to do it yourself.” 

If you want to make twice the money you do now, can you just work twice as many hours? Maybe. What if you want to make three or four times as much? There aren’t enough hours in the day. The only way is to work smarter. 

This means hiring the right people, training them correctly, supporting them adequately, then letting them do their job. And it all starts with hiring the right people. The right person may not be the one with all the skills and degrees. The right person might require an investment by you in getting him or her up and running. But the right person is someone you can trust to carry out YOUR vision!

If you don’t feel like you can empower your employees, are you hiring the right people?

3.      With empowerment comes accountability.

One of the best books on empowerment came out a few years ago titled “The Oz Principle.” This was before Dr. Oz, but is, instead, based loosely on the theme of the Wizard of Oz.

Throughout the book is weaved the concept that with empowerment comes accountability. People are going to make mistakes and that is OK. As the “empowerer” of that person, you are going to create situations in which they can make mistakes, but not do substantial damage. As they become more competent (i.e., earn your trust), their sphere of influence will expand as well. They earn more empowerment!

According to The Oz Principle, empowered people SEE issues, OWN them, SOLVE problems, and DO what it takes to fix them. 

Unempowered people become victims. They cover their own rears, point fingers at others, cite their job description in defense (not my job!) and ignore issues, often under the guise of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

And they leave.

It then follows that feedback becomes ultra-important in an employee-empowered organization. Feedback must be delivered appropriately and, more importantly, frequently. An annual review is not going to cut it. Empowerment demands employment of the MBWA principle popularized years ago by Tom Peters and Tom Waterman in “In Search of Excellence.” (Management by Wandering Around.) That’s also a mainstay tenet in the Toyota Production System (LEAN). Managers must spend time where the work is done, not ten floors up in the executive lunchroom. It’s worked pretty well for them, huh?

Like so many other initiatives, perhaps your grand move to empowerment failed. Whose fault was that? Probably not the employees.

Tom Faulconer is an insurance and financial services executive looking to transform companies through empowerment and other proven management techniques. He can be reached at [email protected].