The Thin Line - From power to empowerment

‘I’m so done with it. Any idea how much time we actually already spent on this Agile Transformation?’ One of the C-suite leaders deliberately kicks off their board meeting before everyone is well and truly seated. ‘Time and again I tell the people in the teams that they are fully empowered, but somehow, they just don’t grasp it. I am sitting on both hands, but as it is now, this is going to cost us.'

Before their CEO can even blink with her eyes, the whole team is in a heated discussion. There are all kinds of reasons why their transformation gets stuck, like people who are not willing to change. There is no good overview of what to work on and so on. When the team seems to calm down a bit, their CEO puts forward the following question:

‘Can it be that we, as leaders have to do something different? That if we want to empower people in the organisation, we are actually the ones that have to take a different approach?’

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There is a thin line between power and empowerment

?Empowerment has to do with delegating, participating, autonomy, responsibility and having a choice. Whereas power is mostly relating to a person, organisation or country that has control over others. There also lies the complexity in the matter. Organisations that want to shift towards a more agile way of working, traditionally have a hierarchical structure with processes and a leadership system based on command and controlling mechanisms. Agile organisations on the other hand, aim for aligned autonomy and a leadership system based on trust.

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According to Stan McChrystal, author of Team of teams, if you want to empower people you have to create an environment of:

• Shared consciousness: leaders and teams have to have the same information available.
• Common understanding: everyone agrees what the mission is and when it is successful.
• Sufficient skills and competence to execute the operation.
• A fail-safe environment or psychological safety; people should not feel blame when something goes wrong, a system where it is safe to fail.

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Empowerment cannot just be given, as a leader you have to ensure that your team has what it needs to use this empowerment wisely. That this requires a new form of leadership is indisputable. I would like to argue that this is a widely known challenge. Just open any newspaper, read up on research like the latest report of the Business Agility Institute for instance or my company’s own practices and experiences in leading Agile Transformations.

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Building change capabilities on all levels is a must

It is a misconception to think that the biggest change comes down to employees who become part of self-organising or multidisciplinary teams. Another common misconception we encounter, is to think that only employees require education, training, or coaching to learn and understand the new intercompany roles and new way of working. ‘Leads’ often wear two hats, while they still have to learn to:

1) understand what exactly their new role entails,

2) let go of the reins,

3) break out of patterns, and

4) help employees navigate the path towards the company’s unique form of Business Agility.

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The ability of Leaders to learn these changes to their roles are crucial to the success of the transformation.

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65% of senior executives described their leadership team as ineffective, and only roughly one in five find their executive teams to be high-performing and ; only 18% rated their team as “very effective” with respect to their executive team responsibilities, according to a survey published by The Center for Creative Leadership Partner Network in 2020.

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The road ahead holds many pitfalls and obstacles

The CEO and c-suite team sought an executive coach's support and established a Transformation Team. Internal leadership sessions were organized to understand the new working approach required. The team realized pride in their work but identified gaps in SWOT analyses and Agile principles within the organization.

Next to that they realised that they had already started working with multidisciplinary teams, without having any guiding principles or design principles in place. None of the executive team members could define what they embarked upon with these kinds of teams and what they actually meant with end-to-end responsibility? So, if they weren’t fully aware, skilled and capable, how to expect employees to understand and work accordingly?

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By the end of the day, tired but satisfied, they had described their objectives: Describe a clear WHY story behind the company’s transformation, give guidance and support to all employees, and create a space where everyone feels comfortable and brave to learn and grow.

The breakthrough

The C-suite team realized the need for transparency and started using visual management like the Obeya for company-wide alignment. They faced challenges defining milestones and acknowledging the lack of employee input. This led to a crucial realization that they needed to involve employees and understand customer expectations for success.

Leaders start to set the example

The leadership team shared their journey with employees, asking for collaboration in shaping the company's future. This led to high employee engagement and accelerated the company's transformation.

Employees become eager to learn and be involved

After experimenting with strategic initiatives, teams used Obeya and quarterly rhythms for alignment. Regular reflections on delivery, collaboration, and behavior led to scaling the new way of working to involve more stakeholders and customers.

Employees advise the leaders in return

To enhance transformation, teams engaged in design sprints, clarified terminology, tested new hypotheses, mapped Customer Journeys, and redesigned teams accordingly. They established guiding principles, initiated an agile operating model, and prioritized improved Customer Experience.

Interaction and fun helps to overcome constraints

To maintain perspective and motivation, they invited guest speakers for knowledge exchange. Interactive sessions were organized to discuss Agile philosophy, company values, team dynamics, and personal behavior, resulting in tangible and enjoyable outcomes.

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From power to empowerment

In the end, leaders and employees were able to cross the line from power to empowerment. By sharing their stories, struggles and needs, and by making use of the collective intelligence of their entire workforce, all voices in the company were heard and they started to learn collectively.

There will always be moments where you have to sit on your hands and do a bit less, so to give other people a chance to show what they are capable of and let them shine.

When you are able to balance that thin line together, you will unleash unimaginable value. Wouldn’t that be GOLD?

Thank you for reading this blog and looking forward to your response.

Have a great day.

Alize

PS: It can be a real hurdle to understand where you are today and what you, as a leadership team can do to unlock your company's full potential.

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