Dan Marbes

“I before E except after C.” Remember this mantra from elementary school spelling? I do, and I’ve used it many times since to spell check my own writing and that of others (my notepad has yet to spawn an F7 key). Mnemonic devices like this stick with us years after we learn them and for that reason I’m going to pirate the idea.

I’ve been reflecting on what core attitudes, concepts and values really drive success in the workplace. How, really, is it that we as leaders can create an environment where those around us consistently give their best? I believe the foundation of this workplace is EMPOWERMENT; the first and most powerful “E”. Allowing those around us the opportunity to make decisions and feel ownership in their professional life is so basic, yet so powerful. Rather than simply being cogs in the great corporate machine, empowered employees strive to make things better because they have a more vested interest in the outcome and they understand that the choices they make actually matter.

This concept probably scares some leaders to death. “How do I know that they will make the right decisions or know which decisions they should make?” The answer lies in EDUCATION. Empowerment does not mean that a leader turns over the keys and gives everyone free reign to do as they please. We need to educate employees so they understand the difference between a decision they should feel empowered to make and one that may have farther-reaching consequences. Perhaps the employee works in a regulated industry with oversight and audit frameworks and if so, they need to understand the scope of those frameworks so they can make informed decisions about when a decision point needs to be escalated.

In addition to “learning the ropes”, we need to encourage our employees to become active learners with respect to their professional role. Understanding new technology, process, regulations and whatever other knowledge is relevant to a specific job is key to understanding how it can be done better. You wouldn’t expect to see a golfer turn in a good round with only a 7-iron, so why would we expect creative and innovative ideas from our employees if we don’t encourage them to add more clubs to their bag?

We also have to realize that occasionally even the best intentioned employees will make a bad decision. Again it falls to us as leaders to take advantage of this teachable moment. Rather than dispatching discipline from the mountaintop, we need to review what happened and make sure that employee (and the employee’s team) understands how to avoid a similar mistake in the future.

If we allow our employees into the decision making process and give them more control over their environment, I suspect we will see more ENGAGEMENT, ENTHUSIASM, ENERGY, EFFORT and EFFICIENCY. Once converted, this environment will feed on itself to drive continued improvement. Employees will replace outdated processes with new ones that actually make sense for people doing the work. They will gravitate towards the work they are really passionate about and will drive positive change in that space. Attitudes will be better all around and when a big challenge or project comes along we’re likely to see much more willingness to go that extra mile.

At face value, it seems like everyone should be doing this. If we can create a workplace where our employees come every day EXCITED that they can make a difference, how do you explain why so many Americans are utterly miserable and disenfranchised with their professional status?

I suspect that from a leadership perspective the single largest obstacle we face is INSECURITY. If we are afraid that our employees are going to “show us up” or think less of us when we’re not the ones coming up with the new ideas it’s hard to give them any decision making power at all. As true leaders we need to move past these feelings. Our world changes too fast for us to be experts in every area that we manage. We have to become secure enough in our own leadership ability to promote the good ideas of those we lead. To borrow a metaphor from a previous post, you don’t need to be a virtuoso on every instrument to be a great conductor.

INSTITUTIONALIZATION is another gigantic pitfall that swallows up good ideas. “We don’t really want to consider your idea because we’ve done this thing this way as long as we can remember and it’s still working for us”. Ack. This line of thinking blows my mind. If you think about some of the many things we now take for granted (cars, television, cellular phones, the Internet) may not have been developed if someone didn’t want to improve an existing idea. I can get from my house to the office on the back of a mule, but I would argue that’s not the most efficient way for me to accomplish the task. Just because something isn’t broken doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

As leaders, we must continue to break down these walls and remove the obstacles that keep our best and brightest from living up to their full potential. If we allow “I” to stand in the way of “E” we will never realize the CHANGE that will make us great.

This entry was posted on April 26, 2011 at 9:06 pm and is filed under Empowerment, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.