Deliver - Empower

EMPOWER AND ENABLE CHANGE (Part of the Deliver Phase)

    “Empowerment comes from within and typically it’s stemmed and
     fostered by self-assurance. To feel empowered is to feel free and
     that’s when people do their best work” (Amy Jo Martin)

Enable behaviours

To empower and enable change, team members need to be able to operate within an environment where they can safely adopt new behaviours without fear of criticism or recrimination. A culture that enables team members to act is not laissez fair, but provides clearly delegated authority creating empowerment.

Leaders should encourage a team culture that allows individual team members to:

Take responsibility and accountability for their actions.
Communicate with honestly and transparency.
Encourage self-reflection and personal/professional growth.
Create new ideas and ways to do things.
Solve problems and implement the solution within their authorised authority to act.
Feel trust by removing fear of making mistakes or receiving punitive responses.
Work within the person's individual values to motivate & align common outcomes.

Accountability

For change to be sustainable, leaders need to ensure that their team members do not revert to the old ways of operating. Whilst the project team will make every effort to identify policies and procedures that need to be updated as a result of the new ways of working, you should provide feedback of any further amendments that you feel are necessary to discourage team members to revert.

If there are existing local practices that counter the new practices, change leaders need to put in place local procedures that reinforce any centrally mandated change. Policies, procedures checklists, work instructions, local training and ad-hoc coaching all proceduralise and lock in new behaviours.

Delegation

Delegation allows leaders to better utilise their time and skills whilst helping team members to grow and develop to reach their full potential. Formalised and written delegations empower employees to work to the limit of their authority. Clear position descriptions or project role descriptions also aid in this delegation clarity.

Prior to delegating any change-related activities consider:

Does the team member have the skills and capability to undertake the task?
Will the task provide a team member an opportunity to grow and develop?
Do you have the time to delegate the task effectively? i.e. handover the task, answer questions, check progress and provide feedback. There is no value in being a 'seagull manager'.

Principles of delegation

When you are delegating a task, action or responsibility:

Does the team member have the skills and capability to undertake the task?
Identify constraints and boundaries including authority and responsibility.
Match responsibility to authority levels. Whilst you can delegate some responsibility, the ultimate accountability is with you as a leader.
Delegate to the team member level closest to the everyday work. This will increase workplace efficiency and help to develop all levels of the organisation.
Empower the team member to control how they undertake the task. Allowing knowledge workers to create their own methods and processes generates trust.
Provide adequate support whilst team members are taking on delegated tasks. Answer questions, monitor progress and remove roadblocks.
Take the time to review work, provide feedback and recognise effort.

Resources:
● Empowering Your Team (110kB download)