Unshackling Employees from a Wall Street Journal Blog talks about ways that even staid industries like the banking industry can take advantage of empowering their employees.
“In most organizations, the decision-making freedoms of frontline employees are highly circumscribed. Sales reps, call center staff, office managers, and assembly line workers are usually trussed up in tangle of top-down policies, “best practices,” and standard operating procedures. Yet it’s impossible to build a highly adaptable organization without first expanding the scope of employee freedom. To create an organization that’s adaptable and innovative, people need the freedom to challenge precedent, to “waste” time, to go outside of channels, to experiment, to take risks and to follow their passions.”
Transparency with business information, the freedom to try new things even with the risk of failure, and a culture that doesn’t require top-down decision making is key to creativity.
Categories: Corporate Strategy · Leadership
Tagged: Creativity, Culture, Empowerment, Transparency
I hope that everyone has had at least one manager in their career who has really made a big difference to them. I’ve had 20 – yes 20 different managers over my career. A few of those were my managers more than once too. Of those, I’ve had 2, maybe 3 that I would put into this special class.That’s 10% – 15%. I’m not convinced that they were the best managers overall, each had their failings. However, when it came to really being present when it counted the most, they were there. Sometimes the best managers aren’t the ones with the best presentation abilities, or they certainly don’t have to be the most organized people. Typically the best aren’t afraid to be human, and they aren’t afraid to make mistakes. Looking back, I see three characteristics that they shared, and that I felt made them strong people managers.
First off, they empowered me to do my job. They provided me with the support that I needed to do my job to the best of my ability.
Second, they dealt with problems in their organization up front. This was one area where they definitely were proactive. They didn’t chicken out or hide from the issues.
Third, they were honest communicators.
As a manager I’ve found that doing these things can really make a difference between people that are engaged and stay with the company or the team and those that look to jump ship. These 3 items sound simple enough but at times they are very difficult to do well. Sometimes they are just plain uncomfortable for a manager.
Categories: Leadership
Tagged: Communication, Empowerment, Management
