Empowerment and motivation

 

Is the motivation of empowerment? Henry Ford points out that with workers, every pair of hands gives you a free brain. Managers have long recognized that they were not having their workers to perform to their capacity. But how can they improve the efficiency of employees? The mantra has been 'empowering' to execute them. The philosophy behind self-managed teams is to trust them to take decisions. In a large canvas, give people the authority and support they need, then get out of the way - even let them decide their course. In reality, so many executives have found it impossible to let go.

The concept was derived from W. Edwards Deming, who, after the Second World War, was brought in to revitalize Japanese industry and became a modern champion of empowerment. He indicated that the path to quality improvement came through empowerment, by connecting the Japanese instinct for consensus with the industrial idea of teamwork. Western industrialists introduced Complete Quality Control in the 1980s, alarmed at the success of Japanese rivals (TQM). The production will be delivered by quality circles, consisting of motivated workers. Unfortunately, the pervasive mentality of command and control was unable to acknowledge independence. As a result, the results provided by TQM and the endless documentation needed to comply with quality benchmarks proved counter-productive. Motivation has subsided.

Sadly, the practice didn't live up to the promise again. Far too often, little control was actually provided to them when employees were n 'empowered.' It was easily taken back again if the control was actually granted.

There are five main questions that you need to answer specifically for each employee to find and maintain the best talent:

• Where are we going?
• What are we doing to get there?
• What do you want me to do?
• What will you do to help me do it?
• What is in it for me when I do?

Repeat often and any time there is a transition, major or small, to answer these five questions. Invite people to dialogue with you to find out whether you are achieving your objective of making them run on purpose. Does their current job sound purposeful, and does it yours, not less importantly?

References 

1. Goleman, D. (1995) Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, New York
2. Harvard Business Review. (2018). When Empowering Employees Works, and When It Doesn’t. [online] Available at: https://hbr.org/2018/03/when-empowering-employees-works-and-when-it-doesnt [Accessed 1 Jan. 2021].