TM

Bite-Sized Scenario Training :

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Empowerment and
Delegation
1

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Bite-Sized Scenario Training:

Empowerment and Delegation

This e-booklet is published by:

Mind Tools Limited

Copyright Mind Tools 2008. All rights reserved.

Version 1.0

This e-book is protected by international copyright law. It may only be copied and used
by registered members of the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club.
If you receive this publication and you are not a member of the Career Excellence Club,
please notify us at customer.helpdesk@mindtools.com.

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Bite-Sized Scenario Training:

Empowerment and Delegation

To compete in todays business environment, companies have to rely on the knowledge,
energy, and creativity of every employee they have. From those on the front lines to
those in the back office, the ability to capture and make the most of peoples ideas is
essential to business success.
In an organizational system with directors, managers and supervisors, how can you give
people the freedom they need to be able to contribute meaningfully to their work?
The answer lies in empowerment. Empowerment practices give workers opportunities to
use judgment and discretion in their work, and participate more fully in decisions that
impact themselves.
By reallocating power from the upper levels of the company, and giving lower level
workers more control, you can start to bring your companys vision to life through every
person in the organization.
Some people balk at giving away power, and when its done haphazardly or halfheartedly empowerment is not usually very successful. Effective empowerment is a
delicate balance, where you need to know how much support and guidance to give, and
how much control to keep. Once their managers master this skill, empowered
employees feel much more a part of the organization, and their commitment levels and
satisfaction increase significantly.
This Bite-Sized Training scenario is designed to help you find that balance in your
workplace. Well provide some empowerment basics, and then discuss how you can use
delegation to empower people effectively. Then youll have an opportunity to apply your
knowledge, and suggest what should have been done in two scenarios where people
have made mistakes with empowerment. As you work though the lesson youll learn:

The basic attitudes necessary for an empowered workplace.

The key elements of empowerment, and how to develop these in yourself and
your team.
How empowered delegation can improve workplace performance.

Share your thoughts and experience, or ask any questions of your Mind Tools trainer at
the Bite-Sized Training forum, by replying to the posting for this lesson. Just visit the
Bite-Sized Scenario Training: Empowerment and Delegation thread of the Bite-Sized
Training forum here http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5.

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Empowerment
Empowerment is an emotionally-charged and value-laden word. It is used to describe
giving economic and political power to marginalized populations. It is used in self-help
circles to describe building self-awareness, feeling more confident in ones abilities, and
improving self-motivation.
For the purposes of career development and leadership excellence, we refer to
empowerment as allowing people the freedom and responsibility to accomplish their
goals and objectives, without being told exactly what to do, when, or how.
Empowerment provides the means and opportunity for people to do what they know
needs doing, and to do that in a manner that they choose, according to their experience
and judgment. Its very much a pull strategy whereby the work environment is designed
so that workers develop intrinsic reasons to meet objectives and perform to
expectations.
In the modern workplace where change, complexity and competition are all in overdrive,
trying to control work, maintain formal rules and standards, and issue top-down
mandates is slow and cumbersome. Flexibility, autonomy and trust allow organizations
to be much more dynamic.
Producing these conditions, though, requires letting go and giving up some control.
Letting others make decisions, set goals, and reap the rewards of their accomplishments
isnt necessarily easy. When youre assigned to lead, the natural reaction is to take
charge, run a tight ship, and make sure people follow orders.
The flip side of this, unfortunately, is that the people who are being given your orders
may feel disengage and demotivated. By learning to empower people you keep their
motivation high and your anxiety low. This combination is ripe for high performance and
high satisfaction.
When workers are empowered they:

Trust that information will be shared with them.

Perform work that is meaningful.
Have significant control over the work they do.
Are confident they have the ability to meet objectives.
Believe their opinion counts.
Are self-motivated to complete high quality work.

Why People Dont Empower

Given this compelling list of what an empowered worker feels and does, its hard to
understand why empowerment isnt second nature. There are three main reasons for the
reluctance of people in charge to empower those they work with:
Personal insecurity many people associate being in charge with reaping rewards. By
holding onto control of the most high-profile tasks and protecting their expertise and
information, they believe that they can maintain their status and power. Working on

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

things themselves means they get the glory, and that those activities are done exactly
the way they want (which means theyre done best, right?)
Need for control people who dont empower others often enjoy the feeling of being
powerful that comes from being in charge. And they link giving orders with achieving
objectives. Giving explicit directions and setting strict performance goals means that
what they want done will get done on their terms.
Managerial presumptions many people in management positions believe that they
are simply more competent than those they manage. The notion that their direct reports
would relish more responsibility and enjoy expanding their skill sets is unfathomable. If
they had these desires, surely theyd be managers themselves! More than this, they may
subscribe to Theory X the assumption that people tend to shirk responsibility and
slack when not closely supervised rather than Theory Y, which assumes that people
are happy to work and will give their best if helped to do so. (Premium Members can
read more at: http://www.mindtools.com/community/pages/article/newLDR_74.htm.)
As outlandish as these assumptions may sound, there may be a ring of truth to each of
them, no matter how much you believe yourself to be completely open to the idea of
empowering others. The risk and uncertainly of a situation can bring out the need to
control in all of us. Thats why you need to understand the dynamics of empowerment
and make a conscious effort to practice them consistently.
Developing Empowerment
When you empower people they feel competent, they understand that they have control
over their work, and they derive value and meaning from their work. This can produce a
great deal of trust and satisfaction. To create this type of work environment, there are
four key elements you need to provide:
1. Personal mastery create situations where people can experience success. The
more accomplished a person feels, the more confident they are to tackle more
responsibility and more complexity. This creates a highly competent individual
capable of achieving great things.

Recognize small accomplishments.

Provide opportunities for small-wins.
Increase responsibility and challenge slowly and regularly.
Provide opportunities to manage and lead others.

2. Compelling vision paint a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished and

why. Link the everyday work to the big picture and allow your team to find ways to
connect the dots.

Talk about values.

Create positive emotions around the current objectives.
Communicate results often.
Use motivating language and keep excitement levels high.

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

3. Sufficient information, resources, and support the more information people

have to work with, the better able they are to recognize what needs to be done.
When they have the resources and support to use that information to the best of their
ability, you create a really empowering environment. When you provide these
necessary foundations, you send the message that you trust your people to find the
best way to do something, and you are in their corner, rooting for their success.

Provide a context for the work that is needed.

Talk about progress and give regular status reports.
Check to make sure people have sufficient time, space, training, equipment, and
so on to achieve their objectives.
Take time to really listen to workers concerns.
Use open communication to help people cope with uncertainty and change.

4. Trustworthiness for people to feel empowered they have to believe you can be
trusted to back them up. Just as it is scary to give up some of your control, it can be
equally scary to accept that control. In an environment of trust, your team is free to
experiment, to learn and grow, and to contribute their ideas freely without feeling
judged or intimidated.

Be reliable, consistent, and dependable.

Do what you say and walk the walk.
Be fair and apply the same standards to everyone.
Show you care about each persons success.
Maintain openness and be honest.
Demonstrate your own competence and skill so that your team knows their trust
in you is deserved.

Empowered Delegation
When you put all the elements of empowerment together you have the conditions
required for successful, effective delegation. Because the work that needs to get done
within organizations depends on delegation and task allocation, empowerment is
essential. In a complex team environment, no one person can do everything, so creating
conditions where everyone feels responsible for and capable of achieving success is
crucial.
This is done through empowered delegation. From this perspective, delegation becomes
much more than a time management tool. It is used as a personal development tool to
build individual capabilities, encourage personal success, enhance trust, and improve
work coordination.
When work is delegated without any of the elements of empowerment, commitment isnt
always generated and feelings of resentment and confusion can surface. Empowered
delegation expands the capabilities of others. Making sure you delegate work
meaningfully, fairly, and consistently is the challenging part of bringing empowerment to
your delegation decisions.
Actions that undermine effective empowerment and delegation include:

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Second guessing decisions (using hindsight critically).

Giving and then rescinding responsibility.
Failing to hand over all of the information the other person requires to complete
the task.
Giving up all accountability for delegated tasks when responsibility for carrying it
out is delegated.
Focusing on the methods used to carry out the task, rather than the end results.

If you look at delegation as both a way to free up your time to concentrate on your work
priorities and as a way to develop the skills and competencies of the rest of team, you
have the recipe for empowered delegation. This creates the perfect foundation for a high
performing workplace one where workers feel confident in their ability to perform and
where teams find ways to maximize everyones contributions.
For more tips on effective delegation, see our articles on avoiding micromanagement
at http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=698 and on successful delegation at
http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1997.

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Scenarios
Now that youve learned more about empowerment and its application to delegation, test
your understanding with these two scenarios. As you read, ask yourself if youd feel
empowered in the situation and whether the leader is applying the basic elements of
empowerment.

Scenario 1
Belinda had just been promoted to Manager of a branch for a national bank. Her boss
at Head Office, Jonathon, was a real go-getter and a very dynamic person. His
expectations were that she would manage the branch and make it one of the top
branches in the country.
Having worked her way up in other branches within the organization she understood
the challenges her front line staff experienced. One of her first decisions was to
increase the pay scale points of the five experienced bank clerks in her branch to bring
them in line with other administrative personnel in the organization as a whole. When
Jonathon heard about this he commented that it was risky move and he was upset she
hadnt run the decision by him first. He was worried about the precedent it set for other
branches in his region and he also felt it made him look like he didnt have control over
his people. Belinda stood her ground and defended her decision and prepared to backup her decision with performance measurements that she would track regularly.
A few weeks later, when a regional Women In Business magazine approached Belinda
to do a feature on her job and progression in her career Belinda was very excited. She
figured it would be a great chance to inspire other women about the finance industry
and to promote her branch and her approach to customer service.
The day after the magazine was distributed, Jonathon called to express his
disappointment that she had gone ahead with the article without consulting him. He
pointed out that the bank had communication and public relation specialists who were
highly trained in handling the media were the only ones who should be making public
statements. Belinda apologized and said she would educate herself regarding these
types of policies.
A month or so after this incident, a customer came to the branch with a $10,000 check
in foreign currency. He was a regular customer who had had an account with the
branch for 35 years. Policy stated that any foreign currency check deposit over $2,500
be held for five days until the money cleared the originating bank. Belinda told the
customer she was not authorized to clear the funds immediately.
About an hour later she received a phone call from Jonathon who was livid. The
customer had called Head Office asking what could be done to clear the funds quicker.
Jonathon reminded Belinda that this was a long term customer who did all of his
banking with them, had a mortgage with them, and significant investments as well. He
told her she needed to use more common sense when handling delicate matters like
this and was very upset he now had to run damage control for her. When Belinda got
off the phone she was ready to quit.

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Questions
Has Belinda been empowered in her role as Branch Manager? Why or why not?
Discuss in terms of fundamental elements of empowerment and delegation.
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
What do you think Jonathon needs to do differently so that Belinda doesnt quit?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
What advice would you give Belinda for dealing with Jonathon?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

Scenario 2
Its Brads fourth day on the job. Hes a Creative Director for an advertising company.
Hes been assigned a campaign to create and he has a team of people he can allocate
work to. There are three other Creative Directors with the same type of portfolio that he
has and they all report to the George.
George believes that his team of Creative Directors has what it takes to get the work
done. He tells them all the time that they are doing a fabulous job and trusts that they
will achieve the results he expects. Simply put, he expects them to create an amazing
ad campaign to present to him for approval within the three or four weeks given.
Brad dives right in. He masterminds a provocative ad for a new store. He describes his
basic concept to his team at their first meeting and sends them off to do their work.
George trusts him to manage the project and he trusts his team to deliver the goods.
This is a creative shop and everyone needs a lot of space to think outside his or her
box.
As Brad talks to his colleagues he is confident in the relaxed approach hes taken. The
other project managers have been given lots of leeway from George and they seem to
be doing great. So giving his own team a lot of freedom to bring his vision to life must
be the right approach.
At the beginning of the third week, Brad calls his team together to consolidate
everyones efforts. Hes horrified by the results. The copy is feeble, the artwork totally
amateur, and even the tag line has been totally changed from the first meeting.
He trusted these people to produce. This companys management philosophy is built
on trust and empowerment and he cant understand how these incompetent people
have managed to keep their jobs this long. Surely hes been given the worst team at
the firm. After he finishes lecturing everyone on the poor execution of his vision and
sending them off with specific instructions and timelines for what he wants done, he
phones George to request a meeting - hed like to discuss a team reassignment.
Questions
What went wrong here? After all, Brad gave his team a vision and handed over
responsibility to execute it. Why were they not able to deliver?
.........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

10

Bite-Sized Scenario Training

The Mind Tools Career Excellence Club

..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

What is Brads idea of empowerment? What elements does he use and not use to
create an empowered workplace?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
What is Georges responsibility in all of this? What can he do to help Brad adjust
to his new position?
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
Dont forget to get the most out of this scenario-based training, post your answers in
the Empowerment and Delegation thread of the Bite-Sized Training forum here:
http://www.mindtools.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=5, and discuss other members ideas
there too. Well publish some suggested solutions during the week after this Bite-Sized
Scenario Training session is first released.

Mind Tools Ltd, 2008.

11