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Building a Culture of Empowerment

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BUILDING A CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT

Leading for culture where both employees and business can overcome challenges, reach their highest potential, and truly thrive.

WWW.TENFOLDBRAND.COM

CONTENTS

03

Does your organization have a culture of empowerment?

04

Why is it so hard?

THE TYRANNY OF CONSENSUS

04 05 06 07

STRATEGIC VISION MIA RIGHT CHAIRS, WRONG BUTTS THE COMFORT OF MICROMANAGEMENT

08

Power a culture of empowerment

KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP AGAINST

08 09 10

ARTICULATE THE FULL CULTURAL VISION REINFORCE, REINFORCE, REINFORCE

11

Start where you are

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

2

DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION HAVE A CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT?

Most leaders would like to answer that question with a resounding “Absolutely.” But many can’t.

By our definition, a culture of empowerment is a set of organizational values, norms, policies, and practices marked by the granting of authority, power, and ownership to others across levels. It’s an environment where people routinely step beyond their assigned roles and responsibilities to suggest new ideas and practices or help others with key tasks; where strategic risk-taking is not only encouraged but celebrated; where people offer thoughtful, critical feedback to teammates without prompting, even to the CEO.

Importantly, a culture of empowerment creates large benefits for your organization, including higher levels of creativity and innovation, better customer service, stronger morale, and improved hiring and turnover.

Companies with cultures marked by high levels of trust and empowerment are more than 2.5 times as likely to be revenue leaders in their industries

1

than others, and to outperform on other important dimensions.

So why doesn’t every organization have such a culture?

Because it’s not easy. In fact, it’s often easier not to strive for a culture of empowerment, to simply maintain the status quo. The good news is that change is possible. We’ve seen it multiple times in helping client organizations transform their cultures into truly empowering ones.

This article helps you approach the challenge of building a culture of empowerment. First, we lay out the most common reasons many organizations struggle to build and maintain an empowerment culture to help you understand the very real barriers in place in your organization now or that you may encounter on this journey; these range from missing strategic visions to misalignment of people and roles. Second, we offer practical tips for creating an empowerment culture, from knowing what you’re up against to reinforcing positive values and practices. Finally, we help you start where you are, to make progress without feeling overwhelmed.

We back up our ideas with real-life examples from organizations dealing with wide-ranging cultural issues, including those we’ve worked with.

1 Andrew Atkins, “The Benefits of Trust, Empowerment, and Innovation,” The Globe and Mail, February 1, 2016, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/ report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/the-benefits-of-trust-empowerment-and-innovation/article28416563/ (accessed November 5, 2018).

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

3

WHY IS BUILDING AN EMPOWERMENT CULTURE SO HARD?

If strong cultures of empowerment came “in a bottle”, every organization would—or at least should—have one.

But building such a culture isn’t easy by any stretch. It requires mutually reinforcing elements such as thoughtful, proactive leadership; organization-wide trust and open communication; proper infrastructure (such as accountability measures and mechanisms); and strong, ongoing employee engagement.

So it’s no surprise that many organizations, even those with the best intentions, end up with suboptimal cultures, typically without realizing it. Here are four of the most common, potentially overlapping ways culture may be led astray, away from empowerment.

1

THE TYRANNY OF CONSENSUS

Agreement on direction, strategy, and other organizational issues is great, and critical to have in many cases. But you can have too much of a good thing.

That was the case at a large healthcare organization (30,000+ employees). There, all high-level decisions were made by committee, with leaders laser-focused on promoting agreement and even unanimity. This mentality created a culture of bureaucracy marked by political maneuvering to sway committee members toward specific decisions. Key decisions, not surprisingly, took a long time, and people sometimes “agreed” just for the sake of moving on, resulting in an artificial sense of consensus. As much as 50% of people’s time was spent in meetings versus carrying out their responsibilities.

Moreover, due to the group-based decision-making, no one leader could be held accountable for a given initiative’s success or failure. Similarly, the organization had notoriously poor delegation: committees failed to assign specific responsibilities to specific people, again resulting in delays and poor accountability. The consequent, if unintentional, “Cover Your Ass,” disempowering culture was associated with poor morale, high turnover, and suboptimal organizational performance.

Unfortunately, cultures of consensus are not uncommon, and impede development of a more empowering environment.

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

4

WHY IS BUILDING AN EMPOWERMENT CULTURE SO HARD?

2

STRATEGIC VISION MIA

Vision is what sets direction for and galvanizes your organization. Even some organizations with healthy-seeming cultures or a clear “reason for being” lack this critical element.

By “strategic vision” we mean not the overarching view of what the organization is meant to do and be, but the 3- to 5-year objective that leaders set; this is typically the responsibility of the CEO and their team.

While many, if not most, organizations spend time defining and communicating their foundational purpose, mission, and values, too many lack an intermediate-term vision to inspire and engage people at every level.

For example, we worked with a large nonprofit where the general vision and mission were clear and morale was high overall. But closer analysis—largely through employee interviews—revealed that people were struggling with “what they were doing and why” on a day-to-day basis. They felt good about working there, but unclear on what they were working toward, with little perceived power to make the difference they wanted to.

We recommended that the nonprofit’s leaders formulate and articulate a clear strategic vision to give direction to all ideas, initiatives, and progress measures: with special attention to whom—what beneficiary group—the organization is serving and how each group and job function aligned with that service. We emphasized that developing such a vision was the best way by far to get everyone “rowing in the right direction,” as part of a more inspiring, empowering culture for the short and long term.

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

5

WHY IS BUILDING AN EMPOWERMENT CULTURE SO HARD?

3

RIGHT CHAIRS, WRONG BUTTS

A mismatch of talent and jobs or roles is a common and frustrating detractor from culture. Even the most talented people will struggle to achieve their goals effectively, if at all, when placed in the wrong role; when the problem is widespread, performance and morale will plummet.

One of the most common problems we see is tactical thinkers sitting in strategic seats.

Consider the case of the healthcare industry. Within hospitals, mid-level managers are often hired from within, based on their performance with tactical responsibilities—such as a highly skilled ultrasound technician promoted to lead a team of such colleagues. The challenge is that some very capable tacticians may struggle with more strategic leadership skills, whether the ability to craft a vision for the area, to coach and mentor teammates, or to create strategic group communications.

A recent Nursing Times article summed up the issue well: “The practice of promoting long-serving nurses to managerial positions seems logical — they are likely to have highly developed clinical skills. ...But the nebulous skill of leadership often considered vital to managers is not easily picked up by observation. The mysterious art of people management is a profession and a vocation in itself.”2

That means hospitals end up misaligning talent with roles in many cases, diminishing performance and morale at individual and organizational levels.

The alignment problem appears in sectors well beyond healthcare, of course. Moreover, beyond failing to use your people’s talents effectively (in a way that’s also satisfying for them), a mismatch of people and positions almost always means the failure of executive-level initiatives and directives, as too many mid-level people lack the strategic skills to carry these out. Opportunities for department-level innovation are missed. Top talent—whether in the right roles or not—will grow increasingly frustrated and either disengage or depart, disastrous consequences that only erode the culture further.

2 Stephen Riddell, “Why Do Nurses Believe They Are Management Material?” Nursing Times, November 17, 2011, https://www.nursingtimes.net/ roles/nurse-managers/why-do-nurses-believe-they-are-management-material/5037983.article (accessed November 5, 2018).

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

6

WHY IS BUILDING AN EMPOWERMENT CULTURE SO HARD?

4

THE COMFORT OF MICROMANAGEMENT

“Micromanagement” is a dirty word in organizational circles, eliciting the image of managers constantly looking over their people’s shoulders, to the detriment of performance and culture.

But here’s a little secret: micromanagement is often easier than empowerment, which helps explain its ubiquity across sectors.

It’s a problem at all organizational levels. The tendency to be overinvolved in reports’ responsibilities or tasks starts at the top in organizations where micromanagement is a problem. In fact, one online survey of over 5000 leaders showed that 48% of executives like to be seen as experts or authority figures and 41% have a “strong desire” for power. These feelings can lead easily to the need to be in control of all outcomes and part of all decision-making, even if the intention is to ensure strong performance.

Moreover, employees often feel safer, at least in the short term, when part of a micromanagementfocused culture. If those above them are deeply involved in their tasks, it relieves those at lower levels of accountability and the need to be proactive. That’s one of the many dark sides of disempowerment: it can feel comfortable at some level for some people. Of course, in the long term, micromanagement is a losing proposition, as it prevents your people from thinking on their own, reducing levels of creativity, innovation, and engagement while elevating fear and turnover.

To be sure, the four disempowering factors highlighted here are far from the only ones. Toxic individuals—especially those at the top—can be powerful “culture killers,” for example. Or even external factors, such as the recent Great Recession, can bring uncertainty and fear to the fore, resulting in deep cultural changes including disempowerment.

The good news is that there are specific steps you can take toward a culture of greater empowerment. We talk about those in detail next.

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

7

HOW TO: POWER A CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT

Creating a culture of empowerment is easy to talk about but hard to do. Consider the mutually reinforcing ideas here to build and enhance your organization’s empowerment culture.

1

KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP AGAINST

Knowledge is power. A critical first step on your journey of cultural change is to understand the challenge: look for evidence of past or current disempowerment and take steps to address it. That can include a range of overt and covert factors:

POOR HIRING/RETENTION One of the biggest indicators of a problem culture is a struggle to attract or retain good people. That may seem obvious, but leaders often want to blame non-cultural factors such as tight labor markets for such challenges. Be honest with yourself about why people may be leaving—or not joining your organization in the first place.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING Words are a critical, often subtle sign of disempowerment. “I’m not sure what my role is” can suggest a lack of strategic vision. “We need everyone on the same page” may signal excessive focus on consensus. “Keep me closely in the loop” may be the words of a micromanager. Listen carefully for spoken evidence of a suboptimal culture.

PROJECT PARALYSIS Are employees failing to move key work forward and to take projects to completion? Are people unwilling to volunteer ideas for improvement? If so, this can mean cultural problems including excessive consensus requirements and micromanagement, such that people choose doing and saying nothing over taking even the smallest risk.

LEADERS IN THE WEEDS If leaders are only working in the business rather than on the business at least some of the time, it can again signal a culture of micromanagement, potentially fueled by insecure leadership. Managers getting involved in every presentation or write-up and dwelling on small mistakes (typos, for example) suggests a cultural problem that can quickly lead to turnover, burnout, and disengagement.

Look thoroughly for these and other signs of disempowerment, be honest with yourself about what you find, and use the ideas below to address the issues.

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

8

HOW TO: POWER A CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT

2

ARTICULATE THE FULL CULTURAL VISION

Earlier we talked about the importance of a near-term strategic vision. Vision is critical when it comes to culture, as well. Here are several key elements of conveying an empowerment-focused culture.

•

Talk about whys and hows You need to explain to your people the reasons for promoting a culture of empowerment—improved morale, ownership, and performance, among others—but also ways to get there. Neither why nor how is sufficient by itself to drive needed change. Aim for both.

•

Define success and failure Articulating what success and failure mean in the aspired-to culture is critical. Exact definitions will vary by organization, but a universal theme is that failure means not trying at all, or conducting (ineffective) business as usual. Success, in contrast, is giving one’s best effort, being proactive, and taking strategic risks. Beware Silicon-Valley-brand imperatives such as “Fail fast, fail often”—it’s not about rushing from attempt to attempt, but taking a creative, iterative approach to solving strategic problems and gaining cumulative insight.4

•••

Draw the lines Especially when seeking a cultural shift, don’t expect your people to understand exactly how their responsibilities and projects tie in to the strategic vision and key organizational objectives. Articulate the connections for them, including definitions of success and failure at the role and project levels, as described in other points here. Then coach and mentor them as they make progress.

Set the right metrics Defining success and failure is important at a broad and more granular level. Build empowerment-focused expectations and criteria into job descriptions and performance reviews, and provide the space and motivation to discuss these fully with people. Specific dimensions of focus could include ownership, risk-taking, collaboration, and going beyond expectations—paint the picture of what each would look like for a given role or project.

Celebrate success—and failure Actions speak louder than words in any culture, supporting it or undermining it. So it’s important to back up the values and vision of an empowerment culture with key behaviors and rituals. That means celebrating small (completion of early project milestone) and big (winning large new account) wins, but also recognizing positively the calculated risks that may not have paid off but led to key lessons learned and insights for future attempts.

Think about how to use these and other thoughtful tactics as part of your efforts toward a culture of empowerment.

4Dan Pontrefact, “The Foolishness of Fail Fast, Fail Often,” Forbes, September 15, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danpontefract/2018/09/15/the-foolishness-of-fail-fast-fail-often/#40583c5459d9 (accessed November 5, 2018).

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

9

HOW TO: POWER A CULTURE OF EMPOWERMENT

3

REINFORCE, REINFORCE, REINFORCE

We can’t reinforce this last—but hardly least—practical tip enough. Everything you do speaks to the culture you have in place or the one you’d like to: words and actions, rituals and artifacts. Earlier we pointed out the importance of celebrating success and failure, for example.

So think carefully about how people will perceive any new message, practice, policy, or action, and rethink and refine accordingly—even for those that don’t seem tied directly to culture. Beyond that, take active steps to create practices, rituals, and artifacts that reinforce a culture of empowerment directly.

TENFOLD itself provides a good example of practicing what we preach about recognizing issues and taking practical steps to create a culture of empowerment. Early on, we communicated to our people at all levels that they are empowered to provide critical feedback to anyone in the organization— including the CEO.

But this didn’t happen. When we recognized that people weren’t following through on the idea, we created a feedback-focused ritual to motivate more empowered behavior. Specifically, we ritualized the provision of critical feedback through what we called the “Power of TEN” initiative.

We created a process whereby the giver and/or receiver of meaningful feedback receives a totem (acrylic X, for the Roman numeral 10), and we keep a running total of totems. When we reach a total of 100 totems, the entire organization is treated to a full-day offsite celebration including meals, inspiring talks and presentations, team-building activities, and absolutely zero work. It’s a meaningful, inspiring way to celebrate the empowerment reflected in cross-level critical feedback, and to encourage more of the same.

These tips, taken together, should help you get a great start toward a culture of empowerment. But it’s important to apply them in the way that works best for your current situation, needs, and capacities. The last section helps you take that important idea to heart.

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

10

START WHERE YOU ARE.

We know this is a lot to consider, especially if you feel your organization is far from a desired culture of empowerment.

But take heart. It’s not about changing overnight. Quick wins are great and inspiring, but they may not be likely or even possible on a large scale. Not at first.

To embark on the journey toward a culture of empowerment, set realistic expectations for yourself and your organization. That includes expecting that people will initially feel confusion, fear, and even anger about an impending shift. Change is hard. People may not be used to thinking for themselves, or may be uncomfortable providing critical upward feedback. Remember that there’s comfort and safety in the familiar, even if it’s not ideal or even healthy.

So start small, focus on the whys (with the hows not far behind), and be supportive and reassuring. “No one will be fired for trying” is a powerful, motivating statement. Also aim for continuous improvement, and communicate that idea widely—there’s no final destination when it comes to culture, just works in progress.

We hoped you’ve found the ideas here helpful. To recap, we’ve tried to present a full picture of what goes into a culture of empowerment by laying out the barriers many organizations face in creating such a culture, offering practical advice for real steps you can take toward building an empowerment culture, and recognizing that this can be a daunting task that’s best started where you are, with the small steps you feel you can take, as we’ve helped many organizations do, with successful results.

The bottom line: take the first step. All of the things we’ve suggested, and more, will become more natural as you build a true culture of empowerment, promoting greater ownership, morale, and performance for the long term.

CONNECT WITH OUR CULTURE TEAM

Ready for more?

www.tenfoldbrand.com | @tenfoldbrand

11

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TENFOLD is an award-winning strategy + creative firm that enables clients to live the brand through the creation of an inspired culture narrative and branded space design.

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    12/7/2015 10 Signs of Micromanagement — Strategies for Dealing With Micromanagers Profile Get Started Resources Ebooks Log In Search, e.g. team building You are here: Home / How to Lead Others / 10 Signs of Micromanagement — Strategies for Dealing With Micromanagers Members Blog Contact About 10 Signs of Micromanagement — Strategies for Dealing With Micromanagers by Martin Webster 399 Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Evernote SHARES Let’s take a look at the signs of micromanagement. Stick with me and I’ll share some strategies for managing the micromanager. But first, let’s define micromanagement … The Signs of Micromanagement Here are 10 clear signs of micromanagement. Dealing With Micromanagers Are you a micro-manager? Do you know one? Let’s see … Micro-managers lack personal leadership and tend to: 1. Resist delegating work 2. Immerse themselves in the work assigned to others http://www.leadershipthoughts.com/10-signs-of-micromanagement/ 1/15 12/7/2015 10 Signs of Micromanagement — Strategies for Dealing With Micromanagers 3. Look at the detail instead of the big picture 1 4. Discourage others from making decisions 5. Get involved in the work of others without consulting them 6. Monitor what’s least important and expect regular reports on miscellany 7. Push aside the experience and knowledge of colleagues 8. Loose loyalty and commitment 9. Focus on the wrong priorities 10. Have a de-motivated team Micromanagement is Mismanagement Micro-managers are bad news for business and bad news for employees. They dis-empower staff, stifle opportunity and innovation, and give rise to poor performance. 2 Micromanagement is just plain bad management.
  • The Micromanagement Myth and Mission Command: Making the Case for Oversight of Military Operations by Christopher J

    The Micromanagement Myth and Mission Command: Making the Case for Oversight of Military Operations by Christopher J

    STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES 33 The Micromanagement Myth and Mission Command: Making the Case for Oversight of Military Operations by Christopher J. Lamb Center for Strategic Research Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University The Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) is National Defense University’s (NDU’s) dedicated research arm. INSS includes the Center for Strategic Research, Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs, and Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The military and civilian analysts and staff who comprise INSS and its subcomponents execute their mission by conducting research and analysis, publishing, and participating in conferences, policy support, and outreach. The mission of INSS is to conduct strategic studies for the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the unified combatant commands in support of the academic programs at NDU and to perform outreach to other U.S. Government agencies and the broader national security community. Cover: General William Westmoreland luncheon meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson, The White House, April 6, 1968 (Yoichi Okamoto/ Courtesy LBJ Presidential Library/C9391-17A) The Micromanagement Myth and Mission Command The Micromanagement Myth and Mission Command: Making the Case for Oversight of Military Operations By Christopher J. Lamb Institute for National Strategic Studies Strategic Perspectives, No. 33 Series Editor: Thomas F. Lynch III National Defense University Press Washington, D.C. August 2020 Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the views of the State Department, Defense Department, or any other agency of the Federal Government.
  • Full Interview by the Republik Journalists

    Full Interview by the Republik Journalists

    LETTER SENT AS EMAIL ATTACHMENT FROM [email protected] TO [email protected] ____________________________________________________________________________________ 26 February 2019 Mr. Dennis Bühler Republik Büro Bern Bundesgasse 8 Postfach 491 CH-3003 Bern SWITZERLAND Dear Mr. Bühler: You have requested my comments, from the viewpoint of research on academic mobbing, on the threatened dismissal of Professor Marcella Carollo from the faculty of ETH Zürich, and you have sent me nine specific questions. Here I answer your request as best I can. Assumptions and qualifications My comments are necessarily tentative and preliminary, and this for two reasons. First, I have reviewed only some, not all, of the evidence on the conflict surrounding Professor Carollo. I have read the ETH press releases, the coverage in Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Science, sundry online commentaries by astronomers and physicists, the collective letters respectively supporting and denouncing her, and the statements you sent me, not yet publicly released, by her and her attorney, Martin Farner. Any conclusive analysis of this conflict must await release of all relevant evidence by the parties in dispute; this will presumably occur in the course of eventual adjudication, unless the parties come to some kind of agreement beforehand. The second reason my comments must be taken with caution is that I may miss details and nuance in the documentation of this conflict, on account of my limited facility in German. If my command of your language were stronger, my observations in the paragraphs below would probably be more pointed. With these caveats, I am confident in what I write below. I am not acquainted with any of the people involved in this conflict and have never communicated with any of them.
  • Micromanagement in IT Teams: How to Avoid It and When Is It Needed?

    Micromanagement in IT Teams: How to Avoid It and When Is It Needed?

    Micromanagement in IT teams: how to avoid it and when is it needed? Micromanagement takes place when a manager treats his subordinates unreasonably, unfair and harsh. Proactiveness, creativity, ownership and rational thinking are out of the loop, and the range of responsibilities given to these subordi- nates is reduced to the mechanical fulfillment of minor tasks. Needless to say, this attitude is not very effective when it comes to guiding development processes. The aim of this document is neither to look at micromanagement as a character trait of individuals with a certain psy- chological mindset, nor to consider IT companies where the processes are not yet built at all. Micromanagement is quite time-consuming and exhausting from a team cohesion point of view. To some extent micro- management is acceptable, but if communication isn’t clear and transparent, it becomes annoying. Signals of micromanagement in your organisation Micromanagers usually display a lack of proper personal leadership. Micromanagement can usually be recognized by a couple of clear signs. ● Micromanagers are often very reluctant to delegate work. These leaders act like control freaks and leave little room for proactiveness, creativity or self-responsibility in their dealings with their subordinates. They are also likely to discourage others from making independent decisions. ● Managers regularly immerse themselves in tasks that are actually assigned to other people within the organi- zation or get involved in the work of others without consulting them. ● Leading figures within the organization tend to look at details instead of at the bigger picture. ● Managers and employees don’t use the experience and knowledge of talented or seasoned colleagues.