The article proposes an articulated series of steps to generate maturity in the leader to make decisions regarding empowerment. Likewise, it clearly defines empowerment from its most frequent meanings and used in the business world.
Probably one of the most difficult tasks for a manager is to delegate responsibilities and confer authority on his subordinates. Within the organizational scheme, this is a simple task that is delimited through logical criteria, however in the field of empowerment this is not an easy task, indeed, it is a general problem and often crumbled and jealously guarded by the boards of directors..
What is empowerment?
Empowerment means empowerment or empowerment, which is the fact of delegating power and authority to subordinates and giving them the feeling that they own their own work.
In English "empowerment" and its derivatives are used in various meanings and contexts, but in Spanish the word is in conflict with a series of expressions that approach without achieving the fullness of the noun. "Empowerment" is homologated with "empowerment" and "to empower" with "empower", while older expressions such as "empower" and "enable" are deprecated.
Without conflicting about the meaning of the concept, but assuming an optional meaning, empowerment is a powerful resource within organizations with a very limited hierarchical scheme.
Empowerment is not a resource to be taken lightly, as it involves power relations, and in certain cases it can backfire.
Delegating responsibilities and power often requires extreme proactive synergy, that is, the authority conferred and the conferred maintain a communication and attitude consistent with the process.
Here are a number of key elements proposed to prepare the ground for empowerment:
1. Emotional maturity of the leader. Prepare a suitable moment to suppose an effective empowerment process.
2. Compatibility of criteria between the company and the leader it confers. It is much more effective that senior managers are aware of and in accordance with the empowerment strategies proposed by the middle managers. As local or particular as the case may be, effective communication will always be well rewarded
3. The less operational and more administrative the empowerment process is, the more responsibility the leader will be acquiring, as he is enrolling in increasingly higher levels of command
4. Choose the proper timing is a good strategy. How long will the preparation process take? How much time can i spend? How much time should i spend
5. Finally, delegating and conferring power, is it a strategic act or is it to deposit my weaknesses as a leader in another? If the answer is affirmative, it is convenient to mature all those aspects that will not speed up or strengthen common objectives.
Conferring power and delegating responsibilities is often confused with authority efforts to generate a leadership style in the subordinate. It is very common to fall into the mistake of duplicating an element to replace the leader. In these cases, the communication scheme and the hierarchical role tend to fracture, since the duplication of functions will only generate conflicts within the area, department or address. In those cases it may be helpful to ask ourselves: Am I mature enough as a leader to confer power and delegate my authority to another? This is a difficult question, because if it is negative, the element of change and the focus of the problem is concentrated solely and exclusively on authority.
In this case there is an ingrained paradigm. Evolution and maturity represent the greatest risk factor for managers, since internal weaknesses sometimes generate more personality conflicts than structured analysis of change.
In this regard, I propose three premises to change that vision of risk:
1. Our mistakes can become strengths. The key. Internalize the problem and finally implement a personal program of evolution and implementation of changes.
2. You are not always empowered to be a leader in all aspects. In this sense, our maximum capacities can be enhanced knowing how to recognize our greatest limitations.
3. Focus on the goal. To apply the resource of empowerment there must always be a real need. Focusing that need, our mistakes and limitations can be a minimal problem considering the enormous advantages of being aware and acting according to our realities.
In essence, a mature leader is one who has the necessary skills to occupy a position within the hierarchical scheme, also has an attitude towards himself, his staff and his superiors. Likewise, it knows and recognizes its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the company's structural strengths and weaknesses. Finally, it communicates its decisions within the organizational structure.
All these elements, in contrast, generate a solid and particular style of leadership, a fundamental tool in the development of business projects.
In the business world, the key factor is to bravely face our limitations and know how to recognize opportunities with agility, insight and a lot of tenacity.
"The key to a successful company is knowledge, quality and empowerment"
Edward Deming.
