Hi, I'm Kevin Eikenberry, and I'm here to help you reach your potential as a leader
and a human being.
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All right.
Today, we're talking about empowerment.
Specifically what empowerment means.
Are you ready?
Let's get started.
Empowerment.
It can mean lots of different things in different contexts.
Our context today, not surprisingly, is talking
about what empowerment means in the workplace.
Now, before we get to that, let's go to the source.
Let's go to Merriam-Webster, to the dictionary
and see what it has to say about what the word empowerment means.
Two related definitions. First,
the granting of power rights or authority to perform various acts or duties.
So it's the granting of power, right, Or authority or the power itself.
The power right or authority to do something.
Granting it
or having it.
Now it's fine.
But with all due respect to Merriam-Webster
and the wonderful dictionary work,
I don't think it's quite enough, because here's the thing.
I can tell you I'm giving you the power to do something.
But if you don't see it, if you don't believe it,
or if I don't act in alignment with it, like I'm telling you one thing,
but acting in a different way, you won't choose to be empowered.
In other words, empowerment at work
isn't just me granting it, but you accepting it.
And until you accept it, you won't have the power right
or authority if you don't see it, believe it
or I don't act in that way, it's not going to work.
So what is needed to get from
not just me granting it, but you accepting it?
Three things. Number one is clarity.
Clarity of the expectation.
My expectation is that you are empowered to do this.
It's my.
And here's the boundary.
In fact, here's a simple example.
If I tell you that your spending authority
is $1,000, then you would perhaps buy things
that feel like you could buy anything without asking for permission.
Up to $1,000 on the company account, you can sign for up to $1,000.
You would know that your boundary,
but if you don't know that, you're not going to buy anything.
So until you know what the boundary
is, you're not going to accept anything in that regard.
So that's a very simple and sort of black and white example.
But the reality is until there's clarity
of the expectations and boundaries, we can't really get anyone to accept
empowerment.
What am I accepting? And secondly, support.
Are we providing people with the resources, the help,
the encouragement that they need to to be good with it?
Some people are shy, some people don't have a
as much self image as we might hope.
They're not.
Their confidence isn't where we need it to be.
So even though the boundary level is clear
and it's even clear to them what they're empowered to do,
we need to support them so they'll go there.
And then lastly, we must provide them with autonomy.
We must let them do it, and we must let them alone.
Right.
Give them a boundary, provide support.
Let them go do it.
When we do those three things,
then it's much more likely that people will not only see it
and believe it, but accept it and take the power,
the rights, the authority that we have granted to them,
and then go take action on it.
So people must know those three things in order to get there.
Right.
So empowerment in the workplace will only happen
when the power, authority and responsibility is both offered by us.
We must offer and then accepted by others.
Until that happens, there will be uncertainty,
a lack of clarity, and perhaps frustration for everyone.
Let me close with today's tweet.
Empowerment can be offered, but until the other person
acknowledges and accepts it, nothing will change.
Well, nothing will change for you unless you get new inputs.
Things like this video.
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