Motivating Employees through Empowerment
Is it What or is it How?

by Lois Moncrief

Is it "What"?

I have read many articles written for managers that urge you, the manager, not to tell your employees "what" to do. I don't agree! That is abdicating your responsibility as a manager to set goals and standards for each employee's job.

Many employees need to be told "what" to do. They want to know "what" are their responsibilities. They need you to make it clear "what" is expected of them. How can you expect them to do the job if they do not know "what" they are supposed to do?

You are the manager. It is your right and responsibility to assign work - to tell each employee what his job is and what you need him to accomplish. You have the right to set standards for the accomplishment of that work - quantity, quality, timeliness, etc. It is your responsibility to be realistic in setting these standards.

The Big Picture

Your employees do not understand the company the way you do. They understand their small part that they play in the company. They frequently do not understand the importance of their job or how it fits in with the rest of the company. You do understand these things.

You can help them understand the "big picture". You can explain cascading goals to them - company overall yearly goals and objectives, division goals and objectives, team goals and objectives and on down to their job's goals and objectives. Some will have some understanding of what you have told them. Others will not. Many will not understand the big picture. Many focus on their part only.

You can permit employees to give you suggestions and input on quantity, quality, and timeliness of product and/or service that they provide. They may have good ideas for you to consider. They are closest to the work. That is true.

BUT they do not understand the company's "big picture" like you do so it is up to you to make the final decisions of what will best serve the company's needs.

It is your responsibility to tell them what to do and give them standards that must be met to get the job done. You must hold them accountable for accomplishing their work by the standards you have set.

Remember, if things go wrong, the consequences will be your to bear as the manager and/or owner of the company.

Empowering and Motivating Employees Through the "How"

First, you have to assign the work you need each employee to do and give each employee the standards for the job in terms of quantity, quality, and timeliness, and any other factors you deem essential.

Next, you can empower your employees to decide "how" to accomplish the task within the parameters you have set on quantity, quality, and timeliness, etc.

This freedom to be creative and to find better ways of doing the job can be very empowering and motivating to your employees.

Picture at Right - rock climbers have to determine "the how" in climbing the mountain to accomplish their goal of victory at the top.

Pride and Ownership

When you allow your employees to determine the "how" to do their job, you are encouraging them to have "pride" in their work.

You are encouraging them to have "ownership" in "their part" of the company if you allow them to decide the best way or the "how" to do their jobs.

You can allow this as long as they do their jobs and meet your criteria for productivity, quality, and timeliness of the product and/or service.

Many employees will find the challenge of determining how to do their jobs faster and/or better very motivating.

Many will like the chance to be creative in their approach to this.

Many will develop more pride and ownership of their part of the product and/or service.

Picture of the Taj Mahal - when workers determine the "how" to do their job, they develop "pride" and "ownership" of the task and can produce something incredible.

Win - Win

What may amaze you is that by motivating them to determine the "how" and developing pride and ownership in their part of the company, they may find ways to do their jobs better and exceed some or all or the standards you have set.

Now you have created a "win-win". The company has won with the employee exceeding the standards (better productivity, or better quality, or faster service or product) and so has the employee who may now receive a bonus or higher pay for exceeding the standards.

My Story of Empowering Employees

I share this story as an example because it is the most likely one you may have heard of .

Disaster in Bhopal, India

(The background quoted from Wikipedia) "On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant is Bhopal, India released 42 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500,000 people to toxic gases. The first official immediate death toll was 2,259. A more generally accepted figure is that 8,000-10,000 died within 72 hours, and it is estimated that 25,000 have since died from gas-related diseases."

Union Carbide Pesticide Plants in USA

I knew there were Union Carbide Pesticide Plants in the U.S.A and I knew my employer, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would want to inspect these plants to make sure there would be no accidental releases of this toxic gas.

No Sampling and Analytical Method

There was no analytical method available at the time and it appeared it would be a difficult method to develop, especially the sampling part, because it was unlike other isocyanates due to its chemical and physical properties.

The next day, I assigned two of my employees the task of developing a method as quickly as possible. I told them what to do. Others worked harder to take up the slack of having these two employees diverted. The two employees I chose were experienced and capable.

One employee I assigned to work on the sampling part of the method. The other I assigned to work on developing the analytical part of the method.

I did not tell them how to do the task. I told them to coordinate the task together and give me a weekly update report on their progress. I trusted them to determine "the how". All I told them was I wanted it as fast as possible. There were guidelines on developing methods to guide them but, as I said this, would be a very difficult one because of the unique properties of methyl isocyanate.

I had given them a very difficult task in a short time as usually it takes approximately one year to develop an analytical method that meets all the criteria needed for sampling in different work environments and with different possible interferences.

Amazingly, within 3 weeks my two employees had nearly completed the task. They understood the need for the method and the need for speed. In addition, they quite frankly made good decisions and had some good luck.

It was then that my boss came to me and asked me to assign someone to develop a method for sampling and analyzing methyl isocyanate because Washington, D.C. National Office was ordering inspections of the Union Carbide Plants and would need a sampling and analytical method.

You can imagine his surprise when I told him we were already working on it and had it almost finished. It was finished in another week.

You see I not only empowered my employees who came through with incredible results but I was also empowered and trusted by my boss so I proactively took it upon myself to make the assignment.

What's the End of the Story ?

Exceptional Achievement Awards from the Secretary of Labor for developing the method so quickly!

AND I had two employees who, because of what they had accomplished, learned that they were much more capable than they may have realized a few months earlier. Were they motivated to do more? Absolutely!

AND because of their achievements they became more valuable assets to me and the center.


MOTIVATIONAL TIP

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

General George S. Patton


Picture of the Giza Pyramids at Right -
for centuries scholars have wondered in amazement how shaped rocks weighing tons were transported and lifted high to form the Great Pyramids and yet it happened due to ingenuity and hard work.


MANAGEMENT SUCCESS TIP

"The company's most urgent task is to learn to welcome, beg for, demand - innovation from everyone."

Tom Peters


Picture at Right - encourage your employees to "imagine the how" to do their jobs better and to be "creative" at seeing new possibilities for doing their jobs. Encourage innovation and they just might be the one to create the new Post It Note, the new Penicillin, the new Hybrid Car, etc.




For more articles on motivating employees visit my website at www.howtomotivateemployeesnow.com

copyright (c) 2009 Lois Moncrief All Rights Reserved