Empowering Teams: What It Is and Why It’s Important

An empowered team is made up of self motivating individuals who have the authority and power to make their own decisions. These individuals have the ability to plan and manage their own work, taking ownership and responsibility for their actions.

Does this definition sound like your team?? If not, you need to read on..

Empowering teams overturns the typical management style of leader-follower and embraces a leader-leader cultural change. This bottom up leadership approach creates a flat organisation where leaders are present at all levels of the organisation rather than seen as the typical managerial roles.

This cultural change introduces a new sense of teamwork into organisations, it allows individuals to see and work towards a common goal or objective. It provides individuals a platform for their opinions to be voiced and listened to. Something as simple as valuing an individual’s opinion gives them a sense of belonging and improves their individual level of morale. This in turn boosts the teams morale. When team morale is high this energises the workforce, teams identity impediments quickly and they operate in a high performing state.

So what are the characteristics of an empowered team?

1. The team is ‘Set Up for Success’, they are resourced with competent individuals who have the necessary skillset along with the willingness to succeed. The team is also supplied with any required toolsets. If your team does not have the required level of technical abilities or resources then you’re setting your team up to fail before they even begin.
2. The team and individuals are assigned problems to solve rather than assigned features or products to build. This gives the team/individuals the opportunity to innovate and bring new opportunities to the table. A true tell that this currently does not exist within your team is when individuals have the “Whatever they tell me to do” attitude, this points back to the leader-follower management style. The reason behind this may be due to an individuals lack of experience or a lack of trust within your organisation.
3. The team and individuals believe in their own abilities to assume more responsibility and take ownership. A powerful mechanism which L. David Marquet refers to in his book ‘Turn the Ship Around’ is the use of empowerment phrases such as “I intend to..” or “I will” rather than dis-empowered phrases such as “I would like to” or “I request permission to”. This is an easy way to identify which category your team falls under.
4. They are autonomous, have the freedom to set their own goals and take responsibility for their own decisions. Including teams in the decision making process allows them to feel valued within an organisation, makes them understand their importance in the success of a project and provides them with an opportunity to develop as leaders.
5. The team is honest and creates an environment where individuals are encouraged to share their opinions. This allows teams to openly share any worries, concerns and thoughts. It provides clarity throughout a team, opens the lines of communication and breaks down all hierarchical boundaries. It also offers teams the opportunity to learn from failures, discussing openly and honestly about what they can do differently next time.

How do you develop an empowered team?

• Create a clear vision, this will allow your team to directly see how they’re contributing to the bigger picture and that their contribution makes a difference. It sets the expectations for the team, providing them with insight, clarity and focus.
• Remove the hierarchal structure from the team. Involve all team members in the planning and encourage all members to participate. Do this by giving positive recognition for team ideas, inputs and insights. This will allow the team to brainstorm, deciding the most creative and efficient way to work towards their goal.
• Develop leaders across the team, provide them with the power and the authority to make decisions. Quoted by Steve Jobs “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Give individuals the opportunity to grow by placing them in roles which they can learn and develop but provide them with a mentor or coach so they feel supported. This will engrain the culture of self-improvement and create a learning organisation.
• Be transparent! Encourage open communication, establish an environment which team members are comfortable in sharing their opinions, ideas and learnings. Ask for everyones opinion and acknowledge that you’ve listened to their opinion. Finally, engage with employees on a personal level so they feel valued as individuals. All of these will develop the level of trust within your team.

Each of the principles mentioned above sound relatively simple but must be maintained and engrained in the teams DNA. Some individuals may reject the added level of responsibility or utilise the bottom up system to their own individual advantage. Therefore a tremendous shift in thinking and coaching is required to make it work but by sticking with them, it will have a dramatic affect on your teams accountability, ability to perform and their levels of job satisfaction. You’ll create a positive culture which enhances the talent within your organisation and creates a place where people want to work.

Why not see the benefits for yourself?

If you’d like to learn more around Empowerment I’d recommend reading the book I mentioned above ‘Turn the Ship Around’. It tells the story of developing a bottom up, leader-leader culture within a challenging and rigid environment. L. David Marquet truly empowers his team to overcome difficult obstacles and encourages leadership at all levels of the organisation. He develops leaders, not followers. A great read to overturn what we typically grow up thinking and learning about leadership!