Empowerment of Employees can Create High Performance

by Christine Casey Cooper

Case Study – Many years ago an engineer was designing jet engines. His company was developing new technology and to create products that would attract attention worldwide. As was usual practice, he was assigned a bright new person. The protege happened to have a computer program ready for application in fracture mechanics, which was relatively new at the time. [This technology assumes a crack or internal defect in material, and predicts failure after so many cycles of stress.]The engineer found a good application in welded assemblies. On many occasions in the past he had been called to the x-ray lab to review films showing internal defects. The usual recommendation was to grind out the defect and re-weld, a laborious process. Using the new method introduced by his protégé, they were able to justify proceeding without laborious rework of welds, a great cost savings. The engineer encouraged making this part of the analytical package; the boss agreed. The protege was also instrumental in translating complicated mission profiles into usable simplifications that were valid.

This got the attention of an important customer, The US Air Force. They started applying it to aerodynamic structures. This advancement would not have happened without employee empowerment to apply new and creative solutions.

Levels of Empowerment – Employee empowerment starts with encouragement. Employees are coached to play a more active role in their work. Employees should develop into active rather than passive players, showing more initiative. Next, newly empowered employees take responsibility for doing things in increasingly better ways. Process improvements can be introduced to streamline the product or services. Then empowered employees are enabled to make more and bigger decisions without seeking approval from the manager. Start with small steps and encourage bigger steps as experience grows. In time benefits will accrue: getting closer to the customer; improving service delivery; innovating continually; increasing productivity; and gaining the competitive edge.

Encourage stepping out into new areas – World class companies are characterized by managers who cheer their talented workers into higher levels of performance and inspire them to great achievements, which can’t be accomplished without employee empowerment. If empowering the employee requires procuring new hardware and software, then the manager should facilitate the change. In this way dreams are transformed to reality, and progress can be made towards high performance products produced at lower cost. One example is inertia welding, which has been applied to metal and plastic parts, too. Fasteners are eliminated, and parts take on a smooth modern appearance. This important improvement was made possible by an empowered employee who was allowed to be creative.

An empowered work force is an informed work force – Your team must be informed of company goals and plans on a regular basis. ‘Left in the dark’ is not a term used by the empowered employee. In like manner, the individual will continually inform his team mates and management what he is doing and what he is expecting from certain developments. This may trigger helpful suggestions from team mates. One employee that is having trouble with a specific detail may find the answer from a team mate. Many project execution tools can inform team mates and uncover and identify problems. Even more basic is a dated progress narrative that shows accomplishments, problem areas, and tentative means of solving the problems.

An employee empowerment system can be expressed with the following steps:

1.Provide an inspiring vision and launch a crusade.

2.Help people connect their personal goals to business goals.

3.Create an environment where continuous innovation is part of the culture.

4.Encourage entrepreneurial creativity and experimentation.

5.Involve everyone, empower and trust employees.

6.Coach and train your people to greatness.

7. Encourage teams and build teamwork, use the leverage of diversity of experience.

8. Motivate, inspire, energize people, and recognize achievements.

9. Encourage risk taking.

10. Make business fun.

About the Author

Christine Casey-Cooper is a leadership coach an author of the satirical book The Crass Captain’s Quick Guide to Management Dysfunction. Visit http://www.CrassCaptain.com for leadership and management advice, and some bad boss advice from the Crass Captain.