Empowerment
3 Elements of Empowered Relationships
In this series, I have discussed several aspects of empowered relationships—what they are and what they are not—so that you can use this concept/perspective to help your sponsor achieve success. In this last post, I’ll cover three basic yet powerful elements that combine to form empowerment-based relationships—beliefs, motivations, and actions. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
8 Steps to Building an Empowered Relationship
I’ve been talking in this series about building empowered relationships with your clients and between you and sponsors. It is accomplished when you and your clients follow specific actions and meet multiple criteria. Here is a graphic that illustrates the usual order of the process: more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Road Blocks to Empowerment
(1) CommentYou can gain many benefits when empowered relationships exist between you and your clients, and among key people within your clients. Yet, given how few empowered relationships exist during the execution of critical change, it is clear they’re not easy to develop. Here are some of the obstacles that can get in the way of empowerment:
- The definition is often vague or confusing—Many people think empowerment means autonomy, delegation, democracy, consensus management, etc. People sometimes don’t understand what it is and how it is secured and maintained.
- People think it gives them the power to act—Many people interpret empowerment as the entitlement to take whatever action they deem fit for a particular situation, instead of a charter to influence sponsors’ decisions.
- Political correctness is in play—In some organizations, sponsors ask for others’ “empowered” observations and suggestions primarily to appease them; the input is seldom truly considered. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Do You Have What It Takes to Be “Empowered”?
As practitioners, it’s vital for us to be empowered because, during major change, successful sponsors depend on people they trust to help influence their thinking. Sponsors rely on these individuals because their observations and opinions can result in rethinking—and possibly changing—the sponsors’ previous, current, or impending decisions for the better. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Empowerment Is Earned
(1) CommentIn my last post, I described the difference between empowerment and delegation. Sponsors need the influence of empowered people in order to make the best decisions possible.
Empowered people don’t get that way through a corporate edict or by attending a training class. A person builds empowerment through establishing a record of providing useful perspectives and successful recommendations to a sponsor. When the decision maker realizes he or she will make better decisions by listening to and valuing the input offered by a particular person (or group), that person becomes empowered. Work environments can be established that attract people who are predisposed toward developing empowered relationships, and empowerment can be fostered and flourish, but it is not a quality that can be given to people simply because HR, OD, or anyone else determines that it is a good idea. more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
Are You an “Empowered” Change Agent?
(1) CommentEven a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others. ~Plutarch
The empowered relationship is one of the more important aspects of orchestrating organizational transitions, but the term “empowerment” continues to be misunderstood and misused. Most professional change facilitators have some understanding of empowerment’s role during implementation, but we have to fully grasp all its implications if we are to help our clients use this tool wisely.
Sponsors who consistently achieve what they set out to accomplish depend on the influence of empowered individuals whose opinions and observations they trust. I’ve personally never seen a significant initiative reach full realization without the sponsors relying heavily on others to help them gain context and perspective. Sometimes they lean on more
ChangeThinking.net
©2011 Conner Partners, Inc.
www.connerpartners.com
