We opted not to work with one senior manager who said he wanted to ‘empower his operational teams’… because we realised that he could never let go of the reins!
Empowering your staff does not mean that you will lose overall control. If you genuinely want to do it, you need support to encourage them to handle the reins themselves.
Some of the change leadership of our clients asked us to work with them over several years to help them a shift in the way they operate. They wanted their managers to become coaches to people. They wanted their teams to make their own decisions and to ‘continuously improve’, as a way of life rather than a one-off exercise.
They involved us in their changes, supporting them all the way. We acted as a sounding board for their ideas and we trained their teams and individuals.
We encouraged them to re-think their organisational structure, to re-define roles and responsibilities so that things got done more effectively.
They report measurable benefits: they have beefed up their margins and they are retaining the people they want to keep… they would never go back to the bad old days now!