What is "real empowerment"​?

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 What is "real empowerment"? Empowerment is practised in different ways. Few managers believe that letting people do their work and not micromanaging is empowerment. This is partially true but is not a real empowerment. Letting people do their own thing and expecting them to reach out when they have a problem is, to some extent, disengaging management. In this case, the manager is trying to simplify his work and doesn’t have much interest in the reports. Few managers are busy managing up and don’t want to spend much time with their reports.

"Real empowerment" means giving people freedom in how they can achieve their task. At the same time, being engaged means understanding the challenges faced and how the problem is solved. Sometimes, act as a sounding board and guide them to make better decisions.

A few months after joining Sun Microsystems, the director, two levels above me, met me near the break room. He enquired on my work. He spent a few minutes understanding how I had solved the technical problem. I felt very good about my work, about the director, and about the company. A senior management person had personally recognised me and understood my challenges. This incident had a lasting impact and became one of the key tenets of my management style.

When I moved into management, I made sure that I gave my reports quality time to understand their challenges. I knew that this motivated people, and people were confident that I knew their work. They were confident that I would give them the right opportunities and suitably reward them. Above all, I understood the value each of my reports was bringing to the team and had true appreciation for their work.

Real empowerment is giving the reports the freedom and understand their challenges. Proactively offer support and do not wait for people to come to the manager with problems.

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