Empower Your Staff
Posted by Arthur Cooper on: 2005-07-18 20:03:48
by Arthur Cooper
(c) Copyright 2005
http://www.arthurcooper.com/
If you are a manager you should be managing. You should not
be doing the jobs of your staff. You should be operating at
a level above – directing the work, receiving the results,
interfacing with your boss, etc.. Too many managers find
themselves at the coalface when they should be directing
operations from the surface. To avoid this you must empower
your staff. Give them the space they need to operate on
their own initiative and trust them to do a good job. The
majority of people will do a good job if given the power,
the responsibility, and the recognition.
When you delegate a responsibility make sure that you do it
fully. Don’t do it in words only. Don’t say to someone ‘you
are responsible for this’ and then try to control every
little step along the way. Give him the job and then let him
get on with it.
Someone who is checked and watched closely at every moment
soon learns that he is not trusted. He learns that he is not
relied on to do a good job when left to himself. Eventually
he adopts the attitude of ‘why bother’. Why bother to be
careful when someone else is again and again going over
every little thing that he does?
On the other hand someone who is given responsibility for a
result and is measured by it will nine times out of ten live
up fully to his new role. He will accept that he is to be
measured and judged by his results and he will appreciate
being left to decide by himself how to achieve them.
This does of course assume that he has the basic ability,
skills, and knowledge,
So start by ensuring that the staff to whom you delegate
have the tools necessary. Make sure that the skills, the
materials, the working environment, the knowledge, are all
in place.
Be quite clear about what you expect from them. Make certain
that the required results, quality, and timelines are all
fully understood.
Then make it clear that you want them to act on their own
initiative. Tell them that you are there to help if they are
really stuck but that otherwise they are on their own. Give
them the authority they will need in order to deal with
others, and make sure that the others know that they have
it.
Most people if given responsibility (coupled with the skills
and the knowledge) will grow into it. Most people will do a
better job when trusted than when watched and supervised
every little step of the way.
Empower your staff and everybody wins.
About the Author
Arthur Cooper is a business consultant, writer and
publisher. For his mini-course ‘Better Management’ go to:
http://www.barrel-publishing.com/better_management.shtml