For me empowerment works this way:
I have the power to decide where I work.
I have the power to decide if I like the work I do.
I have the power to decide if I hate the work I do.
I have the power to ask for more power in my work.
I have the power to increase my abilities so I can improve my career.
I have the power to decrease my abilities and get fired.
I have the power to quit if I don't like my work.
In other words, I am powerful. No one gives me power. It is mine by the
fact that I am an individual who is able to think and act in a rational
(or if I wish, irrational way).
Perhaps the real question here isn't so much about power to take action,
as it is about how to distribute authority within an organization. Who is
authorized to do what? Why are they authorized? Authority usually follows
position. Not everyone in an organization can have the authority to
approve a budget or make a high-level management decision.
Stephen Covey touches on this when he makes the distinction between our
circle of concern and our circle of influence. The more time we spend
worrying about, or fretting over our circle of concern the less time we
have taking action in our circle of influence. Put another way, when we
worry about what others are doing and not what we are doing we surrender
our power to someone else. And so for me empowerment comes from focusing
on and improving myself, and making sure that where I work is congruent
with my beliefs and with what I want out of life.
As for distributing authority, I think there are certain elements of
authority that should be distributed. Red-tape is the product of an
organization that has poorly distributed authority. On the other hand,
authority has to exist for an organizationto function predictably and
orderly. Since it must exist it is important that it exist in the right
places and with the right people.
--
Benjamin Compton
DWS -- "The GroupWise Integration Experts"
A Novell Platinum Partner
bcompton@dws.net
http://www.emailsolutions.com
--Ben Compton <BCompton@dws.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>