The Delicate Balance of Power and Empowerment in the Workplace

Passion for a company is contagious — especially when it emanates from the CEO or business owners. As a result, employees often feel energized about the goals of the company and its direction.

However, for some executives, the passion for their brand translates to a higher level of micromanagement — their personal stamp is a requirement on any project, big or small. Employees can feel suffocated and unempowered to make decisions. Over time, this can result in perfunctory efforts on projects because the employees know that, ultimately, their work will be changed and/or overruled.

This type of management style permeates day-to-day office life. For example, I was assisting a team who was helping the CEO of their company prepare for a big product launch. Presentations, marketing materials, etc. had to be created. Yet, the implementation team could not finalize anything because they did not have the ultimate decision-making power. Their creativity and productivity was significantly stifled as a result. They began to orient their efforts toward doing the minimum they needed to satisfy the request knowing that the CEO and his directs would adjust and refine.

I have successfully worked on both sides of this equation with executives and staff members alike to shift this dynamic in the workplace.

Empowering Staff Members

Staff members can become entrenched in behavior patterns. The key is to help the staff member change their way of being in vivo. For example, I worked with a young woman who could not commit to a project structure. Instead of owning her project, she kept asking for opinions from various people.

Finally, during the process, I said to her, “This is your project; you make the decisions. It’s your job to get everybody on board with how you want to do it, not the other way around.”

I helped the staff person to embrace their decision-making power and increase their sense of personal empowerment.

Big(ger) Picture Focus for Executives

It can be more challenging to try and reduce the level of involvement of an executive. An effective approach is to showcase areas where efficiency could be improved if employees were able to make the final decision. For example, productivity on a two-week timeline is vastly improved if the executive is only involved for a final sign-off — and not beforehand. 

Regardless of company size or structure, this awkward (and detrimental) dance between super-involved C-Suite and uninspired employees can occur. It is important for business owners to distinguish which decisions are critical in order to empower employees — ensuring that everyone feels that they directly contribute to the overall success of the company.  

Contact me with questions.