When Empowerment Doesn’t Work: 8 reasons it fails.

Empowerment is a cultural setting that amplifies the impact of each individual and team in an organization. Leaders proactively set the scene and provide the setting, which allow people to make choices without asking for permission. It is driven by aspiration, focused on performance, and really energizes the people that are part of it. This often results in much higher levels of efficiency and effectiveness in decision making and output (results), giving the organization a serious competitive advantage. Given this, why haven’t more companies adopted an empowerment type culture? Here are 8 key reasons why: (Note: In practice, I’ve found that the points below are not mutually exclusive, they impact each other and are closely interrelated.)

Everyone has their own interpretation

One of the main reasons why empowerment doesn’t work is that people see and understand it differently. To highlight this, I want to share 3 of the most common misconceptions surrounding empowerment that I’ve come across. Firstly, in some companies delegation and empowerment are viewed as the same thing. Secondly, leaders believe that they are empowering, even if their people can’t say no to their requests. Thirdly, some people believe empowerment is laissez faire (which could lead to lack of control), while others, in contrast, believe it offers better control of the business. Such differences in perspectives lead to disappointment, as individuals expect different behaviors from each other. Ultimately, the energy and enthusiasm waivers.

People don’t believe it can work

As a result of not having been part of an empowered organization, most people have not seen empowerment work. Our experiences in different types of companies shape the way we look at business and what is and isn’t possible. It is then no surprise that empowerment can seem alien and “not very businesslike” to many. This is perfectly normal and understandable. However, this can get in the way of attempting to embed a culture of empowerment in an organization, since it is critical that people’s behaviors and habits adjust sustainably to the new reality. In my experience, we only succeed in embedding real change when people do things for their own reasons (rather than being asked to do it).  I’ve also learned that when people don’t believe something can work or feel they have no need for it, they won’t use it. This is a critical point for getting it right with empowerment: people need to believe it can work and, for their own reasons, choose to go for it.

People are not given the time for assimilation

When embedding culture change, every individual needs to go through their own process of assimilation. Past experiences, personality traits, and level of guidance and support provided often affect the pace of assimilation. When leaders change things and move too fast, they run the risk of leaving people behind. Empowerment requires leaders to take people with them, provide time for individual reflection, and make it safe for people to explore and assimilate to the new reality. If we don’t take this into account, we risk turning the change process into little more than an exercise with no real sustainable results.

Leaders want results to come too fast & pull the plug

Sometimes we are too quick to pull the plug on things that aren’t giving us the results we want fast enough. Doing so is often warranted, other times we are simply impatient. In the case of empowerment, it tends to be the latter. When seeking results from a culture change, such as is the case when going for empowerment, we need to be aware that what we are looking for, specifically, is a sustainable change in the behavior of individuals, which as a whole leads to the new culture. This level of sustainability needs time and a sustained effort by all to keep it moving forward. If we are not patient, we risk letting it all fall apart like a house of cards and lose our investment.

People (leaders included) are not given support and guidance to deal with the change

Embedding empowerment in an organization has far reaching implications for its employees. This will undoubtedly lead to people becoming anxious and fearful of the changes. If left unaddressed, it can cause issues for the organization’s change efforts. In the context of leading empowerment, leaders need to provide ample support to their people and provide the guidance to navigate through the changes. It’s when people are given support and guidance that they are able to break through mental blocks and diminish resistance to the changes.  

Empowerment is implemented in isolation from doing the business

Let’s state it clearly: you can’t go for empowerment in isolation of doing the business. If your employees and leaders are responsible and have the company’s interest in mind, they will only commit and execute things that they believe will deliver results. People need to be convinced that empowerment is a sound business decision and that making the effort to lead the organization towards it is a good use of their time and company resources. What I find works best is when leaders are able to combine the change towards empowerment and the delivery of long term business objectives into one process. This approach addresses what many call the hard and the soft, providing the right arguments and business focus that allow employees and business leaders to choose for empowerment for their own reasons and the best interest of the business.

The business is doing well the current way

The best moment to build the future is usually when you’re doing well – business is sound and there is cash to invest. However, this also happens to be one of the reasons why empowerment can fail. It is harder for people to convince themselves to try something new when what they are already doing is working for them. In my opinion, the correct argument to bring to the table in favor of empowerment is the following: the current way of working was and is the right choice for the business now, but it might not work for us in the future. We need leaders with vision to look ahead to help build a strong future for their business. They need to create a healthy tension between current and future performance. One of their key challenges will be to help people to come on board to explore new ways of working, especially when the existing way is perceived to be working.

Fear of failure

Leaders may be concerned that they are not able to make empowerment happen because they’ve been brought up in a management-and-control style of leading and they’ve been successful that way. Now they have to let go and do it a new way, which understandably can make some afraid of failing. Given the conviction that empowerment is the way forward, the ability of leaders to sustain their newly learnt behaviors, gain confidence and practice in the new way of leading will be critical to their success. Having the right coach or thought partner in this individual journey can help immensely, not just in making it to the end, but also in speeding up the learning process.