Last week we talked about real love and showing love to the people you work with.  This week I want to look at another love story and its link to empowerment.  In Disney’s Aladdin there are two scenes where Aladdin turns to Jasmine and asks, “Do you trust me?”    What Aladdin is really asking is, “Do you trust me enough to make decisions that will solve our problem?”  In both instances she takes his hand and then they either start escaping guards or go on a magic carpet ride.  What Jasmine is actually telling him when she takes his hand is that she trusts him to make certain decisions.  This is a weird way of saying that trust is the basis of empowerment.

For the past few months it feels like everyone is talking about empowerment, making faster decisions, and decision rights.  We talk about how we need to stop micromanaging people and empower employees.  What I don’t hear anyone directly talking about is empowerment and its link to trust.  I feel that the only way you can truly empower someone is to help them understand what decisions you trust them to make and then show that you trust them to make those decisions.

This sounds so simple, but it’s not easy.  I feel that a lack of empowerment stems from two issues that both go back to trust or a lack of trust.  Issue 1 is that you told someone that you trust them to make a decision, but you don’t really mean it.  Someone says, “You own X.”  Then you start doing X.  Out of nowhere the person comes back and tells you how to do X and makes you dramatically change what you were doing.  They do this, because they already knew how they wanted it done and whether they say it or not, they don’t trust you to do it any other way but their own.  (Please tell me I’m not the only one this has ever happened to.  Also, confession, I know that I’ve done this to other people.  I don’t do it intentionally, but I know I’ve done it.)

Issue 2 is that you legitimately trust the person to make the decision, but they aren’t sure if you really trust them to make those calls.  The reason Issue 2 is a problem is because the person keeps coming back to get your approval and wasting time when you have faith that they can do the job.  Most of the time, we put the burden on the employee when this happens.  We say that they need to step up and make decisions.  What we often fail to think about is that they are probably a little gun shy, because Issue 1 is so prevalent.  Also, people don’t like to say this, but when Issue 2 happens it is often the leader’s fault for not ensuring that the other person understand how much they trust them.

Are you really giving your trust to people when you empower them?  Are you doing everything you can to ensure they understand how much you trust them and what you trust them to do when you empower them?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry