Delegation – empowering others vs. power to command
How much power to extend to team members and how much is retained by leaders?
Some leaders and managers view their role as authoritarian or or see themselves as a commander.
They might believe that their title gives them power over subordinates. What one might forget, is that perhaps giving power away accrues more power. This concept of gaining power can be accomplished by the sharing of goals.
Connecting this concept with my observations at work, I noticed the hard work managers put into maintaining their power over subordinates. Due to the lack of goal sharing, it is difficult for managers to empower employees.
In this case, delegation is power of command.
A solution for managers is to set shared goals or conditions so that team members do not feel the limits to their autonomy while management has assured that team members' actions are within desired parameters.
Team members desire a sense of control over their job and trust from the leaders. Therefore, managers must trust their team members to be able to delegate.
Trust is an essential tool for empowering others and gaining power.
-Michael Cardus is the founder of Create-Learning-Team Building, an experiential based training and development consulting organization, as well as a blogger for TeamBuilding NY. Mike specializes in team development and leadership development consulting and training, creating team-building programs that retain talented staff members, increase production and effectiveness of your team. He lives in Buffalo, NY, and travels to you to serve your team-building and leadership training needs, wherever and whenever fits your schedule.
