At no time in history has the corporate world been more ready for achieving empowerment within the workplace. The corporate world has changed, and leaders need to adjust. In EPowerment, author Dr. Izzy Justice explores empowerment in the context of the changing world and provides a powerful and simple roadmap to achieving empowerment.
A collage of researched data, case studies, and interviews from more than forty organizations and leaders from all over the world, EPowerment explores why the present generations are more capable of reaching their potential than any other in history. It introduces the new business term EPowerment-an amalgam of empowerment, high emotional intelligence (EQ), and harnessing the power of the E World. It underscores how collective human knowledge is becoming easier to access and details how it will become freely available.
EPowerment shows how, in this decade, managers or leaders need not reinvent the wheel, duplicate mistakes, or not leverage lessons learned. Empowerment should be the top priority of all organizations because managers can access new people, new communities of people, and infinite resources of knowledge to make better decisions-the centerpiece of high performance-in truly unprecedented ways.
EPowerment
Achieving Empowerment in the E WorldBy IZZY JUSTICEiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 Dr. Izzy Justice
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4502-2509-0 Contents
Foreword..................................................ixAcknowledgments...........................................xiIntroduction..............................................xiiiChapter 1 Why EPowerment and Why Now?.....................1Chapter 2 The E World.....................................25Chapter 3 Emotional Intelligence-EQ.......................44Chapter 4 EPowerment......................................68Chapter 5 The Extended Learning Model.....................79Chapter 6 Emotional Safety................................98Chapter 7 Mentoring.......................................120Chapter 8 Multi-Mode Learning.............................135Chapter 9 Outcome-Based Learning..........................150Chapter 10 Collective Human Knowledge.....................165Endnotes..................................................184Bibliography..............................................194
Chapter One
Why EPowerment and Why Now?
Sixty percent of U.S. organizations report that they plan to focus more on high-potential employees.
Empowerment means allowing people at appropriate levels of an organization to know that they are capable of, and accountable for, making business decisions without having to fight through layers of bureaucracy and inefficient business processes, both formal and informal ones. Who does not want to feel empowered? What could possibly be wrong with this concept?
When the term empowerment found its way to the workplace, it generated a lot of excitement. The expectation was that adults would be treated as adults, high expectations would be set and achieved, and decision-making and innovation would be accelerated. But putting it into practice proved to be easier said than done, and the excitement soon fizzled out. Why do we fail to achieve empowerment?
The problem isn't with the concept itself or even with support for the concept. There are two fundamental reasons why empowerment hasn't been successful in the past twenty years in our organizations.
First, the information necessary to make decisions never quite finds its way to those front-line managers, leaders, and employees supposedly empowered to make decisions. Either the data is not accessible in real time or it becomes diluted as it trickles its way down from upper management, rendering the information less useful. In some cases, the data is even outdated, causing the decision maker to either make the wrong decision or defer the decision entirely.
The second reason is that without proper training and the right information at the right time, the front-line employees find it too risky to make decisions and throw them back upward. They have not had the opportunity to learn to be resourceful. Both the organizational culture and the level of individual courage fail to support empowerment. Organizational rewards and incentive programs have historically not been aligned with empowerment either. Why risk the visibility of poor decisions and adversely impact one's career? This risk-taking fortitude, or lack thereof, is the core component of Emotional Intelligence, introduced in chapter 3.
As a result of these two factors, empowerment failed to live up to its promise. Companies continued to struggle with poor decisions, too much micromanagement, workplace dissatisfaction, and the "it's not my problem" syndrome. Empowerment was not organically supported in the ecosystem of the organization, nor were the inhabitants ready for it.
"Many companies are attracted by a fantasy version of empowerment and simultaneously repelled by the reality. How lovely to have energetic, dedicated workers who always seize the initiative (but only when "appropriate"), who enjoy taking risks (but never risky ones), who volunteer their ideas (but only brilliant ones), who solve problems on their own (but make no mistakes), who aren't afraid to speak their minds (but never ruffle any feathers), who always give their very best to the company (but ask no unpleasant questions about what the company is giving them back). How nice it would be, in short, to empower workers without giving them any power."
But we are in the second decade of the new millennium now. Organizations have undergone significant changes that bode well for empowerment. The workforce itself has also changed in ways that create a readiness for empowerment. What if empowerment was ready for a comeback? What if now is not only the best time to realize it, but also the most necessary time to realize it? When it was first introduced, perhaps it was just another nice business management concept. Today, empowerment is a business imperative. Harnessing the individual and collective potential of employees is the singular imperative of this decade.
In this book, we will present some very compelling arguments as to why empowerment is finally achievable. More importantly, we will argue why empowerment in 2010 and beyond should be the number one priority of all organizations. We will also discuss how to achieve this empowerment state at both the individual and organization levels.
We will introduce a new term-EPowerment-an amalgam of Empowerment, high Emotional intelligence (EQ), and harnessing the power of the e world (Electronically-enabled accessibility to knowledge, irrespective of where it exists, whether organically in a person, a community, or inorganically in easily accessible sources of knowledge). Collective human knowledge, which allows all of us to live and perform better, is becoming easier to access and will very quickly become freely available.
EPowerment involves:
1. Eliminating barriers to the access of knowledge and information.
2. Creating a fearless, emotionally intelligent workforce that is willing to expand its own potential.
3. Building a culture that practices, nourishes, and rewards employee engagement.
4. Developing business practices that are environmentally responsible and in tune with an age that is coming to terms with global learning.
But why now? Why is now the time for EPowerment?
We will share several reasons, but it is worth noting that, based on the collective set of changes and trends, empowerment has never been more achievable and more necessary than now.
The Changing Face of the Workplace That Was Then
The generations following World War II carved out what was then a new workplace. People went to work and stayed with the same company for years. The cubicle world was born, sometimes resulting in huge rooms filled with faceless workers hunched over typewriters that were eventually replaced by computer screens.
Organizations were marked by rigid hierarchical structures. Careers were considered in terms of climbing the ladder. We measured success by attaining ever-more-impressive titles, expanding our number of direct reports, and, if we were blessed, by finally establishing a foothold in the corner office. Job satisfaction was less important than stability, investing for retirement, and making sure that we never lost our place in line. Staying visible became so important that many people would work for years without even taking a vacation.
Today, things have changed dramatically....
