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 Empowerment Article One: Fostering Discretionary Effort Through Empowerment
In this series of articles on the 'Empowered' factor of the Star Performing Team model there will be three topics, with an article covering each. The first will consider the concept from a leader's perspective, the second from a team's perspective with the final article examining the relationship between Empowerment and Alignment.
Concept Clarification
The empowerment concept implies that 'Star' teams are partly successful because there is no waste of human effort since everyone strives to take ownership of their part of the team's job. Everyone 'fires' on all cylinders because artificial shackles of bureaucracy or management are removed through devolved decision-making.
Figuring out how to get the best from people in the workplace is a key element of empowerment and an ongoing quest for anybody that leads a team. What is it that makes people put in extra effort, take ownership of objectives, and accept responsibility? How do we get people to add value over and above contracted minimum standards?
What is Discretionary Effort?
When people give effort over and above the contracted minimum, Organisational Psychologists call this "Discretionary Effort" - that increment of human labour whose expenditure is entirely at the discretion of the individual who owns it. A current term used is also 'Engagement'. Engagement increases the likelihood that a person will offer their discretionary effort.
Discretionary Effort is effort put in by an employee which is over and above the standard expectations of their job. It is a person's discretional effort that sees people putting in unpaid overtime, using their initiative, taking ownership, ensuring absolute quality, caring about the organisational goals etc.
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Benefits of Discretionary Effort
In purely economic terms, Discretionary Effort is by far the most profitable morsel of human effort ever offered up. We all have stories of dealing with someone that has gone beyond their call of duty and the difference it made to our decisions to do business with that organisation again in the future - we become repeat customers, and we tell others.
A case in point was an employee in Air New Zealand. Rob Fyfe, CEO, an advocate and strong beneficiary of the discretionary effort of his employees received the following letter:
Dear Mr Fyfe,
We have actually had a couple of months of extra good service on Air NZ flights. But last Sunday I experienced the nicest service - so nice that I just had to write to you - because you should feel very proud.
My two wee children and I were running late for a flight from Christchurch to Wellington on the Sunday afternoon. The plane was fully boarded and our names had been called. I was struggling with an 8 month old and a three year old (plus luggage). I ran down towards the check in at the gate and was met by a gentle smiling man who told me to relax, and pass the baby and the bag to him. He then led me down the airbridge, chatting and asking about my day. He didn't stop at the door of the plane (I thought he was ground staff) - he took me and my girls on to the plane. I said 'Are you on this flight too?', and he told me he was actually the pilot. His name is Brendon Reddy.
He had seen us running and me struggling with the girls and bag and got out of his seat and cockpit and walked out to meet me. I was so touched - well tickled pink. He demonstrated what makes Air NZ so special. I've told everyone who would listen this week about Brendon Reddy's decency and thoughtfulness. You couldn't ask for a better ambassador for Air NZ - and he landed into Wellington smoothly to boot.
Well done and thank you Brendon for making me feel valued and special.
Awhi (aged 3) loves planes and pilots and she drew Mr Reddy this picture. Would you mind sticking it in your internal post?
Go well and thank you again.
Kiri Hannifin
This letter demonstrates Air New Zealand's 'Star Team Performance' and is confirmed by two International Airline awards this year (one considered the Oscar of Airline awards). It shows the dramatic impact specifically of discretionary effort and more broadly of benefits of Empowerment to an organisation and to teams.
In contrast, we have all encountered the "I just work here" attitude. We hit this attitude when we deal with a person that can't or won't make a decision, that won't take ownership, that doesn't strive to meet customer needs and organisational objectives. The bottom line when we strike this attitude is that it is bad for business; we don't go back and we spread the word.
From an internal customer perspective (see Focused), discretionary effort ensures tasks get done, on time and to standard. Discretionary effort takes extra care with team relationships, grows others capability, and improves processes.
Discretionary Effort is like gold to organisations. It is where productivity, innovation, reduced costs etc are born. The catch for people managers is that by definition, you can't pay for discretionary effort; you can't beat, cajole, or entice it out of anyone. It's what we do willingly, because we want to.
So, how do you get more of people's discretionary effort?
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Encouraging Discretionary Effort
A recent study by the Corporate Leadership Council found that the number one most important aspect of work for people was a "quality manager". People indicated that they would be more likely to offer their discretionary effort to a manager that displayed the characteristics of a quality manager.
So what does a "quality manager" look like? Leadership Management Australia's Leadership and Employment and Direction Survey found the five most important factors that employees want from their boss are:
- Being entrusted with responsibility/independence
- Interesting and challenging work
- A good working relationship
- Receiving feedback and good communication
- Enjoying a good relationship with other staff
This is a really interesting list when we examine it in the context of empowerment. Three out of the five points above are directly linked to how the Star Performing Team Model describes and measures empowerment.
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Entrusting People With Responsibility / Independence
Teams that are empowered have leaders that devolve their power. In doing so they raise the status of the people in the team, they pass on responsibility, and provide a sense of independence and autonomy.
Leaders that entrust others with responsibility send two key messages:
- I trust you
- I think you have got the capability, experience, and skills required (or at the very least - I believe you have the capacity to learn)
These are two great empowering messages to send people. When people get these messages they will likely reciprocate with Discretionary Effort. These people will stay longer, take more care, and put in extra effort. People that get given responsibility are more likely to take responsibility.
This is a really interesting list when we examine it in the context of empowerment. Three out of the five points above are directly linked to how the Star Performing Team Model describes and measures empowerment.
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Providing Interesting and Challenging Work
It is not hard to see that the above point connects directly to providing interesting and challenging work. By devolving power, and delegating responsibility, work tasks will become more challenging. 'You're in charge' and 'It's your responsibility' make employees sit up and listen (in a good way). People say they want more challenging work. There is a clear mandate here for leaders to empower others by passing on the big tasks and important projects. Once again consider the two key messages above. Wouldn't you put in extra effort for a boss that sent those messages and made your work life more interesting by involving you in challenging tasks?
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A Good Working Relationship - Trust
In order to empower successfully there must be a good two way trust relationship. Trust is built over time. If a little devolved power is properly received and delivered on, then in future the leader can have greater faith that their empowerment will be well placed in safe hands. Correspondingly, if responsibility is accepted, the acceptor needs to know that they really do have the autonomy and the authority to carry out the task with independence.
Over time, this trust provides the platform upon which true empowerment has stability (that and within the clear boundaries of alignment, which will be talked about in the 3rd Empowerment article).
Another aspect of trust within empowerment is safety in the expectation that devolved responsibility, even with the person offering their discretionary effort, will not always lead to perfect results. Entrusting people with responsibility, and providing interesting and challenging work has inherent risks for the leader. Tasks might not get done in the leader's usual fashion or even to the usual standards. It takes trust from both sides to resist pointing the finger and laying blame, but rather to use mistakes as a learning opportunity. In fact, to go further, true empowerment calls for tolerance of mistakes.
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No Empowerment Leads To Greater Bureaucracy
Where trust doesn't exist (and where discretionary effort doesn't exist) more bureaucracy is needed. Bureaucracy involves checking, restricting, inspecting etc. Bureaucracy is often instituted in organisations where levels of empowerment and discretionary effort are low.
An example scenario is when a process forces a capable employee to seek sign off from three layers of management to make a $20 decision.
An increase in bureaucracy and lack of empowerment sends these messages:
- You can't be trusted
- You don't have the capability, experience, or skills required
With these messages, an employee is not likely to invest their discretionary effort in the company's goals.
Jim Collins, in his text Good to Great, says this about bureaucracy:
'Bureaucratic cultures arise to compensate for incompetence and a lack of discipline, which arise from having the wrong people on the bus in the first place. If you get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off, you don't need stultifying bureaucracy'
I would add that the more you can empower people, devolve responsibility, provide challenging work, and build trusting relationships, the more likely you will be to foster people's discretionary effort, and develop the right people. Those that are unwilling or unable to operate in such a culture are likely to alight the bus of their own accord.
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Creating The Environment
Of course, there are always limitations and challenges to providing, for example, "interesting and challenging work" and to entrusting people with responsibility or allowing greater independence. Sometimes their demonstrated ability or confidence is simply not adequate to justify the autonomy they might desire. But of course that becomes an issue for "receiving feedback and good communication" - they're not likely to improve their readiness for greater responsibility without the opportunity to improve.
So, intentionally, consistently and consciously meeting some basic needs like feedback, autonomy and challenging work helps establish an environment in which additional effort is more likely to be given and in which more responsibility can be delegated with greater confidence.
Organisational structures necessarily limit people's authority - their power - to ensure clarity, accountability and order. But it's not hard to see that those structures, policies and procedures can often impede people's efforts to exercise initiative or go the extra mile. They can also often silently communicate a lack of trust. That's one reason responsibility and autonomy are so valued - they are empowering. We understand rules and processes are necessary but we also realise that they communicate something about our perceived "maturity"; if we're subject to a rule that says someone else has to make a decision it means we're not seen as being capable. No one likes being treated as if they are incompetent.
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Is Your Team Empowered?
The real catch 22 for leaders in regard to increasing discretionary effort is that the job of empowerment sits directly in their hands. It is leaders who have the power to devolve responsibility, to provide challenging work and to build trusting relationships. With empowerment and discretionary effort you get what you give.
Would you like to share responsibility for team performance with your team? Run a team workshop using the Team Diagnostic Profile to gauge the levels of empowerment in your team.
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Dr Paul Robinson
Managing Director
Team Leadership Services
© 2011 Team Leadership Services
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