The Six Levels of Empowerment

Many managers view empowerment as something you either give or you don’t. Similar to delegation – you delegate a task or project to someone, thus you empower them to do that task or project.

However, delegation is wholly separate from empowerment. Delegation may involve empowering someone but the key to empowerment is at what level you actually give power and authority when you delegate.

Often delegation is the act of giving your work to someone else, not necessarily your power and authority.

Empowerment is more than delegation and it’s more than giving your power and authority.

It involves determining and expanding on the level of power and authority you are willing to give and the recipient is willing to take.

Empowerment is not simply empowerment. There are different levels, different applications, and different times and circumstances where you need to use different levels of empowerment with the people your are working with.

Each level of empowerment is progressive, meaning that level 1 is the lowest and gives the least amount of power whereas level 6 is the highest and gives the most amount of power.

One of the beauties of the six levels of empowerment is that it can be the basis of an employee development program. When you look at empowerment as an active plan and work to bring employees up the ladder and to also bring your willingness and trust up the same ladder, you can see just how powerful empowerment can be.

As we go through the six levels of empowerment, think not only of what each means but also how they apply to you in your own work experiences and to those who work for you.

The Six Levels of Empowerment [i]

Level One: You research; you report; I will decide.

Level one empowerment is the most basic and simple level. It simply says to an employee “you go do the research (for whatever it is) and report back to me what you find. I will make the final decision. I hold the power and authority.”

This may seem too simplistic for our definition of empowerment but you must keep in mind that each activity and each employee requires a specific level of empowerment. Level one may be appropriate for a new hire or for an extremely critical project.

From an employee risk standpoint, this is the safest level. Since the employee is not taking power and authority in making the decision, a bad decision falls on the shoulders of the manager, not the employee.

Level Two: You research; identify the alternatives; suggest one for implementation; I will decide.

Level two empowerment is only slightly but significantly different from level one. At level two you are not only asking an employee to research, you are also asking that they make a recommendation based off of their findings.

You, the manager, are still holding the power and authority to make the final decision but you’ve empowered your employee to have more input into that decision.

When using empowerment as an employee development program, level two starts to give you a better understanding of what the employee is capable of, how they think and work, and what their decision making processes are. The employee starts to take more responsibility and ownership in the work they are doing.

Level Three: You research; report what you intend to do; but wait for my approval.

Level three is, again, a subtle but significant difference from level two. Now you’ve given power and authority to your employee to make the decision. “Based off of your research, what are we going to do?” However, you have still retained the power and authority to approve or disapprove their decision.

The “wait for my approval” can be very difficult for people. How long should I wait? How often should I come back to you to see if you’ve made a decision? Are you happy with my suggestion or decision?

A manager actively working on an empowerment program must recognize these difficulties and be clear on their expectations and on setting their employees expectations. A simple “I’ll get back to you with my decision within the next x days” relieves the employee of the above stresses.

Of course, the employee should be responsible (and empowered) enough to be able to say “how long should I wait?”, “When can I expect your decision?”

Level Four: You research; report what you intend to do; do it unless I say “no.”

A slightly different twist from Level 3. Level four empowerment implies approval of whatever decision the employee has made. Now there is no waiting for your decision but the employee must know, or ask, what it is that may cause you to say “no”. In other words, what would stand in the way of “yes”. Whatever it is, it must be known ahead of time so the employee can ensure that any potential concerns are addressed.

Level 4 is the first truly empowered level for an employee. You, the manager, have given your decision making power and authority to the employee - while still holding the power of the “breaks”, the power to say “hold on, wait a minute…”.

Level Five: You research; take action; report what you did.

Level five is often the point where many employees will feel that they’ve “arrived”, that they’ve earned your trust and are able to work on their own and take full responsibility and ownership not only of specific tasks or projects, but of their entire role within the organization.

Level five is also the stopping point for many employees. For various reasons, employees may want to report what they’ve done. It may be to ensure that you’re aware of the (great) work that they’re doing, or it may be a feeling of obligation to keep you in the loop.

As with employees, many managers are also not willing to go past level 5. Managers often want and need to know what’s going on. They need to be in the loop if for no other reason than to answer to their manager (depending on their own level of empowerment).

Level Six: You research; take action, no further communication is necessary.

I think by now you get the progression. At level 6, you’re telling the employee that they’re on their own. They have the power and authority to do what they deem necessary to accomplish the goals of the department and/or the organization.

From an employee risk standpoint, this is where they are out on a limb, so to speak. Nobody is making decisions for them and nobody is watching over their shoulder to make sure that they’re making the right decision.

Level 6 may be a very uncomfortable place for employees. Many do not want to be “out on the limb”. In this case, it’s very easy for the employee to back up a level. Simply by keeping their manager informed about what they are doing (it could be as simple as an occasional email), they’re giving their manager the opportunity and knowledge to oversee their activities.

Conclusion

I believe that a basic understanding of the six levels of empowerment shows that empowerment is not a passive activity; it is an active, deliberate program that involves close examination of each circumstance and each employee.

It should be the manager’s goal to bring each individual up to the next level of empowerment and it should be each employee’s goal to achieve and except each progressive level.

I hope this overview of empowerment was meaningful and useful to you. I also hope that you will consider implementing your own empowerment program within your department and organization.

Think about how useful this tool can be – how powerful empowerment can be - and how much it can increase the quality and performance of your employees.

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[i] Phillip Van Hooser, MBA,CSP, 2003,

The Leadership Journey: Practical Skills for Leadership Success.

How To Change Your Organization's Culture

What about changing your organization? Can a small group of thoughtful, committed employees change the organization’s culture? The answer is yes. Here’s some helpful suggestions:

• The most important lesson of all is that change is not about technology, or systems, or procedures, or cost. Change is first and foremost about people. Even when the change is due to the introduction of new technology, it is still about people, not technology. A change initiative that does not pay attention to people will almost certainly fail. Most of the reengineering efforts of the nineties failed because they focused on the procedural aspects of work, ignoring the crucial human side.
• Make sure you have several champions of change at the leadership level and get them involved from the start.
• Get a large enough group of good, positive, and energetic employees to participate in a number of teams, focusing on the various aspects of the change initiative; process redesign, training, organizational communication, systems, measurements, ideas, etc.
• Provide only the broad highlights of the goals of the culture change effort. Let people come up with the ideas and detailed action plans themselves. Only when employees participate in the design will they be committed to the change. The more employees at all levels to participate, the more successful the change initiative will be. In fact, a significant part of the culture change takes place merely because people, through participation, feel empowered to shape their own work environment.
• Use organization-wide communication through town-meetings, publications, intranet, and other media to share information, articulate the mission, and celebrate every success. Communication is a crucial tool for supporting the change effort.
• Measure the key elements you want to change before and after. Without measurements, you will never know that you’ve succeeded.

More Is Less: Why Just Getting More Done Might Be Bad

There is a flood of books, seminars, publications, tapes, and people who are ready and willing to tell you how to get more things done. However, just from the title of their message, it is clear that their emphasis is on quantity.

Henry Ford once said that he avoided doing too many things by starting his day with a long walk. The physical exercise made him too exhausted to do all what he was planning to accomplish and forced him to limit himself to the most important tasks.

Getting more things done is never a great goal to aim for. If you look at the great achievers throughout history, you’ll find that none of them achieved greatness because he or she got more things done. Each has gotten a few things done, but in a great way. Each produced a few ideas, but each idea was so good – it lasted for centuries.

Instead of trying to get more things done. It’s much better to try to get the few truly important things done better.

Six Tests To Determine: Is It Worth Dying For?

According to Dr. Robert S. Elliot, stress may be the greatest single contributor to illness in the industrial world. In his book, “Is It Worth Dying For?”, he offers the following tests that help you understand your own feelings so that you can “live creatively” with stress.

The Tombstone Test

Clarifying one’s own values is essential to managing stress. To clarify your values ask yourself: “What would you like to have written on your tombstone? How would you like to be remembered? This question has a way of crystallizing personal values.

The Checkbook Test

Get your checkbook and make a list of where you have chosen to spend your money in the past twelve months. Take a close look at your discretionary expenses (other than your fixed expenses like rent, food, ..). many people never find the money to buy what they really want because they spend it on things they want less.

The Time Test

Make a list of all the thins you do in a normal month, plus what you do on special occasions. Such list has helped a man who was spending three hours a day on a crowded train to a city job to request a transfer to the suburb. The list helped him realize that an activity he assumed was necessary had nothing to do with what he really wanted from life.

The Pride Test

What personal accomplishments give you the most pride? Can the life you are living today provide more accomplishments like these?

The Adjective Test

What three qualities would you most like to see associated with your reputation? Is the life you are living today distinguished by these qualities?

The “Six-Month-to Live” Test

Suppose you only had six months to live. What would you choose to do, and not to do, in that time? Based on your answer, what changes would you do in your life now?