Assignment:
Manage Discussion Entry
What empowering means to me is giving a set goal to meet to an individual, and giving that person a team to accomplish that goal. That goal could be something that requires a day, week or even year, but giving that person full reign on how that objective will be accomplished. To me, the biggest thing to remember when empowering members of your team, is to leave them alone and not micromanage the actions of each step required to complete the task. Theodore Roosevelt said it best when he said, "the best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it" (Lotich. P. 2015).
When it comes to myself and empowering my team, I use every opportunity I can to empower individuals that have proven they can handle more responsibility. For example, I was a project manager for a small plane that needed to be built, and my only constraint was that they required its completion by a certain date. I had a group of about 15 people and of those 15, I chose three who had excelled on a previous project, and made them points of contact of different areas of the plane. One was in charge of getting the wing complete, while another worked on the body, and the third had all the internal pieces. This worked really well for a while, but some areas started lacking in production where other areas where meeting their time constraints I had provided.
This leads to what would keep me from empowering my team. When one group was unable to meet the time constraints, I started offering advice to the individual I put in charge to help him accomplish his goal. He was a great worker, but did not yet have the skill set of managing a team. He continued to fall behind on the deadline, which led me to fill in his position myself, removing him as an authority figure for that area. I did not have the time allotted to have a different person fill in his spot, and still have the confidence that we would still meet the project's completion date requirement.
So I would say, the only thing that keeps me from empowering my team, is when I am unable to do so due to given time restraints, or that person has shown that they are unable to lead the team effectively. It's not easy to always have the confidence in individuals to complete a task unsupervised, but empowering others can be very beneficial to the members of your team (Northouse 2018). Even though empowering that individual did not work in that instance, I still continue to give opportunities to my team when I am able to.
References
Lotich, Patricia. (2015 October 28). 13 Characteristics of an Employee Empowered Culture. Retrieved from
https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/empowerment-a-leadership-competency/Links to an external site.
Norrhouse, P.G. (2018). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and Practice (4th ed.). Retrieved from
https://content.ashford.edu/books/Northouse.1564.17.1/sections/navpoint-49Links to an external site.
David Golden
Manage Discussion Entry
Empowering to me is giving a task to a team or an individual. This can be a simple or big task, when someone is given the opportunity to gain confidence in themselves can be overall helpful to the member and the team by seeing what can really be done. When you empower someone, they are able to do what they want and need the task or goal to be accomplished.
When I empower others, I look for key things in individuals work ethic, because if they are super driven and motivated it's hard to empower them more. I also look for the average or less than average employees that need a push to enhance them. When I see this, I make a move to get them to do tasks that they wouldn't normally do, I try to get them out of their comfort zone, this gets them to be more involved and sometimes gives them more responsibility for the actions that they must perform. Communication is key while all this is going on, as a leader you hear that certain employees are pulling their weight, and see how there are some that just do the minimum to get by. I try my hardest to know my folks and work on gathering their interest, while trying to figure out their weakness. For example, if someone struggles speaking in front of people, I try to get them on a task where there is an out brief at the end. This can give them practice and work on a weakness, while working with possible new people. That may sound harsh, but if it helps them gain confidence. The biggest problem I have seen today is people working alone all the time, this has a lot to do with members not being a part of the group and feeling like an outcast. I make it a point to talk to them and get them to do more as a group. In my work center we have a foosball table. The smokers tend to go on their break and the nonsmokers play the game. I tend to make the loners, come in and just watch, since normally they don't want to play, but getting them involved is the first step. After a while they learn that they enjoy themselves and begin to play regularly, that helps them feel more involved and connected into the group. Once they feel more a part of the group I start giving them more roles that I would do myself, giving them some power is part of empowering, nothing major but something to get them started.
What keeps me from empowering others is sometimes I am the outcast. I can be very anti-social and want to be locked away in my office and not be bothered. So, I understand why others are like the way they are. I have learned that I can't be like that in my position, but every now and again it does pop out. Other times my methods do not work on others, that can make it hard to empower them. I have failed many times, getting members to be more involved and truly feel part of the team or group. I also try because I know how important empowering others is to the group and the task.