BUS603: Managing People

Different types of work call for different types of engagement. Should open leaders always aim for empowerment?

"Empowerment" seems to be the latest people management buzzword. And it's an important consideration for open organizations, too. After all, we like to think these open organizations thrive when the people inside them are equipped to take initiative to do their best work as they see fit. Shouldn't an open leader's goal be complete and total empowerment of everyone, in all parts of the organization, doing all types of work?

Not necessarily.

Before we jump on the employee empowerment bandwagon, we should explore the important connections between empowerment and innovation. That requires placing empowerment in context.

As Allison Matlack has already demonstrated, employee investment in an organization's mission and activities - and employee autonomy relative to those things - can take several forms, from "managed" to "enabled" to "empowered". Sometimes, complete and total empowerment isn't the most desirable type of investment an open leader would like to activate in a contributor. Projects are always changing. New challenges are always arising. As a result, the type or degree of involvement leaders can expect in different situations is always shifting. "Managed," "enabled," and "empowered," contributors exist simultaneously and dynamically, depending on the work they're performing (and that work's desired outcomes).

So before we head down to the community center to win a game of buzzword bingo, let's examine the different types of work, how they function, and how they contribute to the overall innovation of a company. Let's refine what we mean by "managed," "enabled," and "empowered" work, and discuss why we need all three.

Source: Heidi Hess von Ludewig, https://opensource.com/open-organization/19/4/managed-enabled-empowered
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