“ I trust you to do your job..” was a catchphrase in a business I was once in, intended to turn empowerment from a noun to a verb.
Of course not every leader in that business trusted their own teams enough to actually empower them, but everyone in their teams knew what those leaders stood for.
You can fake it at a conference or maybe with your boss but you can’t fake empowerment with your own people.
You see we’re hard wired for autonomy and we know instinctively when we don’t get it.
People want autonomy because their brains want to learn by doing, not by being told. Especially for things that are important. For things that they’ll be judged on. For what they’re paid to do.
So when you restrict someone from making decisions you’re restricting their brain. You’re stopping them from learning.
You’re also sending them a really strong social message.
Autonomy isn’t about niceness or freedom it’s about respect. If you let me make decisions you think I’m ok. You pay me respect. If you don’t let me, you don’t. I will behave accordingly. Remember respect is reciprocal, if you want it you have to give it.
When you enable others to act, you enable their brains to grow. Knowledge comes from trial and error.
If you want your people to grow you have to expect them to take more responsibility over time.
People know if you’re controlling decisions to control an important outcome, or to control them.
The key is not whether you’re delegating now, it’s whether you’re delegating more than a year ago.
Your decision to let go, even just a little, makes all the difference. To hold your breath and hope she makes the right decisions.
If you never feel nervous about what your team will decide, you’re not letting go enough. Maybe you’re just pretending to delegate.
“..People know if you’re controlling decisions to control an important outcome, or to control them.…”
Do you have doubts about the ability of your team to work without close direction?
Do you direct them continually or find smaller things that they can decide?
Do you gradually increase the size and frequency of their decisions, or continue to direct everything?
Do you actively listen to their ideas, or just tell them yours?
Do you allow people to make decisions about what they do, or just how they do things you’ve told them to do?
Do you respect their ability to make decisions that you would make differently?
How do they know if you respect them or not?
How often do you feel nervous about decisions you’ve allowed your team to take?
Do you let them make those decisions anyway?
Do you trust your people or are you just pretending?
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“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”