Objectives:
Understand the importance of an empowered team
Identifying, evaluating and developing intentional empowerment goals
A team is as strong as it's weakest link.
“...Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders..." Numbers 11:25a
How often do you see great ideas, businesses, projects etc die with the vision carrier? If we examine the reason for failure critically, there is a good chance that a major reason in most cases was that team members were not sufficiently empowered to ensure continuity. Most organizations spend a good chunk of their yearly budget to empower their staff in domains they feel is vital for the survival of their organizations. The task of identifying who needs training (in most institutions) however, is generally left to line managers who may either be objective or not in their selection of who gets training. I know of an organization where the line managers seem to get all the training year in, year out, while their team members have to make do with manuals, and on the job training. This is a cocktail for future disaster.
Do you seek to empower your people so that they too can be better servant leaders? When you empower someone, you lift them up and position them on the path of success. A servant leader needs to understands that :
1. They are not eternal. Understand that you will not live physically forever. We occupy different roles for a season and should therefore consider empowering others as a priority. Your role may range from being a parent, husband/wife, teacher, artist, minister or whatever but one common thread is that all these roles are temporal. Apart from giving your best in these different roles, you need to seek to empower team members and help them optimize their potential so that they may fully fulfill their God given calling. As a servant leader, you need to identify the empowerment needs of your team members and seek to lift them up by providing them with the necessary training, coaching, mentoring etc to enable them maximize their potentials. What are the current training needs in your team? Does someone need to develop their computer skills or ability to write better reports? How can you help them? What tools can you provide them with?
2. Concentrating power on an individual is counter productive. It does not make any strategic sense to concentrate power on one individual. If only one person has the code to a particular program how does that help your organization if that person falls sick? Some years ago, an acquaintance had a stroke which left him with partial paralysis. This affected his ability to talk and move his limbs. He had kept the code to his bank card secret from his wife so there was no money to help even though he had money in his account. Why would you do this to your family? He nearly died because of his twisted way of thinking. A colleague once told me that he does not share all he knows with his subordinates. I thought this was just so sad. If everyone in your team is equally empowered, the whole team will perform better and there is no way you are going to loose your job because you sought to empower others. A father/mother will not loose their position because they sought to empower their children.
3. An empowered team means more productivity and less stress. One of the biggest cause of premature death is poorly managed stress. Chronic work stress can lead to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. While it is true that the nature of some jobs are inherently very stressful ( e.g. nurses), in some cases, the problem is with leaders who want to do everything themselves. This is a sad situation which will only lead to unnecessary stress. Servant Leaders need to empower team members through delegation (even if they will initially fail or not perform up to standard). If your team members feel more confident in tackling responsibilities, this will help improve overall productivity and reduce the occurrence of chronic stress in your team. Delegate more as a means of training team members. Have team members rotate between roles to help them develop competences in different domains.
4. You need to be empowered in order to empower others. Do you feel like you are lacking in a particular domain? What is stopping you from researching? It is never too late to learn and there are a lot of free courses online as well as YouTube videos on almost any topic that you can imagine. Take advantage of it. You can use your time constructively by empowering yourself in a domain that you feel a lack in. Knowledge is power. Sometimes, people are afraid to try empowering others because they do not feel secure. Developing yourself in a particular domain, makes you feel more secure in that domain.
The above points represent only a few reasons why a leader should deliberately seek to empower his/her team members. Think future, think continuity and develop a goal for empowering your team members.
Complete the assignment below:
Assignment 14
1. Identify different close family members and carry out a personal evaluation of their abilities. Based on your evaluation, are they living up to their full potential? Why/why not? What can you personally do to help them be more empowered to reach their goals.
2. What can you do to help strengthen and empower your family unit as a whole? Draw up a personal plan for achieving this.
3. Talk to the people you mentioned above and ask them where they think they need help in order to become more efficient and fulfilled ( you may need to help them identify their life mission, visions and goals).
4. Do you feel insecure about empowering others in general? Identify a few domains where you want to empower yourself and draw up a personal plan for achieving this.
5. Identify 2 members in your team and carry out a personal evaluation of their abilities. Based on your evaluation, are they living up to their full potential? Why/why not? What can you personally do to help them be more empowered to reach their goals.
6. What can you do to help strengthen and empower your team as a whole? Draw up a personal plan for achieving this.
7. Talk to the people you mentioned above and ask them where they think they need help in order to become more efficient and fulfilled ( you may need to help them identify their life mission, visions and goals).
8.Write a brief summary of what you learned this week and explain why it is important for all leaders. Post on your blog and share the link in your group.
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