Stephen Coombe

Empowerment and Leadership

Empowerment and Leadership
–Stephen Coombe
What does it mean?
What does it look like?
Is empowerment necessary for effective leadership,
and if so why?
What are the benefits for our business?
What are the risks?

Empowerment and Leadership
–Stephen Coombe
Empowerment has been defined as:
The process of enabling or authorizing an individual to
think, behave, take action, and control work and
decision making in autonomous ways. It is the state of
feeling self-empowered to take control of one's own
destiny

Empowerment and Leadership
–Stephen Coombe
Some characteristics are:
It is linked to decision making,authority and
responsibility
The boundaries and thus expectations must be
clear
It should encourage,motivate, be self fulfilling
and minimise limitations
It should be managed with a light touch
It should be linked to resources geared to deliver
on objectives

Empowerment and Leadership
–Stephen Coombe
Some potential benefits include:
Individuals having a sense of ownership of their
actions and that they are trusted
Individuals feeling encouraged to outperform and
provide discretionary effort.
The potential of staff resources can be used to
better advantage
It opens up scope for flair, imagination and
initiative

Empowerment and Leadership
–Stephen Coombe
Some consequences of lack of empowerment:
Lack of clarity on decision points can provide a
smokescreen for inaction and avoidance.
can lead to inertia, uncertainty and organisational
paralysis
People feel disengaged and less inclined to
demonstrate initiative
Operations get slowed down waiting for
“authority” to do things.