Program Manager | Talent Development, Learning Systems, Data-Driven Leadership | "People want meaning, agency, and truth. Let's develop leaders who drive inquiry."
The term, “Empowerment,” is so ubiquitous that it’s in danger of losing its meaning entirely. As corporate buzzwords go, it’s thrown around in equal measure for “empowering” employees to overcome social iniquities, “empower” better careers, and “empower” more accurate timecard completion. (If your aim is to “empower” employees with a job aid, I think you need to choose a different word.) Here’s the question: Have we lost sight of employee *agency* (self-directed effort for results)? Let’s take a classic HR retention problem: employees are frustrated with an inability to accelerate their careers, so HR tries to ‘empower’ them with tools, systems, and job aids for career navigation. This tunes up their engines (upskilling, building networks, and performing high-visibility projects). However, there are not enough open positions, interested hiring managers, and cross-position development taking place. They’re becoming frustrated with: · Roadblocks, such as the inability to pursue a position unless the company already has a vacancy · Up-ended drawbridges; for example, being told that this leadership development program is for executive-track only), · And stop lights (for example, being told they need supervisor permission before speaking to another manager or certain years of experience in-role before trying for a promotion) In short, the 'empowered' employee has nowhere to go. And in that case, they use their main power – the power to choose – and choose to leave. What this actually shows is that empowerment only goes so far without agency. Like cars with high horsepower engines, they have the ability to drive and accelerate but do not always have agency – the freedom to explore the map as they choose. HR has a responsibility to support both empowerment and agency -- the ability to freely choose a direction. What companies can do: · Talent-based / Reverse hiring: instead of telling employees to look for open positions and apply for them, let employees ask about interesting roles and then open one. · Interest-based programming: Allow interested employees to self-nominate for key leadership development programs by auditing or full participation. Reward interest and inquiry rather than emphasize gatekeeping. · Encourage role swaps: Let employees initiate a trade and support them. Building rotational positions for this purpose could help too, as there are permanent spots to learn and managers to work on developing those employees. · Create “King for a Day/Week/Month” programs to help employees develop. Encourage leaders to take time off and leave direct reports or high performing, interested “individual contributors” in charge for a while. Yes, these options are more complicated than simply waiting for a position to vacate and telling the employees to “take charge of their careers,” but they are immensely rewarding and engaging to build true leadership and experience across the board.
Client Executive at Blue Cloud | Driving Digital Transformation through Tailored Cloud Solutions
2moAndrew, thanks for sharing!