Empowerment
Several years ago, George Beatty, a friend and former colleague of mine at the Greater Houston Partnership, loaned me a book named Zapp, the Lightning of Empowerment. It is a small book with a major message.
It is a metaphor of an imaginary company where people are empowered to take responsibility for their work, solve problems, service their clients, get energized or Zapped to make a contribution to the overall goals of the team. Most aren't. The book is a learning journey.
Reading it started me thinking about the empowerment of each of us on our respective teams no matter which company we work with. From my perspective, there is an incredible amount of freedom on most of the teams that I have worked on and observed. There has to be in order to meet the need for client customization and speed of delivery. Most of us are already empowered more than we know to do our part and help the team become the best we can be. But many of us are afraid to take the next step or to assume more responsibility.
We all have some control over our tasks. We have ownership of our jobs and we can, if we want, take responsibility for taking care of our clients, customers, the public, and particularly for each other. That is my view of things and the way I have always approached my assignments. I have a gut notion that there are areas where we can expand oour reach and improve the way that we approach our mission to make for certain that we are given the opportunity to be all that we can be.
I also have a hunch that not all of you will agree.
How do you see it in your world?
JK
Several years ago, George Beatty, a friend and former colleague of mine at the Greater Houston Partnership, loaned me a book named Zapp, the Lightning of Empowerment. It is a small book with a major message.
It is a metaphor of an imaginary company where people are empowered to take responsibility for their work, solve problems, service their clients, get energized or Zapped to make a contribution to the overall goals of the team. Most aren't. The book is a learning journey.
Reading it started me thinking about the empowerment of each of us on our respective teams no matter which company we work with. From my perspective, there is an incredible amount of freedom on most of the teams that I have worked on and observed. There has to be in order to meet the need for client customization and speed of delivery. Most of us are already empowered more than we know to do our part and help the team become the best we can be. But many of us are afraid to take the next step or to assume more responsibility.
We all have some control over our tasks. We have ownership of our jobs and we can, if we want, take responsibility for taking care of our clients, customers, the public, and particularly for each other. That is my view of things and the way I have always approached my assignments. I have a gut notion that there are areas where we can expand oour reach and improve the way that we approach our mission to make for certain that we are given the opportunity to be all that we can be.
I also have a hunch that not all of you will agree.
How do you see it in your world?
JK