Builds trust
The arcana of the methods for gaining authority and power in organizations is varied and covers a significant spectrum of philosophies.
From the command-and-control zeitgeist of the early industrial revolution, where it was believed managers had authority simply because they were managers, to the more humanistic and social models of the 1950s through today, experts have been trying to capture the best method of gaining authority for decades.
However, in my experience, the most effective approach to gain authority is by simply giving it away. There is no better method of building rapport between individuals than when they share the authority to make a desired end a reality. When leaders hand authority to their employees, a special bond is formed as subordinates realize they are respected and esteemed enough to be granted authority. It is from this empowered state that employees are motivated to meet the objective at hand, no matter how lofty those goals might be.
In turn, this affect, increases the power of the manager as line employees seek to meet the managers’ asserted objectives.
Shows Confidence & Increases Impact
Nothing exudes more leadership and power than the ability of a manager to bestow his authority to the individuals he is leading.
In fact, the notion of delegating and empowering subordinates was one of the first and most impactful lessons of leadership I learned as an officer in the military. It became quickly and, at times, painfully evident that the impact a leader could have is directly proportional to the degree they exercise empowered delegation. As leaders, we only have so many hours in the day to make a positive impact and lead the organization in accomplishing company objectives.
Fosters innovation
Employees that receive their managers’ authority invariably respond with the most innovative approach to meeting organizational aims. Once an employee is handed their supervisors authority, they are free to come up with out of the box ideas in achieving what needs to be done. As the manager gives authority to the employee, the employees’ reach and toolset goes from being two dimensional, to a multi-dimensional range of tools they can use to meet the manager’s objectives.
This varied toolset allows the employee to formulate a wider, more innovative solution set they can employ to complete the job at hand.
Leads to self-actualization of employees’ needs
The culmination of effects that results from manager’s imputing their authority to their employees is that the employees’ needs for self-actualization can be met. Once an individual is empowered, they can better forge the pathway that will lead to envisioned organizational outcomes in a manner that they can choose and are comfortable with. Their voice is also increased as they carry the authority of the manager as they traverse the organizational landscape in completing the assigned effort.
As an Air Force officer, I learned the value of empowering people that were more junior as a means of expanding my reach and developing junior officers and program managers. Something as simple as allowing a junior program manager to run a meeting I typically chaired resulted in big dividends. It freed up my time to pursue more strategic goals and it resulted in the leadership ability, insight and commitment of that junior officer.
Questions to Consider:
Are you effectively and routinely bestowing your authority to your employees, or do you limit their ability to help you by keeping them in their lane?
Do employees feel like senior leadership trusts them to meet organizational goals or do they feel they are merely cogs in a large corporate machine?
What would it mean to you if your time could be freed up from running the same weekly meetings and completing the routine to do list by giving some of those current responsibilities to your most capable employees? More time to pursue higher strategic objectives, that much needed vacation, time at home or that hobby you’ve been wanting to get into for years?