Don’t Use “Empowerment” As An Excuse Not To Manage

The term “empowerment” is thrown around a lot in business circles. It is intended to convey a transfer of decision making authority to lower levels within the organization. However, too many managers use it to hide behind and not manage their people. They believe that they are empowering their people by leaving them alone for the most part.

But accountability must remain in place even with some degree of decision making authority being conveyed to lower levels within the business. Without accountability for performance, empowerment does nothing more than create a very loose environment in which little gets accomplished.Thursday March 1, 2001.