Empowerment (concept and implementation)

We are clear that the market is not the same as a few years ago, technological advances, globalization, high competition, have forced companies to make important and necessary changes to face the market.

Modern companies implement the empowerment as a means to bypass bureaucracies, achieve greater flexibility and develop your productivity and competitiveness to the max. In addition, it provides the autonomy, responsibility and involvement necessary so that employees no longer depend on the supervision of a boss, on the contrary, are responsible for their actions, work committed and motivated as important pieces of the team of the business.

What is empowerment?

The term as such does not have a translation into the Spanish language, although in the marketing world it is used as a synonym for strengthening, empowerment,

training, empowerment, independence, among others.

It constitutes the power of delegate authority and power to subordinates to act and take decisions with responsibility, transmitting the commitment to them as a fundamental factor for the development of the new management, where each worker is the head of their work.

It can be defined as a strategic tool that improves the sense of leadership, strengthens the work of team and changes the way of seeing the total quality from the human aspect to a sharply functional.

The concept of empowerment is based on:

1. Power: There must be a delegation of authority and responsibilities at all levels of the organization. This means giving importance to the different positions, trusting in the capacities of the workers and giving them freedom of action.
2. Motivation: Creates the environment where good is recognized and performance, is rewarded for the satisfactory results and the achievement of goals. Directing individual objectives in a way that they coincide with the general objectives of the organization.
3. Development: It is based on constant training, through new information, knowledge, courses, etc. In addition, it implements a policy to retain talented human resources within the company.
4. Leadership: There must be decentralization in decisions. The company must provide employees with the opportunity for leadership, thus achieving more efficient processes and a greater sense of usefulness on the part of employees.

Elements of Empowerment

They must be initiated by management and must reach all levels.

• Assignment of Authority and responsibility regarding the activities.
• Joint definition of standards of excellence.
• Provide pertinent feedback on the performance of workers in order to appropriately recognize the achievements made.
• Trust and dignified treatment of the work team.
• Search for a continuous improvement system.
• Provide training, information and all the tools that staff need to achieve established goals and objectives.
• Review of resources, systems and equipment.
• Observation on the work environment.
• Establish a scheme of evolution by achievements.

How to implement empowerment?

Mainly the management must be willing to change, after this the following aspects must be considered for the implementation of this tool to be effective:

• Value and understand the different members of the work team, taking into account the contributions they could make, by assigning them responsibility for decisions and their work.
• Promote communication exchange so that beneficial initiatives arise through participation.
• Verify the resources available, in order to stipulate the need for new resources and contribute what is necessary.
• Create a managerial culture with new clearly defined values, essentially highlighting loyalty, commitment, solidarity, camaraderie, responsibility and quality at work.
• Promote trust in staff, so that the skills, abilities, knowledge and experiences of each and every member of the work team can be used to the maximum.
• Establish specific and measurable objectives for each individual, so that they are clear about what the team and the organization expect of them.
• Investigate the managers of the different departments as facilitators and promoters of their respective teams.

How to integrate staff towards empowerment?

The company must also commit to the staff, know what they expect from the company and vice versa, to the extent that communication be effective, a bilateral commitment will be forged, where the employee gets what he wants and the company in return gets the results expected.

In this sense, there are elements to integrate staff such as:

• Effective and solid relationships
• Discipline with a defined order and roles.
• Commitment at all levels and promoted by leadership.

What is required to achieve change?

It is essential that senior management listen more and trust more, delegate tasks and responsibilities that conceive importance and dependence on others. For this, it is important to consider the following factors:

• Decision on what you want to achieve.
• Listen and learn from customers, to be clear about what they need and want.
• Dispense what was promised and if possible a little more, revealing new possibilities to exceed customer expectations.

Bearing in mind that information alone is not enough, a tangible attitude towards it must be assumed and applied permanently.

Empowerment benefits

• Improvement in the trust and satisfaction of the people who make up the organization.
• Increased commitment to customer satisfaction.
• Improvement of creativity and participation with a full disposition to change.
• Fast processes, thanks to the willingness to grant responsibility and autonomy when making decisions.
• Happier, more engaged employees and more satisfied customers.
• It allows the elimination of bureaucracies, greater flexibility is obtained and increases productivity and competitiveness.
• It favors the development of hidden talents.
• It is a key component in sustaining the organization's efforts proposed to develop means of quality management.

In general, the empowerment or empowerment refers to the process by which the strength of individuals, communities and organizations is increased, in aspects or political, economic or daily life environments, in order to promote highly beneficial changes in the situations that arise. present. It usually implies in the individual, the development of self-confidence, the understanding and use of her abilities, talents and actions.