Dr. Gerhard van Rensburg, see his site here, notes that power is becoming increasingly decentralised in the modern work place. As a trend, employees have a decreasing belief in authority and are increasingly independent in their thoughts and beliefs. In this article, Gerhard argues that such independence in employees is at once an opportunity for employees to passionately and creatively commit but at the same time it is a challenge to leaders to get the balance right between necessary structure and the freedom which enables such independence. This shift towards increasing worker autonomy can have great benefits if balance is achieved.
According to Gerhard, the leader who gets this balance right will emphasize the necessity for compliance to satisfy the key organisational requirements. The good leader is to make it clear what precisely needs to be achieved for the benefit of the organisation. To achieve this the leader must institute organisational structures which enable clarity on the goals which must be achieved for the well-being of the organisation. The aim is to focus energies making it absolutely clear to employees what needs to be achieved but allowing them autonomy with regards to how they achieve it.
In order for the autonomy afforded employees to be productive it is absolutely essential that the leader implement the principle of stewardship where individuals in the organisation denounce entitlement such that they have the capacity to concern themselves with the vitality of the organisation. In order to realize the benefits of creative employee commitment that is made possible by increased autonomy the leader must manage to engage the employees to responsibly further the ends of the organisation. The leader must engage the employees on the organisations journey such that the employees experienced themselves as engaging with an organic unity greater than themselves which is progressing towards a meaningful destination and take the willingly take on the responsibility of reaching that destination. In doing this the leader makes employees aware of their position within the greater whole of the organisation which facilitates an experience of belonging to the organisation and fosters the sense in employees that they are the custodians of the organisation and its vision. In this way a leader may retain respect and a sufficient level of independence whilst achieving the necessary compliance.
Now Dr. Gerhard van Rensburg articulates a very useful tool for thinking through the issue of creative employee commitment that services the needs of their organisations. At Schuitema Associates this issue has been addressed through consideration of the issue of empowerment. See here for an explanation of empowerment and how it relates to employee commitment. Models like the Schuitema car and growth model, and others which aim to achieve benevolent organisation which are platforms for human creativity and excellence rather than profit making machines are the models of a more benevolent future and need to be implemented to drag organisations out of draconian functioning of the industrial age.
Let us briefly explore how the Schuitema model tries achieve this. Central to the Schuitema model is the notion of empowerment. Organisations must have the agenda of empowering employees and not seek to exploit them for profit. In other words organisations must seek to become platforms for creativity and progress rather than profit machines.
The notion of empowerment Involves three elements. To empower someone it is necessary to firstly provide the means for them to do their job. This includes all the necessary tools, standards, resources, time, authority, etc.
Secondly it is necessary to provide them with the requisite ability. This involves teaching them how to do their job but also very importantly why they should commit to doing their job. The why element of ability is very significant. This is because in order to maximize creativity and productivity one must have an awareness of the end being served by one’s endeavour and, very importantly, judge that end to be noble. The responsibility the leader has in this regard is to make the employee aware of the benevolent intent of the organisation. Organisations and leaders within organisations then must do three things for their employees. They must provide them with the required tools, the required abilities, and also imbue employees with a sense of purpose.
This is not all they need to do. The last element is often neglected by people concerned with empowerment but is absolutely essential. Once the leader has provided the means, ability and purpose it is necessary to hold the employees accountable. The provisions of means, ability and purpose in no way restricts the employees independence, they are able to freely use what is at their disposal to accomplish their ends. Holding employees accountable does this, but it does it in a constructive manner which does not impede their creativity, it rather magnifies it, making employees better at their jobs.
Accountability means that there are consistent rewards and punishments that are exercised with regard to an employees execution of the responsibility they have been entrusted with. If they have done what was required of them they should be praised and if they have gone the extra mile they should be rewarded. If employees have failed to do what was required of them then they should be censured and if they have deliberately flouted their responsibilities they should be punished. Accountability involves setting reasonable expectations with regards to performance and then holding employees to those expectations. The setting of expectations clarifies the requirements for the employees and holding employees accountable with regards to the set expectations enforces the required compliance.
What one should keep in kind at all times is that it is the empowerment of employees with should be the objective of the organisation. Employees should be given tools, abilities and purpose in order to engage their creativity. They also need to prevented from straying towards mediocrity by being held accountable for their performance. This is in their own best interest as it provides a platform for employees to achieve mastery and to realize their own potential for successful contribution. This is of course also productive of a healthy organisation which will become a hotbed for creativity and progress.