The Hindu Business Line : Rules of empowerment

Jagdish is caught in a vicious cycle. He can’t leave the store for a moment because he doesn’t have anyone to entrust it to. And he doesn’t have anyone to entrust it to because he can’t trust anyone else. So he’s stuck in the store forever. The world is passing him by and he knows it. Jagdish is lashing out at his near and dear ones; his relationships are frayed. Long hours, a sedentary lifestyle and gnawing frustration are eating away at his health.

Slowly but surely he’s losing interest in his business; the money’s pouring in but the flood is slowing to a trickle even though he’s not noticed it yet. Somehow, he’s unfulfilled. There was a time when he was interested in sports, music….painting….trekking. But now, all that seems so far away…like some distant dream. The reality is a daily grind of opening the store, dusting the shelves, making inane chit chat with the customers, and closing in for the kill, counting the money, closing the store. Its all so predictable, routine and just so, so boring. Life has become drab and dreary.

The once lively, dynamic, interesting Jagdish is now a shadow of his former self. Life and work at the store have extracted a heavy toll. He’s become so predictable that his wife knows exactly what his next move is going to be, what he’s going to say next. There’s nothing he can offer to anyone anymore; not affection, not understanding, not care, not knowledge, not even money because he’s hoarding it all….he’s not able to share anything. When he looks at the mirror he’s saddened by the flab that’s hanging from his once fit frame. Worst of all, he’s even become boring to himself without realising it.

Jagdish is serving a sentence of life imprisonment in a high-security prison he’s built for himself. Since he’s designed and built it himself, brick by brick, only he can fashion an escape attempt. But it’s going to be tough, very tough. Escape is always fraught with risks and grave danger; but the call of freedom is as irresistible for individuals as it is for nations. It is also the only choice to make! As Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak roared into the vastness of India, “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it”.

Jagdish urgently needs to escape into the freedom of infinite possibility. Otherwise, everything about himself, his near and dear fraternity, his health and indeed his entire life is in serious jeopardy. The key to unlocking the prison gates is empowerment. If Jagdish can understand and implement this concept he can insert the key into the rusty lock and gallop into the wild blue yonder. Otherwise, he can rot in jail till kingdom come. That’s a choice he’ll have to make.

Empowerment is a rather sexy word that’s bandied about freely in the business and corporate environment. But using the word doesn’t mean that the concept is either understood or implemented. Empowerment is enabling other people to learn, decide and act with the confidence that you will back them up. That means taking a stake in the growth of people around you and actively promoting it. It stems from enlightened self-interest: your escape into new possibilities is conditional to the growth of your team. Otherwise you remain chained to your present responsibilities, position and station in life.

The following rules can help in the understanding and implementation of empowerment.

Rules of Empowerment

Rule1: You’re trapped in the prison of your success until you find and groom a successor: If you cannot hand over the reigns of your business to someone else, you’re truly stuck with it. So, you’ll need to identify a person whose character is solid then mould him and provide him with training, hand holding and encouragement. Then, you’ll need to provide him with the authority to make smaller decisions first and bigger decisions later.

Rule 2: Unless you change your mindscape and learn new skills you’ll never find a successor: For most business owners and indeed CEOs, the subconscious belief that they are indispensable is all-powerful. So, they are predisposed to rejecting likely successors. Deep introspection and determined action is necessary to eliminate this predisposition. Further, personal humility to learn a new way of managing the business is needed. This new way is to let other people make decisions and also make mistakes.

Rule 3: Mistakes are the investment you make for your freedom: Unless people make mistakes they can’t learn. Take your own case; count the number of mistakes you’ve made and review what you’ve learnt from them. How can you then get angry when others make mistakes? Of course, making the same mistakes often is another story. When people make mistakes never blame them or humiliate then; instead, treat a mistake as a training opportunity to squeeze out learning.

Rule 4: Make people carry their own monkeys: When the boss is selfish, puffed up with self-importance and dominates every aspect of the business, people get used to outsourcing their thinking and decision making abilities to the boss. Passing the buck and referring everything to the boss is the safest option. That ensures that the ability to think and decide atrophies in the organisation. To recreate that ability, you have to throw the monkey back to the throwers. Make people think for themselves by getting them to come up with ways to achieve results.

Similarly, push decisions back to them instead of taking the easy way out by deciding yourself. That way, you create the capacity to think and decide amongst the team.

Rule 5: Install systems and processes for everything: To protect against losses from mistakes you can buy key man insurance policies, install audit processes and conduct periodic reviews. Switch from ad hoc decision making to budgets and plan-based decision making. Increase the time cycle of planning: the more in advance the planning the easier it is to respond to emerging needs. Ensure that the financials are up-to-date in real time so that tight control is exercised over cash.

Rule 6: Treat compensation as an investment, not an expense: Salaries are not an item for downward negotiation. The minute you beat down the salary of a new recruit you are sending him a clear message that he is not worth much. That spells the death knell for his motivation and ensures that he underperforms.

Instead of trying to reduce the salary by looking at it as an expense, visualise it as an investment that can deliver returns. If the return is commensurate with the investment, recruit or retain the person; otherwise look at ways and means to improve the return. When that fails, part company. Investment in compensation is a powerful input for quantum results.

Rule 7: Make training and learning a way of life for yourself and everyone around you.

Commit to learning every moment. This can be within the classroom and otherwise. Learning debriefs and review sessions are vital. Attending training programmes, seminars and conferences are part of the ongoing business development. New ideas and concepts are the raw material for improvement. Always ask “what did you and I learn”. Such an approach also ensures relationships are strong because people who learn together also stay together.

If Jagdish learns and implements the 7 Rules of Empowerment, he can explore, experiment and grow in the wide world outside. Otherwise he can count the bars on the windows of his prison…for life.

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