They could be heroes

As the popularity of the ‘empowerment’ buzzword has grown, people have asked me about it. One incident exemplifies the problems.

I received a phone call from the ‘el supremo’ of a large carpet manufacturer. “Mr Burch, I want you to come and empower my staff.”
“To do what?” I asked.
“To move us forward through empowerment into the new millennium.”
“Empowered to do what?” I asked again.
“Empowered, er …empowered, ah… empowered to move ever onward.”
“What do you want them to be empowered to do?”
“We want them empowered to do what they’re told. We want you to empower some discipline into them.”

I explained gently that empowerment, in my opinion, was about transferring executive decision-making from the top, to the front line.

In other words, everyone could make profitable or business-friendly decisions regardless of rank. The benefits are that it can save money, and it can make money.

At the sound of the word ‘money’, he perked up and asked for more information.

I explained that in his case, the people at his front line, with constant customer contact, were his carpet fitters – and that they should be the first to be empowered.

“How would this work?” he asked.

Imagine having a carpet fitted, when you notice a small fault. You say to this now-empowered carpet fitter: “Excuse me, there seems to be a difference in the pattern.”

The fitter replies: “Oh yes, I am so terribly sorry, you must be really disappointed. What would you like me to do about it?”

“What can you do?”
“Anything you like.”
“A refund?”
“Of course, what shall we say – £30? £40? How about £50?” And with that, the fitter takes out a bundle of fivers from his pocket, and counts 10 out. “Fifty! Are you sure you are happy with that?”
“Oh yes, delighted. Thank you.”

After I had presented my theories, there was a moment’s stunned silence, then uproar. “You are raving mad. Are you suggesting we give our fitters cash? You said this would save us money. It’ll cost us a fortune!”

“What’s wrong with giving the fitters cash?” I enquired.
“They’ll clear off with it, that’s what.”
“What sort of people are you employing?”
“The sort that would run off with our cash, that’s who!”

We were both right, they did have a problem with trust. Empowerment does allow a flexibility that is open to abuse. So why take the risk? You only have to see the current behaviour of the fitters to understand why.

“Excuse me, there seems to be a difference in the pattern.”
“Oh yes, I am not surprised. These carpets are rubbish, bloody hard to fit as well. If you think that the pattern is strange, you wait ’till it starts to smell.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Can’t do nothing, got 24 more of these rotten things to fit today, you’ll have to ring customer service.”

Things are not as straightforward as they seem. What about the other 24 carpets? What do you base his bonus on: the number of carpets fitted, or his attitude to the customer?

I don’t think you can do both, so on the face of it empowerment could affect numerical productivity. And did you recruit for attitude and honesty, or did you recruit for skill? Consider recruiting only for attitude and then training for skill.

You then ring customer service.

“I’m Janeeece, thank yew for calling Acme Carpets. Can I inform you that a carpet is a naturally woven product, where one can expect differences in colour and pattern, and if you aren’t happy with that, then up yours!”

Now the customer has two choices, both bad. One is to walk away and never return. This is the worst option, since no company can afford to lose customers.

Second worst is that the client bubbles through the whole organisation seeking satisfaction, gathering ire and expectation like some infernal snowball, until they reach the chief executive and say: “I want a free house from you.”

If you are a senior person maybe you have wondered why customers who get past your gatekeeper have such outrageous demands. Maybe it is a lack of empowerment lower down.

To try to illustrate this, I have chosen a medieval example. The old baron has died and the eager young baron has inherited the estate. He is terrified at the state of the finances and the negative cash flow. So he calls in the management consultants, and because we are talking the middle ages here, his firm of choice is Machiavelli and Co.

They suggest that the first thing that is required is a staff audit. When this is completed, the picture is clear.

“Here is your problem: head office, or the castle as you call it. You’ve got your peasants, smiths and millers – marvellous productive profitable people – but in the castle you’ve got the knights, ladies in waiting, accounts department, jesters, marketing, minstrels, and human resources.

“If you get rid of all of them, you will get what we call a flat organisation. In other words, it will simply be baron and peasants. Peasants work, baron gets money. Direct, simple, flat, no middle.

This the baron does, and in moments the profits roll in, costs are slashed. Just like every bank, travel company, and out of town retailer has discovered, the next discovery is not so amusing: the competition.

The baron next door who is acquisitive and aggressive is moving his army on our baron’s border. Our hero calls the consultants back, in a high state of alarm.

“Guess what?” he wails. “I have no army, you made me get rid of my fighting people.”
“Empowerment,” is the reply.
“What?”
“Simple. Empowerment means that you must arm your peasants.”
“You want me to give my peasants guns? Are you mad? My peasants hate me. If you give them guns, the first person they will shoot is me!”

If you mistreat, underpay and under-inform your people, any weapon they get, financial or percussive, will always be turned on you first.

“We have a solution. You give your peasants guns, but you don’t give them any ammunition. To the outside world they look armed, but in reality they have no real power.”

Then it stands to reason that we must make our peasants love us. They must understand that the way of life they will defend is better than the invaders’ one and, to quote another tired business cliché, they must become stakeholders.

So they love us, they share our goals. Then can we arm them? You have got to be joking. Can you imagine peasants let loose with sophisticated battle weapons? They would shoot each other. They are going to need training.

So we have our trained, well-rewarded peasants who love us. Perhaps it is a bit insulting to think of them as peasants, perhaps we could call them our ‘empowered troops’. Towards square one maybe, but still a great improvement.

Empowerment is about every person who works with you becoming a profit centre. Everyone, when correctly empowered, can add value. The route is rocky, but the rewards are beyond belief.

Empowerment is a very dangerous, but very profitable, word.