Are You An Empowering Leader?

Last week I attended the Lions Quest workshop and be reminded about these 3 simple but intriguing probing questions - What?  So What?  Now What? - that can be applied in almost every situation. Yesterday I was with a friend who asked me about the most important competency a leader must have to be successful besides values and integrity, and that can keep good people in the organization. The question asked by my friend is the ‘What?’ part and my answer to the question was the ability to empower people in the organization.

So What?

I'm sure that we all agree that organization’s success is really dependent on the individuals that make up the organization. It does not matter what type of organization, keeping our best people is very important. So what do you do to keep your best employees? 

Some people will say that leadership needs charisma so people will follow that charismatic leader. Others will say that a leader must have the ability to create vision, mission and other sort of similar stuff.  Organization does need a vision, mission and values and a compelling S.M.A.R.T Goals^TM. Organizations need leaders who don't need to be always out in front or on stage but leaders who are able to create and nurture an environment where everyone in the organization is empowered.

Such empowering leaders do not seek to get the glory and fame just for themselves.Those empowering leaders help their teams in building various required competencies and the capacity to get the works done productively. They also able to inspire and induce creativity. How do they achieve it? Certainly not just by giving moving and inspiring  talks and/or speeches. Not also by offering some trick and/or magical stuff.

Empowering leaders act based on their careful observations on various situations, not by gut feel or random actions. They create and nurture an environment where everyone is empowered.

As for the ‘Now What?’, the following 5 steps are based on my own professional experience. Based on my observation, they are practiced in many successful organizations, so you may want to consider them in making you an empowering leader.

Step 1: Master the basics.

“Understanding others and yourself is the basic foundation for mastering the art of empowering people.” (Paul J. Meyer)

For a leader, being able to empower people in the organization or practicing an empowering leadership is indeed one that every leader must have and/or acquire. Every leader can and must learn to master the art of empowering people. Organization will achieve its greatest success when there is an environment where its members, from the lowest rank up to the top, can participate and contribute to its success. As a leader, you are responsible in ensuring such an environment and in encouraging your people to react to it in a positive manner for the good of the organization and eventually for them as well. Empowering leaders don't rely on the stick or the carrot as a long-term solution as they may work for a while and in some limited circumstances, but they are ineffective over time in motivating and empowering people. To be successful, it's important for a leader to empower the team.

Step 2: Cultivating an Ideas Giving Culture

As a leader, you must give people the opportunities to participate fully in expanding their roles in the organization. Quite often when employees gave suggestions, some leaders just ignored them. When people in your organization feel that their suggestions matter, they will be more inclined to feel satisfied. Welcome those who offer ideas,and at the same time allow others to challenge the ideas. List down those people who  consistently offer ideas and/or critics in group discussions. Pick up also the non-verbal cues. Have brainstorming sessions from time to time. You need those information as they will allow you to determine what is happening, and what is really needed to adjust the environment so everyone is empowered and able to work to their full potential.

Step 3: Have Fun with the team

It is very important in your role as a leader to keep people focused on their tasks but focusing on work all the time can create a dull boring work environment. Empowering leaders observe their team capabilities and and recognize patterns of behavior that either positively or negatively affect the ability of the group to get the works done. Empowering leaders aware of the importance of information flow to constantly understand whether there are far too many constraints that can destroy spirit or on the other hand too few that can lead to lower productivity. The physical equipment and process arrangements will too affect productivity. You may want also to observe whether or not there are obsolete policies and procedures hindering the organization in achieving success? However, it is important to make the work environment an enjoyable and fun place to be. Sometimes all it only takes is a 10-15 minute break during the working hours and having a simple team building game once in a while to ease the tension and make the workplace fun. Just remember that games are not just meant to be used in training sessions. Those short breaks for a few minutes during the afternoon for instance can keep everyone's mind fresh. Be creative.

Step 4: Communicating

It is also important in keeping your team up to date on the prospects of the organization. It may not be a company-wide town hall review meeting, but you must keep your team up to date. It is important from time to time to let them know how the organization is doing and individually in separate sessions about how they fit into the organizations's plans for growth. A regular quarterly one-hour review meeting to inform your team about successes and failures would be able to make your team plan better and ease anxieties about the future. Communicate both the good and bad news without any attempt to sugar-coating the bad news, if any. Announcing during the session of those employees and/or departments that achieved good quarterly performance can also be a good way of encouraging and empowering your people. As a leader, you must ensure that this communication session happens every quarter. People will find that one-hour session very valuable and they will appreciate it.

Step 5: Listen to Your Customers

To be an empowering leaders, you must also have ample time spent visiting the market and meeting with customers seeking their views to better understand their expectations. You might also want to get a critical view on how the organization is working toward servicing the customers and whether or not the organization need to adjust the work environment to help everyone produce better products and services.

After all those steps and efforts to be an empowering leader, be realistic that the organization may still from time to time loose some of its best people to a bigger or better opportunity they are considering outside the organization. However, when you as the leader can show that they are important to the organization's success, and you are open and honest with your people on what is happening in the organization and what the empowered working together environment can bring to their future, some of your truly best people will more likely stick with the organization.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals^TM is a registered trademark in the US held by The Meyer Resource Group^(R), Inc.

Permission to use S.M.A.R.T. Goals^TM is obtained from: Copyright (C) The Meyer Resource Group^(R), Inc.

Synergy

What do we expect as leader and/or manager? Many people will answer that they expect that their people will be working together productively using the least possible resources to get the jobs done. It is indeed one of the ultimate roles of managers and/or leaders.

In order to achieve a higher quantity and/or quality output, many managers have chosen to bring additional people into the team. It is however, the additional resources may bring in competence and facilitate increase in quantity and/or quality but productivity may still be far away from what is expected. What actually required is the arrangement of all the resources, i.e. time, money, materials, and manpower so that there will be synergistic activities.

Many managers and/or leaders don’t understand the dynamics of how synergy works. Synergy not only can be measured but must be measured so that specific plan of actions can be employed to foster it. The capacity of the team in using resources can be measured and we can use the following 3 simple categorization to show whether or not it is as productive as it should be and whether or not it is synergistic.

1+1<2: What we expect from additional person or persons is certainly more output but there are many examples showing that additional people though working together but in a way consumes more resources than it generates. The result is less productive output than might be expected if the same individuals worked independently. This situation might happen when the 2 individuals spend more time and energy in conflict with one another or worst that they spend time talking matters not relevant to the tasks given. Another example is when the sales and production departments are blaming each other for undelivered promises to customers or they are having miscommunication. They look more like two competitors instead of two unified departments within the same company. It also can happen when people in the same department spend more time and energy in conflict with one another than actually doing the assigned tasks causing a negative productivity number - a waste of time, money, material, and other resources.

1+1=2: Many of us will accept this equation and though it appears to be no problem with this situation because the output is what we would assume when 2 individuals work together summing up their individual efforts, but this is not a synergistic working relationship. This equation shows that the 2 individual do not generate results beyond what is required to be produced and over the time it is possible that it may turn into the 1 + 1 < 2, a downward trend.

1+1>2: This is the synergistic working relationship where through the efforts from the 2 individuals in a cooperative actions result in a total greater than the sum of what each individual could produce independently. Such relationship will require an orchestrated actions. We can whistle a song but it would take a whole orchestra to play a symphony. Another example is a situation where a soccer team composed of ordinary players who are team-up synergistically might defeat a team made up of non-collaborative superstars. Merging the skills of two or more individuals into a highly productive working team is key to achieve a synergistic working relationship. Different departments in a company can synergistically blend their efforts and talents and compensating for each other weaknesses yielding a highly productive outputs in a more efficient and effective manner than when each department works independently. It is important that the management team utilise the knowledge and skills of all the team members in a way that they work as an operating unit than a group of individuals. Operating synergistically requires effective and efficient teamwork.

Team that is engaged in synergistic working relationships make optimal use of the resources to achieve more outputs necessary that eventually will enable the company to react to the rapid changes in the market more effectively. In an environment where the usage of information technology is the norm these days, we might look for application deployment that not only can increase output but reduce costs at the same time. The right application will enable us to increase efficiency and reliability. It is a synergistic working relationship when two or more people equiped with the information technology applications should actually be able to produce even more quantity than the sum of what they can produce when they worked independently. Synergistic working relationship through the usage of information technology will also create a more flexible and agile business to respond to customers needs.As leaders, we must strive to create a high level of synergy among our people as there will be greater chances of realizing our companies’ goals faster in a dramatically shifting environment through accelerated processes as well as improving morale of the employees and therefore their engagement to the vision of the company.

Penilaian Kinerja

Banyak terjadi pemahaman yang kurang tepat tentang penilaian kinerja.  Banyak anggapan bahwa penilaian kinerja merupakan hari penghakiman bagi para bawahan. Demikian pula bagi para atasan, akhir tahun atau awal tahun berikutnya yang biasa merupakan masa pelaksanaan penilaian kinerja bisa merupakan waktu yang menegangkan juga karena mereka harus memberikan penilaian atas hasil-hasil yang dicapai oleh para bawahan mereka.

Penilaian kinerja atau Performance Review yang merupakan salah satu proses dari Management by Objective memang pada hakekatnya adalah suatu proses formal dalam setiap organisasi. Penilaian/evaluasi dilakukan terhadap hasil-hasil yang direalisasikan dibandingkan dengan sasaran-sasaran yang telah ditetapkan sebelumnya. Management by Objective pertama kali diperkenalkan oleh Peter Drucker dalam bukunya “The Practice of Management.”  Melakui MBO tersebut, sasaran-sasaran yang ingin dicapai oleh perusahaan secara sistematis dan berjenjang diturunkan ke bawah mengikuti struktur organisasi yang ada hingga ke level pekerja lapisan pertama. Sasaran-sasaran dari suatu departemen yang ada menjadi tanggung jawab dari manajer yang memimpin departemen tersebut, diturunkan kepada para supervisor, dan seterusnya sehingga setiap individu dalam organisasi memiliki sasaran-sasaran yang akan mengarahkan tindakan-tindakan operasional mereka dalam mendukung pencapaian sasaran-sasaran perusahaan.

Berbicara mengenai penilaian kinerja oleh karenanya tidak dapat terpisahkan dengan penetapan sasaran-sasaran yang oleh SMI disebut sebagai  S.M.A.R.T Goals^TM dan proses tersebut memang merupakan sebuah siklus berkelanjutan yang memungkinkan organisasi bertumbuh dengan baik diawali dengan proses perencanaan hingga evaluasi dan kembali ke perencanaan. Namun yang seringkali terlewatkan dalam proses penetapan sasaran-sasaran yang mesti dicapai oleh setiap individu adalah bahwa sasaran-sasaran tersebut tidak memberikan kesempatan kepada bawahan untuk memberikan masukan kepada atasan mengenai keadaan di tingkat operasional. Proses dua arah dalam penetapan sasaran-sasaran individual sangat dibutuhkan karena akan dapat menciptakan bukan saja pemahaman yang baik melainkan juga komitmen untuk pencapaian sasaran-sasaran individual dan perusahaan. Inti dari Management By Objective adalah terciptanya keterkaitan tersebut.

Sebagai pimpinan, ada paling tidak 6 situasi yang mesti dihindarkan dalam proses pendelegasian tugas-tugas dan wewenang dalam kaitannya dengan penetapan sasaran-sasaran untuk setiap individu dalam organisasi:

§  Melakukan terlalu banyak atau sebaliknya terlalu sedikit.

§  Kurang memperhatikan kebutuhan pengembangan diri sendiri

§  Menerima saja hasil-hasil yang kurang memuaskan

§  Gagal mendayagunakan potensi-potensi individual yang ada

§  Mengabaikan masalah-masalah dan menunda-nunda penyelesaiannya

§  Komunikasi yang tidak lancar

Dalam melakukan pendelegasian, seorang atasan yang memberikan terlalu banyak penugasan atau sebaliknya terlalu banyak mengerjakan sendiri akan mengalami banyak masalah. Seorang atasan juga perlu memahami bahwa dari waktu ke waktu memerlukan tambahan pengetahuan teknis maupun non-teknis sehingga dapat lebih efektif melaksanakan tugasnya seiring tuntutan perubahan yang terjadi. Hasil rata-rata yang dicapai oleh para bawahan seringkali disebabkan terlalu rendahnya sasaran-sasaran ditetapkan yang mungkin saja karena sebagai pimpinan kita juga hanya ingin sasaran yang relatif mudah dicapai dan kurang memberikan kesempatan kepada para bawahan untuk dapat mendayagunakan potensi-potensi mereka. Penting untuk diingat bahwa apabila masalah timbul, harus mendapatkan penanganan segera  dengan mempergunakan prosedur-prosedur standar yang telah disepakati. Dan sasaran-sasaran perlu dikomunikasikan dengan baik. Jangan sekali-kali menggunakan asumsi bahwa para bawahan telah langsung mengerti segala hal yang diperlukan untuk mencapai sasaran-sasaran mereka.

Penilaian Kinerja adalah sebuah proses review berkala yang akan dapat memberikan gambaran tidak saja mengenai hasil-hasil yang dicapai melainkan juga masalah-masalah yang timbul dalam pelaksanaan dan penilaian kinerja juga adalah saat untuk mendiskusikannya serta mencari solusi-solusi untuk mengatasinya. Oleh karenanya penilaian kinerja selain mendiskusikan mengenai pencapaian sasaran-sasaran bawahan juga lebih penting merupakan sebuah proses dimana paling tidak ada 3 hal yang dapat dicapai dan/atau dilakukan sebagai berikut:

•      Kesempatan bawahan untuk mendiskusikan kinerja dan standar

•      Memberikan informasi kekuatan dan kelemahan bawahan

•      Media komunikasi untuk pengembangan. 

Dari ke 3 hal tersebut, diskusi mengenai pengembangan merupakan yang paling penting dan perlu mendapatkan porsi waktu yang lebih dibandingkan 2 hal lainnya karena akan menentukan kinerja dari bawahan yang bersangkutan di periode berikut dengan menggali dan mempergunakan potensi serta mengatasi kelemahan yang ada.

Pelaksanaan penilaian kinerja agar dapat terlaksana dengan baik dan efektif serta menghasilkan komitmen tindak lanjut juga memerlukan beberapa prasyarat sebagai berikut:

•      Keterampilan atasan dalam melakukan penilaian/evaluasi

•      Standar penilaian/evaluasi yang sudah disepakati

•      Persiapan dari atasan berupa job description bawahan, sasaran-sasaran yang disepakati, hasil kerja aktual individu dan team bawahan, bahan diskusi tentang area pengembangan dan peluang karir.

•      Persiapan dari bawahan berupa job description, sasaran-sasaran yang disepakati, pencapaian individu, area pengembangan yang diharapkan serta dukungan yg dibutuhkan.

•      Pelaksanaan sesi penilaian/evaluasi kinerja dimana terdapat suasana nyaman dan tanpa ada gangguan selama kegiatan tersebut berlangsung

•      Terciptanya komitmen untuk semua hal-hal yang dibicarakan

Melalui sesi penilaian kinerja tersebut atasan bisa meningkatkan hubungan saling percaya antara atasan dan para bawahan manakala bawahan dapat merasakan adanya penilaian yang fair atas prestasi yang telah dicapai. Para bawahan juga akan dapat menilai teguran atasan sebagai masukan yang sangat berharga untuk pengembangan karir mereka. Bahkan dalam organisasi dimana proses Management By Objective berjalan dengan baik, para bawahan dapat membuat sebuah self-assessment (penilaian kinerja mereka oleh mereka sendiri) untuk diajukan sebagai bahan diskusi saat sesi penilaian kinerja berlangsung.

Sehingga penilaian kinerja tidak perlu menjadi sebuah momok bagi para atasan dan juga tidak menjadi seolah-olah hari penghakiman bagi para bawahan. Penilaian kinerja juga tidak hanya menjadi ritual dan basa-basi dalam organisasi melainkan menjadi bagian dari proses empowerment yang sangat dibutuhkan untuk dapat lebih mengembangkan organisasi.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals^TM is a registered trademark in the US held by The Meyer Resource Group^(R), Inc.

Permission to use S.M.A.R.T. Goals^TM is obtained from: Copyright (C) The Meyer Resource Group^(R), Inc.