In this blog, I would like to discuss the tale of
two directors. In my current position, I have had two directors. One was
overbearing, micro-managing, and closed. The other is laid back, and
communicative. One director did not make me feel confident or allow me any
autonomy, while the other director developed trust and provided support. The
two directors were night vs. day, cold vs. hot, and black vs. white, but the
glaring difference lied in empowerment. One director allowed me to feel a sense
of empowerment, where the other director attempted to deny empowerment.
When I was first hired in my current position, I
reported to the former Controller. Working for this individual taught me many
life lessons, but empowerment was not one of them. Some of her leadership methods
were not conducive to creating a sense of empowerment. Whetten and Cameron
(2016) described self- efficacy as the feeling of competency that an individual
can complete a task successfully. Self-efficacy is not a trait that I developed
while reporting to my former director. She had the propensity to find something
wrong in everything I gave her to review. Most of the things were small such as
her not agreeing with the format of a spreadsheet or the wording of an email,
but it began to wear on my confidence. She also wanted all of my work to go
through her first, so I never felt like I was able to develop self-efficacy. In
fact, the leadership methods caused me to develop the unfortunate trait of
learned helplessness which is the opposite direction from empowerment.
My former director also did not allow for much
autonomy. She wanted things done in a particular order and in a particular way
which did not leave much room for personal choices in designing my tasks. She
also had the habit of taking the spotlight away from me and shining it on
herself. Whetten and Cameron (2016) stated that a method of creating
empowerment is through personal consequence. “Empowered people have a sense
that when they act, they can produce a result” (Whetten and Cameron, 2016,
370). I never felt like my actions produced any results. One of the first times
I put together the Board reports; I had just finished and had given them to my
director to review. Within about fifteen minutes, the former VP of Finance came
into the suite to determine the status of the reports. My director proceeded to
explain how she had been working on them all day and was just finishing up.
From that point on, I did not feel like my work had a purpose. I do not
actively seek recognition, but the fact that my work was claimed by my director
was extremely demotivating.
My former director also never took the time to
develop a trusting relationship with not only me but the other accountants in
the department. Since she did not trust us, the lack of trust was reciprocated
throughout the department creating a lack of communication and a common goal.
The former Controller was let go about four years ago due to conflicts with the
new VP of Finance. My new supervisor was the budget director, and it didn’t
take me long to realize that this would be a totally different leader/follower
relationship.
The first thing I noticed was that my new director
was much more open with providing information. According to Whetten and Cameron
(2016), information is a crucial part of leadership and providing followers
with more as opposed to less information creates a sense of empowerment. My
director would give me updates regarding what happened in the Board Meetings,
the direct support meetings, and changes taking place at the college. Receiving
information was a new concept for me and began to create a sense of
empowerment.
My new director quickly developed a clear goal for
the accounting of the Foundation. We were able to get on the same page
regarding the budget process, the investment allocation process, and how the
board reports were to be put together. I felt empowered having a say in what
processes would be used. It was a new feeling for me and began to increase
empowerment. Whetten and Cameron (2016)
described the five levels of followership. With my previous director, I fell
into the ask what to do before acting stage due to the learned helplessness her
leadership methods created. The leadership methods of my new director allowed
me to increase my level of followership. I was now able to initiate action and
report only when necessary, and it felt great.
I recall an instance where I felt empowered to
accomplish a task, which was the first audit with my new supervisor. The
transition to my new director took place at the beginning of audit preparation.
Once everyone was settled in, I went to her and asked the first task in
beginning audit preparation. She looked at me like I had four heads and asked
why I was coming to her asking questions about the audit. I then explained to
her that the previous management assigned me tasks to do until the audit book
was complete. She got up from her desk, grabbed the audit book from the
previous year, handed it to me, and said, “I trust you do put together the
book. Take a look at last year and run the same reports for this year. I will
be here if you have any questions.” I
was not only taken aback but floored. What was going on?
Whetten and Cameron (2016) listed the five
dimensions of empowerment as self-efficacy, self- determination, personal
consequence, meaning, and trust. When my director gave me the authority to put
together the audit, all five of the dimensions of empowerment were affected. I
began to develop a sense of self-efficacy or competence to perform a task
successfully. I also now had a sense of autonomy. I had the power to work on
the audit that way I wanted to. I did not have to do things in a particular
order because of the preference of my supervisor. I also began to develop a
sense of personal consequence in believing that my work could produce a result.
I began to believe that my work had meaning now. I was working toward putting
the audit paperwork together on my own. I was no longer tasked with trivial
things. The most important thing my supervisor accomplished by allowing me to
work on the audit was to develop a sense a trust. I immediately saw that she
trusted me and that trust was reciprocated. We still have a very trusting and
open bond.
The final result was a clean audit with no audit
remarks. Throughout the process, I had to go to my supervisor for advice on a
couple of issues because the information was never shared by the previous
manager. Overall, I completed the majority of the audit without assistance
which caused my confidence to grow and allowed me to develop a sense of
empowerment.
This example offered several lessons that I could
apply to my followers. The first being trust and communication. I have stated
in several blogs that communication is one of the most important things a
leader must practice to be successful. Open communication creates trust which
in turn creates a sense of empowerment.
Support is another critical factor in creating empowerment. A leader who
establishes support with their followers creates a sense of empowerment and
empowered workers tend to be more communicative and productive. So, Why not try
to create empowerment as a leader?
Reference
Whetten, D. & Cameron, K. (2016). Developing management skills (9th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson
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