What does empowerment actually mean?
Empowerment is a hot topic, and rightfully so. The business case seems clear: A study of 62 teams from a Fortune 500 company demonstrated a correlation of 0.61 between empowerment and performance.
Any company that wants to improve empowerment could start by clarifying the concept in their specific context.
As a guide, consider that literature differentiates four archetypes of empowerment based on two dimensions:
(1) Individual vs team-level empowerment
(2) Structural vs psychological empowerment. Structural empowerment is about the actual transfer of decision-making power and responsibilities from senior leadership to employees. Psychological empowerment is essentially about the belief that individuals or teams can perform the work on their own.
Teams that score high on psychological empowerment have four elements in common. (1) A collective belief that the team can be effective, (2) agreement that the work they do is important and worthwhile, (3) a sense of autonomy over their work, and (4) the belief that the team's performance impacts the organization in a significant way.
If you want to improve empowerment in your organization, take out a whiteboard, invite relevant stakeholders, and start by asking, "How do we define empowerment?" Hopefully, the above structure can help fuel a productive dialogue.
Sources:
Maynard, M. T., Mathieu, J. E., Gilson, L. L., O’Boyle Jr, E. H., & Cigularov, K. P. (2013). Drivers and outcomes of team psychological empowerment: A meta-analytic review and model test. Organizational Psychology Review, 3(2), 101-137.
Chen, G., Kirkman, B. L., Kanfer, R., Allen, D., & Rosen, B. (2007). A multilevel study of leadership, empowerment, and performance in teams. Journal of applied psychology, 92(2), 331.