Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to postulate ways in which employees within my team at the workplace can be empowered so that they find performing various tasks assigned to them an easy and seamless process as well as experience. Change stalls within the organization and employees find excuses of not carrying out some tasks when various barriers exist in the company. For instance, the presence bureaucracy within the company makes workers unable to act in some situations where authority or delegation is needed from the boss. However, this situation must be eliminated and people empowered strongly if organizational change is to be made effective. I and my team members now strongly understand the fact that when people start to understand and act on organizational change as a vision, existing barriers have to be eliminated from their way for success to be realized.
The Boss Barrier
Understandably, the biggest barrier within any organization is always the boss. This obstacle will be our first point of focus in the barrier elimination plan. My team intends to ensure every employee has the power of taking full action on tasks assigned to him or her. In the company, there are cases where subordinates see the change vision and feel like helping, but they are always shut down by those in higher positions of management starting with the immediate boss. For instance, I have tried to suggest a number of change actions, but hardly do I even finish my statements than the immediate supervisor stops it saying the change suggestion cannot work and if it has then there must a letter written and signed by those in higher positions. Sadly, in many cases the changes I suggest are sometimes just small processes meant to fasten and ease work. I have also witnessed other colleagues going through the same ordeal and frustrations. The normal result of it is always giving up and just living with the barrier. It is the reason we have made a resolute decision to ensure everybody within the team is empowered to act on tasks assigned and even implement progressive change.
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The aim will be implementing strategies aimed at overcoming the impediment of a reluctant boss to implement change. The empowerment plan here will involve attempts to ease the boss and supervisor attitudes through approaches that are creative ( Tools, 2011) . The aim here will be ensuring the team members get the trust of the supervisor and the manager. I will try to take the immediate manager through light talks and ensure he always sees the quality of work which comes from the team. By even developing zero tolerance to work errors within the team, I am sure we will be able to win the trust of the manager and supervisor. Once the manager and supervisor are influenced to trust in the team members, it will be possible for us to implement change with their full support.
What simply makes bosses to be reluctant and become obstacles to change is fear and insecurity. In most case, bosses invest psychologically in the status quo hence may not even want to think of change ( Kotter & Cohen, 2008) . Mostly, they fear the experience of change hence become resistive to any suggestions made by their juniors. It implies that I will make huge win in my effort to empower those within my team if I ensure the boss feels secure even in the face of change. I believe that making regular presentations to the boss regarding the significance and benefits of change to him and the organization will greatly help in changing his attitude from the current negativity to positivity. I am sure it will empower colleagues in the team.
The Dont’s
When dealing with the boss barrier, there are actions which I will not take since they have negative results in the end. For instance, I will not ignore the boss obstacle and give up on addressing it as a way of empowering others. I will not take the boss to a short-training course since it may not have a lasting impact ( Bolman & Deal, 2017) . Finally, I will not influence the firing, demotion or transfer of the boss since it may instil more fear in employees and others.
The System Obstacle
System barriers are the other source of disempowerment to employees. System barriers are also referred to as bureaucracy. Specifically, evaluations and rewards may bring about disempowerment to workers when they are not in the same direction with the change needed. Monetary rewards and evaluations must be eliminated from the organization since they cause disappointment and fear among employees especially when they fail achieve the promised results. I will instead intensify competition and contests within the team which is more empowering.
The don’t in this case will be removing monetary rewards and evaluations with the aim of minimizing costs or simply avoiding to pay workers. This action must be taken with the conscience of ensuring employees are empowered.
Other Barriers
Notably, after years of change trials and consistent failures, people may internalize the feeling that they cannot achieve a leap of transformation at all and give up. This scenario poses an irrational and psychological barrier among workers ( Batshalom, 2013) . To eliminate this barrier, I will arrange for regular presentations and benchmark tours where team members will be able to see others try and succeed after long periods of hurting failure. This action will help change the attitude of employees and empower them.
I will also remove the informational barrier which brings disempowerment. I will ensure there is feedback on all actions done by employees within the team. Moreover, I will ensure regular departmental briefs are introduced every morning so that managers can inform employees about notable news within the company. The installation of notice boards at strategic locations within the company will also be an action to be taken. Information is power itself. People who have the opportunity of accessing information get the knowledge of doing things and innovating change. Therefore, members of my team have the chance of creating and innovating worthwhile products as well as change in processes if they are given access to useful information. In this regard, the workplace computers will be also be internet-enabled and employees allowed to access any website, including social media networks and live as well as recorded video websites. This policy will help the workers to access any material they need online and get learning exposure on diverse platforms.
Some companies do limit the access to some websites in a bid of blocking distractions to employees. However, employees have the advantage of gaining more knowledge on the job if they are allowed to access all websites on the internet unlimitedly.
Conclusion
Empowering team members is a noble course that has to be taken. I believe when the workers are empowered, there will be good results of change leaps which will encourage all workers and the entire management. The two barriers which must eliminated fast and as a matter of urgency are boss and systemic obstacles. However, there are don’ts which have to be considered while undertaking the empowerment action. Some actions, such as firing the boss, which really appear needed and right, may have to be avoided because of their negative and unwanted end results within the company.
References
Batshalom, B. (2013). Putting the Management back in Change Part 5: Removing Obstacles; Empowering Others to Act. Sustainable Performance Institute . http://www.sustainable-performance.org/putting-the-management-back-in-change-part-5-removing-obstacles-empowering-others-to-act/.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership . John Wiley & Sons.
Kotter, J. P., & Cohen, D. S. (2008). The heart of change . Sage Publishers.
Tools, M. (2011). Kotter’s 8-Step change model: Implementing change powerfully and successfully. Mind Tools-Management Training, Leadership Training and Career Training .
