Learning, delegation and empowerment

There is a shift in the balance of power in a typical coaching, mentoring or managerial relationship.  Here I use the terms, ‘coach’ and ‘client’.  At first the coach may need to manage the client, having power ‘over’.  As the work progresses, the coach hands back power, sharing it with the client.  Towards the close of the work, the coach leaves the stage but remains in the wings, on call for assistance, having power ‘under’.  

Paul Hersey’s Situational Leadership model provides a process for delegating responsibility and power.  He plotted the amount of structure a manager would give to a subordinate against the closeness of relationship the manager would exercise.  He then described growth in terms of a passage through these quadrants.

In the first quadrant the coach tells the client exactly how it should be done, what it will look like and when it will be complete.  This low relationship and high structure is reassuring. 

As the client grows in their understanding, they enter into the second quadrant.  The coach asks open questions about how the client will deal with the task at hand.  “Where have you seen this before?” is a good generic question which may be followed by “OK so what is your plan this time?”

The third quadrant requires patience and attention.  The client assumes responsibility for initiating a task.  The coach listens out for questions.  As the questions come the coach can steer the client towards a way forward.  The wisdom is required to evaluate a situation where the client does not ask.  The client may have slipped back into the previous quadrant, in which case the coach should go back to asking open questions.  Or the client may have grown into the next quadrant.

In the final quadrant, the client may share a little about how they are dealing with a situation.  But this will be to humour you as coach or may be politeness.  They will not feel inclined to give details and may seem impatient or even annoyed when prompted for feedback.  Part of letting go as a coach is realising that the client may not even respond positively to the feedback from the coach that they have reached this level of maturity.

I believe empowerment is taken rather than given and this model may help you to gauge the level to which your client is taking on the responsibility and freedom of accountability.

Dealing with the client in the wrong quadrant can be disorientating and frustrating for both parties.  Also we may have a tendency to leave out quadrants.  Some managers do not know how to exercise ‘High Relationship’ just as some managers do not know how to leave their charges to get on with the job.  And of course some managers only know how explain everything in great detail and others could explain how to do a job if their lives depended on it.

So, look around.  Who are you working with?  Which quadrant are they in?  How best should you work with them there?

Organisation purpose

Why does your organisation exist?  Do you have a clear purpose?   Does everyone in your organisation have the same view of your purpose?   If the purpose is not crystal clear, people will not understand what kind of knowledge is critical and what they have to learn in order to improve performance.  

But just what is meant by “purpose”?  John Browne, the CEO of British Petroleum described purpose as, “who we are and what makes us distinctive.  It is what we as a company exist to achieve and what we are willing to and not willing to do to achieve it.”    Conversation about purpose is a powerful tool to focus teams on what to do and what to leave alone.  In “Good to Great” Jim Collins offers a model for defining the “business concept” for an organisation.  I find this model useful to initiate the conversation on purpose.  Here is how I present it:

Jim Collins gives a wealth of information on these ideas on his website, including downloadable excerpts from lectures and Q&A sessions.  This is well worth a visit.

The first question is “What are you passionate about?”  Not “what should be passionate about to succeed?” Or “what have we been told to be passionate about?”  But what ignites your passion?  If it is outside of the business of the organisation that is OK. Write it down and reflect on it. Then identify what it is about your industry or organisation that ignites a burning passion in your heart?  

This photo of Dane Petersen is from Longboard Magazine.  In an interview with Longboard Magazine he said, “…the way Malibu peels and bends down the point on an outgoing tide is absolutely flawless, and it’s got so many perfect nose-riding sections that it almost drives you nuts out of pure enjoyment.  I remember having little heart palpitations as a kid because I would get so amped.”  

So what gives you heart palpitations?”

The second question is about what you can be the best at.  When you look at your industry and the capacities in your organisation, what can you be the best at?  Jim Collins asks “…in the whole world?”   But perhaps your universe of influence is smaller than this.  Perhaps it is your continent, your country, even your town.  This is question to plumb your intent but also to gauge your reality.    

• Looking at who you are, what is it that you can do better than anyone else around?  
• Looking around, what niche has been exists, that has not been taken and is not unassailably defended?

A local health care provider, Discovery, captured a massive slice of the market, in a short time, with financial services, assurance products and a wellness programme, backed up with a business model including a research programme.  To duplicate and compete with them on this Wellness Programme would be extremely expensive.  Many would say that their position is unassailable in this market.

Question three is about your economic denominator and requires careful consideration.  What single ratio describes the economics underlying your business?  What measure will cause you to look at your industry in a new way, highlighting new opportunities?  Jim Collins gives a number of clarifying examples in his book.  For example when retailers moved from measuring ‘profit per region’, to ‘profit per customer visit’.  This lead them to carefully evaluate what customers were buying the most, the most popular ‘baskets” e.g.  ‘milk, nappies and beer’.  By considering the possible circumstances leading to these baskets they were able to place items stratetgically in stores and offer other tempting items en-route between the items on the shelves.  I wonder how many ‘milk and nappies’ baskets now include flowers, chocolate or frozen meals in addition to beer?

So what is your purpose?  What concept describes where these three circles intersect?  Use your thinking to describe the area where the three circles intersect.  As you do this, you may wish to consider the questions raised by Tony Manning in “Making sense of strategy”: 

• Who do you serve?
• The value you deliver to those you serve
• Why do you matter?
• What is your ambition?