Leading Through Empowerment: Defining the How Behind the What

Last time we discussed what you must do if you desire to see change in how you spend your time, as well as lead and empower your team. I want to take a step back now and discuss how I made these changes.

What to do, is oftentimes the easiest part of creating change, but if the How or the Why behind these actions isn’t known, change can seem insurmountable. If this occurs, we will inevitably lack the motivation that will be necessary to truly seek and create change. I started with the Why many segments ago, how devoting as much time as possible to your most important work brings achievement and fulfillment.

When talking with someone on my team, I try to always start with the Why for two reasons: first, to ensure that it’s not forgotten, the second, and probably more important reason, is that the Why provides the motivation necessary to create the change you wish to see. It pulls back the curtain and allows them to understand the reasoning behind what is being asked of them.

The How is most often just as important as the Why because it provides a tangible roadmap or process. It not only enables the other person to see the destination and understand why reaching that destination matters, but it provides a general idea of how they can get there.

Going back to an illustrative example, if you have ever gone camping, think about how the experience would be if you didn’t know how you were going to get to your campsite, how you would prepare meals, or how you would ensure that you had enough drinking water. Your camping trip would most likely be an utter failure if you did not know how you would do all of these things and planned appropriately for them.

Although the How in leadership is not as tangible as in our camping example, it’s nevertheless just as important. So how do you define and apply the How behind the What within your organization?

I want to help you navigate the 4 steps of leading through empowerment discussed in the last segment by giving you the How behind the What for the four most common areas that you can create change and give yourself more than 50% of your time back to better devote to your most important work.

We will begin by taking a deeper look at the one area that serves as the foundation for the other three, and that is your people. If your direct reports don’t know the Why, and understand the How behind What they’re doing, they will lack the motivation and buy-in necessary to consistently achieve set goals in any of the other three areas.

Direct Reports

Defining the How for your direct reports is foundational, as direct report conversations must be done first, prior to enacting change in any other areas of your organization or you will end up spinning your wheels. I have broken this section up into two separate sections as there are two very different considerations, one is for those on your team who should stay on your team, and the other is for those who could better serve the organization and your teams by reporting to someone else.

Direct reports that should be reporting to someone else

I would suggest that you have these conversations first, as it will reduce unnecessary waste for doing everything that follows with someone that will no longer be reporting to you.

In my own experience I have found that I personally operate best with no more than 5 direct reports, though I can handle up to 10. I know that when I have too many direct reports, I don’t have the capacity to serve any of them in the way I want to. With 5, I can pour everything I have into each of them. With 10, they each get significantly less, which to some extent is unfair to them and their professional development. This number is not the same for everyone, though some research has shown there are sweet spots for most people in terms of the ideal number of direct reports. To help find your sweet spot, think about how you want to show up for each of your direct reports in an ideal working arrangement, what amount of time will each need from you weekly and how much time you actually have to devote. If your most important work includes working with your team and helping them on their path with professional development, then you can most likely allow for more time here. If the desired amount of time you want to spend with each of them is too much, then you need to look hard at who on your team should be reporting to someone else and then begin to make adjustments to get to that number.

I would also say that even if you have enough time, there may be 1-2 direct reports that should not report to you, usually because you want to empower someone else, and to fully allow that to happen they need to manage someone you currently manage.

With direct reports you are keeping

After you have settled on the direct reports you are keeping, I would encourage you to have a kickoff conversation with each of them in a 1on1 setting. Here, you can lay out the changes you intend on making within your team, how this will occur, and what will be required of them. From this conversation, the two of you will be able to collaborate on the agreements necessary to achieve the desired results.

In this conversation, define all meetings, tasks, responsibilities, functions, and outcomes they should own. Then agree on a plan and timeline for how this will happen, leaving room to provide enough context and information for them to be successful.

Additionally, you will want to create space for your direct reports to speak openly and honestly. They will most likely have items that you have not thought of, that they either should or want to own. It’s important to remember that they should be able to define their most important work as well, and something you are currently doing may be a part of this work.

In the next installment, we will discuss the other common areas in which you can create change within your organization and how the 4 steps of leading through empowerment can be applied in these areas by using the How and Why behind each.