(Below are the full notes to our leadership lesson on Monday, January 18, 2010)
Empowerment (Wikipedia): refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their own capacities.

Secure (Wikipedia): Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
Firm and not likely to fail; stable.

Law of Empowerment says that only Secure leaders give up power to others. 

“The Best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”  (Theodore Roosevelt)

Sometimes even the most successful leaders don’t understand that you have to Give Up to Go Up.  Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company once said, “If a guys works for you, don’t let him get too comfortable.  Don’t let him get cozy or set in his ways.  Always do the opposite of what he expects.  Keep your people anxious and off-balance.” 

In 1914, Ford had 50% of the car business in the US.  By 1931, that was down to 28% because Henry Ford did not understand the Law of Empowerment, “You have to Give up, to Go up.”

How To Lead Well:
1. Identify Leaders
2. Build Leaders up
3. Give them resources
4. Give them Authority
5. Give them Responsibility
6. Give them the freedom to do what needs to be done.

If you want to Go Up (to a “Hole Nutha Level”), you have to Give Up to others.

To lead others well, we must help them to reach their potential.  That means being on their side, encouraging them, giving them power, and helping them succeed. 

When you first start out your career, you have very little to give up, so the concept is easier the younger or less experienced you are.  However, the more you gain experience, success, position, and power, the harder it is to give up.  This is where the Law of Empowerment is needed.  It is needed in all levels of an organization, but the higher you go in the organization the harder it is for you to give up power to others. 

There is a wrong assumption that you have to fight others to maintain your leadership.  When you keep people down, you have to go down with them.   When you do that, you lose power to lift others up. 

For you to take on new tasks and responsibilities, you have to make space in your schedule if you are already at your maximum output.  You have to make room for the new thing, and that means giving up some current responsibilities to someone else. 

Let’s say every one of your responsibilities is a rock.  Some rocks are bigger than others and heavier than others just as some responsibilities take more time and are more important.  As I give you every one of your rocks (responsibilities) to hold in your hand, you eventually come to a critical point where you cannot hold anymore rocks (or take on any more responsibilities).   A project comes up that is your “dream job”.  This project is why you chose the career you re in and to work with Khidmah.  If your hands are full of other rocks, how will you have the space in your hands to take on this “boulder” (It’s a really big project and very heavy with responsibility!)?  You must be constantly giving up to have space to go up.  You must be handing off the smaller rocks to your staff so that you have room for new and bigger challenges.

What is a “Trade-Off?” 
A “Trade-Off” is any situation in which one thing must be decreased for another to be increased.

When I was a little kid.  I would remember my mom telling me when we would go to the grocery store.  “You can pick one ice cream – do you want vanilla or chocolate?  She would never say, "Pick all of the ice cream you want."

No, my family would share one pint of ice cream for desert each week.  I could pick only one kind of ice cream.  There was a “trade-off” – it was either Chocolate or Vanilla – not both. 

There are many trade-offs that are worth doing:

• Trading Affirmation for Accomplishment
Actually getting something done vs. just making yourself look good.  

• Trading Security for Significance
Success is not about working hard or looking busy all of the time.  Doing something significant means accomplishing something, and often in order to accomplish something, you have to take risks.  
I “just” have a job vs. I am doing something significant. 

You never start out with Significance – it comes after work. 

• Trade Financial Gain for Future Potential
It has been said that all financially successful people who have made money by doing something (not from inheritance), really like whatever they did to make their money.  They first started out doing something because they liked it, and it was their strength.  Before they knew it, they had achieved a level of financial success because they were rewarded for their performance. 
Example :  Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. 

Unfortunately, many people take jobs because of the pay, not because they like what they are doing or like with whom they work.  This most of the times does not lead to financial gain, because they are miserable and do not do the job well.  

• Trade Exploration for Focus
Some people try this industry, try this career, try this profession – and then switch, and then switch again.  They “dabble” in one thing, then another and never focus on one thing.  In order to get good at something you must focus and gain experience in this area. 

• Trade Acceptable for Excellent
People don’t get the trophy for finishing the race in the middle.  Everyone should aspire for excellence.  If something is worth doing, do it with excellence or don’t do it at all.  Excellence is a good habit you can get into..  If you get in the habit of high achievement, then you expect that from others and others will expect that of you as well. 

So Leadership is a all about the “trade-off”.  You have to let something go, in order for you to do something new.  Basically, in order for you to have room to move to the next level you need to empower people around you.   

HNL – Handout

 

When leader resist giving employees power, they create barriers within their team or organization.  If barriers remain, then people give up, quit, and stop trying. 

If you don’t Give up power, then people will Give up. 

1. Barrier to Empowerment:  Desire for Job Security.

Weak leaders worry that if they help subordinates, they themselves will become dispensable.  But if you keep raising up leaders and empowering them, you will develop a pattern of achievement excellence, and leadership that will be recognized and rewarded. 
Personal note:  If a company replaces you because you helped someone reach the next level, then you made a bad choice working for that person/company. 

Many people working for you will want your job.  However, this can take 2 different forms:
a. They want to get you fired
b. They want you to get promoted

2. Barrier to Empowerment:  Resistance to Change

With change comes progress.  Nothing ever gets better with staying the same.  Nothing gets better just sitting on the shelf.  Nothing, except maybe wine.

But people don’t like change.  Most people are resistant to change.  However, to be an effective leader you have to love change, and see change as a challenge to make things better.

All of these following words mean by definition change:  improvement, progress, growth, development, increase, and expand.

3. Barrier to Empowerment:  Lack of Self Worth

Leaders cannot focus on themselves.  They most focus on others.  By definition, Leaders must first be able to lead themselves well, before they can lead others.  This is why a good leader will very rarely be someone who does not like themselves. 

If you are not self-confident, YOU (as the leader) will want all of the credit for a job well done, and none of the blame if the job is not successful. 

If you are someone who lacks self worth, then you will create barriers around others because you will not want others to succeed. 

Key traits for Empowerment
“You have to SEE the leader inside someone.” 

To be a leader that practices empowerment, you have to believe in people many times more than they believe in themselves.  Most people do not believe they can go to the next level.  Why?  Because they really don’t know what it takes.  But you as the leader do understand what it takes at the next level.  And it is your job to inspire, encourage, and empower the person you are leading to that next level.  Many times the people you are leading and empowering will want to quit, or stop trying because change is hard and they might be getting scared.  However, the leader that empowers continues to inspire and encourage their followers to the next level. 

Why do we want to empower the people we lead? 
1. Allows the Leader to achieve more than he could do alone.   It gets things out of the leaders hands to others that can do it. 

2. Allows the Follower to achieve what he has not done before and grow as a leader.

3. Allows both the Leader and the Follower to experience empowerment and become believers in it.  They both become better leaders and both grow as a result.  

Steps to Empowerment:
1. Analyze yourself first and your own self worth.  If it is low, you must lead yourself first before you lead others.
2. Make a list of the people you work with directly and indirectly at least once or twice a week. 
a. Rate each person’s potential 1 to 10.
b. If the numbers are low, you need to change the way you see them, you are focused on their weaknesses and not their strengths. 
c. Now think back over your list.  What is each person’s potential if they made the most of their strengths?
d. Think of one thing you can do to help a person reach their potential and DO IT.  
3. If you have an issue with empowerment then you will never succeed in doing it.  You must Give Up to Go Up. 

Empowering people is great when thing go well.  However, leaders MUST take the blame when things don’t go well. 

When you are a leader, you look for opportunities to stand behind your followers.  They see these actions modeled, and they will, in turn, stand behind the people they lead.  It becomes contagious. 

Empowering others – the Giving Up to Go Up – is what makes an organization truly successful.  It makes a company more efficient because everyone is working at their maximum potential.  An empowered team accomplishes more, sets new directions, inspires others, provides excellent customer service, and makes a difference.  I think we all want to be on that kind of team.

Lead On!
Sutton