Leadership is not an Option, but Essential in Empowered Organisations.

Leadership is crucial in empowered organisations and #leaders need to play a vital role, otherwise, the danger is that organisations could be heading for ‘crisis’ due to lack of the right kind of leadership which is conducive to employee empowerment.  But, a word of caution.  Leadership style needs to be favourable to employee empowerment.  It has to be the right match.  Hence, if organisations are serious about employee empowerment, they need to ask this important question – what kind of leaders do they need to recruit?

An article by The World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Index says 86% of experts believe the world is in the midst of a leadership crisis (World Economic Forum, 2015.  Crisis in Leadership Underscores Global Challenges).

This crisis in leadership needs to be addressed.  In fact, leadership could be the ‘making’ or ‘breaking’ of organisations, as Bennis (1984: 16) highlights:

‘If I have learned anything from my research, it is this: the factor that      empowers the work force and ultimately determines which organisations succeed or fail is the leadership of those organisations.’

Employee empowerment is not about ‘telling’ people they are empowered.  Leaders need to create the environment which makes employees ‘feel’ empowered.  My findings reveal valuable information as to what kind of leadership style people prefer in an empowered organisation.  It is established that a ‘people-oriented’ leadership style (Huq, 2010; 2015) is desirable.  In my book, I have put forward a framework, referred as Huq’s Model D, for implementing employee empowerment (Huq, 2015).

Developing a people-oriented leadership style that supports #employee empowerment is a significant part of the process.  It is the difference between success and failure in the practice of employee empowerment in organisations.  Hence, for leaders a penchant for patriarchal attitudes and a passion for control is out, and important attributes such as, effective communication, collaboration, participative decision-making, devolution of responsibility, enabling, respecting diversity, mentoring and coaching, is in. 

Leaders also need coaching.  Through appropriate coaching, leaders can help themselves to learn and achieve these attributes in order to enable them to create conditions that motivate and #empower employees.  Creating the right condition for empowerment to flourish in turn enables employees to accomplish tasks and develop their individual #talent and competence, thus adding value to organisations.

If you are applying for an important leadership position, allow yourself a few coaching sessions before going for that important interview!

Thank you for reading, until the next Huq Post ….

http://rozanahuq.com/rhm-training/

© Copyright Photograph and Article Dr Rozana Huq, September 2015

One-to-one Executive Leadership Coaching available with Dr Rozana Huq

Dr Rozana Huq
Organisational Behaviourist
http://www.rozanahuq.com
Motivational Speaker, Leadership Educator, Management Author, Life Coach.

References:                                                     

Bennis, W. (1984); The 4 Competencies of Leadership, Training and Development, August, pp. 14-19.

Huq, R.  (2010); Employee Empowerment the rhetoric & reality.  Triarchy Press, UK, Devon.

Huq, R. (2015); The Psychology of Employee Empowerment.  Concepts, Critical Themes and a Framework for Implementation”, (2015).  Gower Publishing Ltd., UK.

World Economic Forum (2015); Crisis in Leadership Underscores Global Challenges. Available at:http://www.weforum.org/news/crisis-leadership-underscores-global-challenges

Books written by Dr Rozana A Huq.
“Employee Empowerment the rhetoric & reality”, (2010). Triarchy Press, Devon, UK.

Dr Huq offers practical advice on how to implement and sustain employee empowerment in management practices.  This book will be of value not only to academics, but also to practitioners of both small and large enterprises who may wish to implement or improve employee empowerment. Professor Adrian Wilkinson, Director, Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.

 “The Psychology of Employee Empowerment.  Concepts, Critical Themes and a Framework for Implementation”, (2015).  Gower Publishing Ltd., UK.

Understanding, and effectively managing, the relationship between Empowerment and Leadership is one of the central issues of our time. Dr Huq’s research and analysis not only makes an important scholarly contribution to the theory of the subject but, in her well-presented and readable book, she makes invaluable suggestions on the critical area of the practice of employee empowerment. All individuals with leadership roles urgently need to rethink their ideas, roles and behaviours within Dr Huq’s insightful “Framework for Implementing Employee Empowerment Model”.  Professor Bruce Lloyd, London South Bank University, UK.