| Empowered workers take greater responsibility for personal and group safety |
Empowerment begins when management demonstrates
its change of attitude.
contributed by Javier Fernandez, Jackson, Indiana
One day recently, one of my team members, Cynthia Jokov, noted that
the color of the seat-covering fabric we were dying was barely within
specifications and would possibly result in a complaint. She concluded
that the problem was caused through a faulty batch of dye.
Bert Cummins, our production manager, and I were at an out-of-town
meeting and not due back until several hours later. The fabric was
needed for a "just in time" shipment, so Cynthia called
our dye supplier direct and arranged for them to check the make-up
of the batch urgently. In doing so, she was able to suggest to our
supplier just where the fault lay. (There was a shortfall in one
of the ingredients). Our supplier's technician checked his record
and confirmed that they had used faulty proportions. He sent over
a replacement immediately so that we could continue to run the job,
with only an hour or so of missed production.
This is an example of an empowered worker taking the initiative,
to reach beyond her immediate work description and achieve results.
She had never been faced with a situation quite like this, yet she
reacted properly and very effectively, for which we commended her.
The manager of our supplier too, called to express his appreciation
for her quick thinking that saved the day for both them and us.
Let's look at what Cynthia might have done,
quite legitimately, within the scope of her job.
- She could have run the batch, which
was, after all, just within specification.
- She could have shut down production
and waited for Bert and me to return, which would have caused
us to incur penalties
for missing a shipment time, and possibly have caused a dispute
with our supplier.
- She could have called Bert or me, interrupted
our meeting and asked for instructions. This, she realized, would
not have been a good course of action as we would not have been
able to make a decision without seeing the fabric.
We could not have faulted Cynthia for any of the above courses of
action, although the outcome from any one of them would not have
been as good for us as the one she chose.
Cynthia, we have already said, acted outside the scope of her authority.
Fortunately, she knew just how much to extend it.
That's empowerment.
Empowerment is being able to take the initiative in a situation
where management could not have foreseen nor laid down a procedure
in advance. Cynthia acted because she knew, based on her experience
and our company culture, that it would work, and we would almost
certainly approve. "Almost certainly" suggests a slight
degree of risk for Cynthia. This is true of empowerment. It is not
without risk, both for workers and for management.
I would like to report that empowering workers always works as seamlessly
and effectively as it did in Cynthia's case. Of course it doesn't.
Empowerment is an exercise in educated guesses and risk-taking.
Our associates sometimes overstep the mark, or make more damaging
mistakes than the ones they are trying to correct. But it is incomparably
better than a system we had in the past—no authority to try
anything.
Empowerment leads to ownership of the job, responsibility, greater
morale, high productivity, growth and a safer workplace. Perhaps
the biggest dividend from empowerment is the positive way in which
people approach problems. Instead of a negative "We can't do
that", or "That's impossible", I hear them say,"Hmm,
that's a new situation. How can I make it work?"
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