1.
Delegation and Empowerment
© Happy Melly One BV
(Original Management 3.0 Foundation Workshop Material)

2.
Empower Teams: Teams can
self-organize, and this requires
empowerment, authorization,
and trust from management.

3.
How can we get people
to self-organize?
How do we delegate
responsibilities?

4.
To Control or Not to Control
Central control of a complex system
doesn’t work, because the central
node of a network cannot possibly
contain all information that is needed
to make good decisions everywhere.

5.
Each worker has only an incomplete mental model of all
the work. And the same goes for the manager! That is
why it’s best to distribute control among everyone.

6.
What scientists call distributed control is usually
called empowerment by management experts.

7.
Many people are wrong
about empowerment.

8.
The Dictators
“Workers should be
empowered by managers
so that they take on more
responsibilities, feel more
committed, and be more
engaged. The managers
decide who is
empowered, and who is
not.”

9.
The Anarchists
“Workers are already
empowered by default.
Nobody is needed to grant
them powers. There are no
managers, only leaders.
And they inspire workers to
exercise the powers they
already have.”

10.
Empowerment defined
empower /əmˈpou(ə)r/
1. (authority)
to give official authority or legal power to (by legal or official means) / to
invest with power
2. (ability)
to promote the self-actualization or influence of /
to supply with an ability

11.
“I authorized (empowered) a team member to
take control of our company’s bank account.”

12.
“I help my team members with their ability (empowerment)
to manage our social media marketing.”

13.
Dictators know and understand only the first meaning of
the word empowerment (authority), while anarchists favor
only the second meaning (ability). In most organizations,
we need both.

14.
Empowerment == Distributed Control
Empowered people improve system effectiveness
and survival. Empowered organizations are more
resilient and agile.

15.
We aim for a more
powerful system, not
better-controlled people.
(And besides, creative
workers cannot be
controlled anyway.)

16.
Learn more about empowerment, authority, ability,
control, accountability, responsibility and about the
great exercise of DelegaEon Poker at a Management
3.0 Workshop!
www.management30.com/events/

17.
Empowerment
requires delegating
decisions
Managers often fear a loss
of control when teams take
over decision-making. And
creative workers sometimes
have no idea how to take
responsibility.
?

18.
Empowerment is a reflexive relationship between two
equal partners. We should replace superiors and
subordinates with control-givers and control-takers.

19.
Giving and Taking Control
Quite often, when managers delegate work to
people or teams, they don’t give them clear
boundaries of control.

20.
A manager should make it perfectly clear what
the person’s or team’s level of control is in a
certain area.

21.
Handing over control also works
the other way around because of
the reflexive relationship of
empowerment.

22.
By distributing control in an organization, we not only
empower workers, we also empower the managers.

23.
The Seven Levels of Delegation

24.
Delegation is not a binary thing. There are more
options than being a dictator or an anarchist. The art
of management is in finding the right balance.

25.
1. Tell
You make a decision for
others and you may
explain your motivation.
A discussion about it is
neither desired nor
assumed.

26.
2. Sell
You make a decision for
others but try to convince
them that you made the
right choice, and you help
them feel involved.

27.
3. Consult
You ask for input first,
which you take into
consideration before
making a decision that
respects people’s
opinions.

28.
4. Agree
You enter into a discussion
with everyone involved,
and as a group you reach
consensus about the
decision.

29.
5. Advise
You will offer others your
opinion and hope they
listen to your wise words,
but it will be their
decision, not yours.

30.
6. Inquire
You first leave it to the
others to decide, and
afterwards, you ask them
to convince you of the
wisdom of their decision.

31.
7. Delegate
You leave the decision to
them and you don’t even
want to know about
details that would just
clutter your brain.

32.
Get Delegation Poker on
management30.com

33.
The 7 Levels of Delegation is a symmetrical model.
It works in both directions.

34.
Consult is the opposite of Advise.
The 7 Levels of Delegation is a symmetrical model.
It works in both directions.

35.
The 7 Levels of Delegation is a symmetrical model.
It works in both directions.
Sell is the mirror of Inquire.

36.
Dictators say, “You are not allowed to do anything except
what I authorize you to do.”
Anarchists say, “Go ahead, take whatever control you want!”
The better choice is to say, “You can do
what you want except for the areas
where I place some restrictions.”

37.
Delegation levels are applied to key decision areas. The
“right” level of delegation is a balancing act. It depends
on a team’s maturity level and the impact of its decisions.
Delegation is context-dependent.

38.
A delegation board enables management to clarify delegation
and foster empowerment for both management and workers.

39.
Delegation increases status, power, and
control. A system with distributed control
has a better chance of survival than a
system with centralized control.

40.
As a manager, I don’t manage
people, I manage the system.
And I don’t empower our
workers, I empower the
organization.

41.
Management 3.0 is not another framework, it’s a mindset, combined
with an ever-changing collecEon of games, tools, and pracEces to help
any worker manage the organizaEon. It’s a way of looking at work
systems.
Management 3.0 examines how to analyze that system to come up with
the right soluEons for be[er leadership across organizaEons.
Management 3.0 FoundaEon Workshops are all about principles and
pracEces. Combining the best of classical thinking with a fresh approach
and new insights. All embedded in a social context and in the networked
businesses we work in today.

42.
Book your Management 3.0 Workshop today and improve your
Leadership Skills.
Visit www.management30.com
info@management30.com
www.management30.com