Empowering: Why Empowerment Stalls
“...there are only three things we can do that will create lasting change: Have an epiphany, change our environment, or change our habits in tiny ways.”
One of the most powerful forces in innovation is an empowered product team. When this is set up successfully, it’s transformational for teams and leaders alike.
This setup drives team engagement to do their best work, directly addressing autonomy, mastery and purpose aka the “three pillars of intrinsic motivation.”
These teams are closer to their specific problem space than leaders who are spread thin. A focused team comes up with better solutions and outcomes. They act with more urgency, ownership and accountability.
Leaders can focus on leadership. They can set strategic direction, improve their overall organization and support their team’s success.
Empowerment is both coveted and rare. Everyone wants it, but few attain it.
I hear this frequently when talking to product people:
From product teams:
“We could do so much more, but our leadership doesn’t trust us.”
“Leaders tell us what to build, and our job is to hit the date.”
“If I try something and it doesn’t work, my manager is unhappy. It’s safer just to execute their plan.”
From product leaders:
“I don’t want to micromanage my team, but I can’t afford to let them make mistakes.”
“They aren’t ready to take on more, and I’m too busy keeping things running to coach them.”
“Our company expects me to be in the details and roll up my sleeves.”
Both sides are stuck because they don’t know how to take the first step to change things. Often, they are too busy to even try. Empowerment remains desirable, aspirational… and unattainable.
It doesn’t have to be this way. You can’t just announce empowerment, but need to treat it like a new organizational habit to build. As with other habits, the secret is to start by thinking small.
Overcoming Resistance
The “formula for change” lays out the conditions for successful organizational change programs. This comes from David Gleicher, revised by others such as Kathie Dannemiller and Steve Cady:
R < D × V × F × S
D = dissatisfaction with the status quo, or alternatively a desire for change
V = vision for how things could be better
F = first steps that can be taken
S = support for follow-through
R = resistance to change
If resistance to change is stronger than the product of the others, change doesn’t happen. Because the other parts are multiplied, if any are absent or close to zero then change doesn’t happen.
Dissatisfaction and vision are usually not the problem. People are clearly dissatisfied, as people don’t like being micromanaged and managers are overloaded. Marty Cagan’s book Empowered lays out a compelling vision for the benefits of empowered teams. This is harder if the group has never seen the benefits firsthand, but even a few positive examples or external case studies help.
Biting Off More Than They Can Chew
Where most teams get stuck is on first steps (F) and maintaining support (S) for follow-through. These are closely connected, especially if the team is trying to do too much at once. Big first steps are inherently risky, so they struggle to earn support in the first place. If they don’t succeed, the bigger miss erodes the support needed to try again. Knowing this, teams talk themselves out of trying anything.
We know the “big bang” approach is wrong in other areas, including innovation, fitness and gaming:
A product vision isn’t achieved with a large waterfall project. It happens one sprint at a time through an agile approach with smaller milestones and iterative development.
A runner can’t complete a marathon from a single run. They need to build a running habit and fitness, then gradually increase mileage.
A gamer can’t defeat the boss in their first session. They start at level 1, learn the rules, master the controls and then move onto level 2.
Starting Small
The answer here is to “dream big but start small.” You can still aim for significant change, but be pragmatic about your approach. Don’t try to implement empowerment with a single action, but rather break it into more manageable, comfortable and sustainable changes.
Small first steps help overcome resistance and build momentum: lower risk changes earn easier support; and if there are smaller failures, they don't deplete the trust required to keep going.
I think of this as a behavior design problem. The highest chance of success is by beginning with smaller, intentional steps and then building from there. Empowerment can be a gradual process, with both leaders and their teams doing their parts.
It's also an agile problem. Core agile principles apply directly here: build around motivated individuals and give them the support they need, then tune and adjust at regular intervals. Treating empowerment as a single rollout is the organizational version of a big-bang launch – and often blows up in your face.
Management creates the overall conditions for the teams to begin doing more, then provides support and reinforcement. The team needs to make small changes, which build habits, which improve capabilities, which increase trust. They are complementary actions which reinforce each other.
It has to feel like a safe bet for managers to step back, and a chance to succeed for teams to lean in. Those work in concert with each other. Empowerment doesn't arrive all at once. Like a crescendo, it builds.
In the next post, I’ll discuss the role of leaders in enabling increased empowerment. After that, I’ll talk about how teams can accelerate their own growth, get better results and increase trust.
This is the first in a three-part series on building empowered product teams. Follow along on my blog by subscribing below or following me on LinkedIn for the next two posts.
If you’d like to chat about how to increase empowerment in your product team or improve performance in general, set up time to talk.
