# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Discussing the concept of "empowerment" with organizational leaders often exposes an interesting dichotomy: While leaders often support empowering teams, they're occasionally wary of empowering individuals. Empowered teams, the thinking goes, are innovative and agile-but empowered individuals are obstinate and rebellious. So asking senior leaders to invest in efforts to empower individual contributors could potentially sound like a request to equip everyone with a blowtorch and a machete.

Let's take a look at some possible roots of this apprehension regarding employee empowerment initiatives and discuss what we can do to help shift that perception. To do that, we'll need to define more specifically the notion of "empowerment" in this context. Then let's explore how managers can use situational leadership techniques to navigate the complexities of helping every individual reach his or her potential.

Beyond engagement

In 2016, I established an associate engagement program with the goal of ensuring every associate in our department understood how his or her work contributed to the success of our team, top-level function, and company. "Engagement" was all the rage in business articles that year, and I put considerable effort into making the distinction between engagement and satisfaction. Yes, I said, parties and t-shirts and cake-pops are fun and can play an important role in fostering recognition and team-building and overall satisfaction, but engagement is about more. Engagement is about helping people find the purpose and meaning in work that might at times feel pointless and boring, especially when you're far, far down on the organizational chart and don't always have the clear, big-picture connections that might otherwise help you understand how that seemingly minor support ticket you just triaged eventually saved the company $5 million in renewal revenue.

But by the time my department was ready to start planning for 2017, we realized that what we were after went beyond engagement; while we wanted everyone to understand their contributions to our collective success, we also wanted to empower them with access to all the information, training, tools, and connections to people and other teams that they need to do their best work, as well as a safe environment in which to do that work so they felt comfortable making their own decisions. To more accurately reflect our objective, our director suggested we change the name of our program from associate engagement to associate empowerment.

The goal of empowerment

One of the best illustrations of the concept of empowerment comes from General Stanley McChrystal's book Team of Teams (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Reproduced from Team of Teams
The left side of the diagram depicts the current state of things: The problems we face are complex, and market demands in the age of digital transformation can change rapidly. No individual or team team can afford to operate in isolation if we have any hope of keeping pace, because we're all so interdependent.

The way through (depicted on the right of the diagram) is to continually adapt. At the size and scale most organizations operate, the way to become adaptable is for leaders to create a shared sense of consciousness so that individuals feel empowered to act on their behalf, when and where appropriate. Individual contributors shouldn't have to wait for three levels of managerial approval before working on a feature or sending out a slide deck; everyone should have all of the information, training, tools, and connections they need in order to know what to do (or what not to do) in the context of each moment to help their team and company succeed. In other words, leaders should build other leaders who can carry out their vision.

All of this is possible only with a core of genuine trust and a sense of a common purpose. A lack of one can lead to a lack of the other-and without either, you can forget about empowerment.

And in the center of the diagram are the words TRUST AND COMMON PURPOSE. These words are in bold for a reason. All of this is possible only with a core of genuine trust and a sense of a common purpose. A lack of one can lead to a lack of the other-and without either, you can forget about empowerment.

What do you mean, "don't need approval"?

Let's return to this sentence, which might hint at the root of some of the anxiety around empowerment initiatives: "Individual contributors shouldn't have to wait for three levels of managerial approval before working on a feature or sending out a slide deck; everyone should have all of the information, training, tools, and connections they need in order to know what to do (or what not to do) in the context of each moment to help their team and company succeed."

We see two potentially polarizing concepts here: first, that individual contributors don't need approval before publishing work (fear: employees gone wild!) and, second, that individual contributors should have access to the same information that a leader does (fear: loss of power and control!). And these fears might be valid if not for that all-important core of trust and common purpose.

Having a sense of common purpose means that your team has a clear vision (i.e., where you want to be in the future), mission (i.e., how you're going to get there), and objectives (i.e., what you're going to do). It also means that everyone has clearly defined roles and expectations so they understand which piece they are in the collective organizational puzzle and how they fit together and support each other to meet the shared objectives. Individuals empowered with all of this context won't need to ask approval for everything because they'll know what their leader and team would want them to do-direct orders from above give way to guidelines and best practices. And the leader is there to coach them if they ever veer off course.

Of course, trust enables all of this. Trust eliminates feelings of competition, especially when people clearly understand roles and expectations, and everyone is sharing information transparently. Without trust from their leaders and access to information relevant to their roles, people feel forced to spend most of their time seeking (often struggling) to find answers to questions rather than being valuable contributors to their team. And without a common purpose to rally behind, individual contributors are never able to define clear objectives-because they don't know which direction to face. From the outside, these individuals look like poor performers because they can't help realize a vision that hasn't been articulated clearly. Nobody wins.

Encouraging a mindset shift

Our conversations about management theory tend to start with explanations of modern management's origins on factory floors as means of maximizing output. As the type of work we do has shifted from mostly manual tasks (e.g., assembling widgets on the factory line) to knowledge work (e.g., building software or a website), styles of management must shift as well. After all, you can't force a knowledge worker into creating original output for a full eight hours straight five days a week-our brains just don't work that way. Knowledge workers need more support than command-and-control management styles can provide. But even in the context of knowledge work, we can't apply the exact same style of management to every individual. For example, you shouldn't hire someone fresh out of college and expect that person to understand how to translate a corporate vision into action on day one and then send them off, trusting them to figure out the best way to fill their responsibilities.

Enter situational leadership, a method for meeting individuals where they are in order to help them achieve their potential. The official "situational leadership theory" model from Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard has received varying degrees of criticism over the years, but the basic concept remains valid: Different management styles are appropriate for different situations and different individuals. For example, someone just beginning a career might need more direct tasking than someone who's been with a company for a decade. The latter, however, might need general guidance and then generous freedom to explore different problem spaces and find ways to contribute the most value. What's important is that we encourage both managers and individual contributors to shift their mindsets in favor of empowerment.

Figure 2 shows the additive nature of activity states as an organization moves from managed to empowered.
Figure 2: Organizational activity states from managed to empowered (courtesy of Allison Matlack CC BY-SA)
All teams are managed-whether they've stretched to empowerment or not. What changes as an organization becomes empowered is what that management looks like.

Starting out, managers supervise and direct people on a more granular task level (much like in the factories where modern management originated). Some teams-usually in organizations like sales or support-have enablement functions, which provide a central place for resources, training and development, and common messaging. In an extremely basic sense, at the level of enablement the goal is to make sure everyone has what they need to do their jobs. As the organization becomes empowered, management looks more like coaching, advocacy, and ensuring everyone understands the common purpose and how they contribute so they feel able to make decisions and act as appropriate in each moment.

Where we'd like to be is empowered: Everyone has what they need in order to do the best version of the job they were hired to do, and individuals can act more autonomously because they understand their team's common purpose and have the trust of their leader to do what they think is best in each moment.

Where we'd like to be is empowered: Everyone has what they need in order to do the best version of the job they were hired to do, and individuals can act more autonomously because they understand their team's common purpose and have the trust of their leader to do what they think is best in each moment. Leaders can then be free to do what they were hired to do, which is to clear blockers, set the overall vision and direction, and inspire us (and, of course, all the paperwork; bless you, managers).

Trust is the core

When we talk about empowering employees, we're not talking about giving everyone carte blanche to do whatever they want to do. Nor are we talking about flattening the organization and removing people managers. What we are talking about is making sure that everyone is in the right role for them (depending on their passions and talents and the needs of the organization); that they understand their leader's strategy and vision; and that they have access to relevant information, training, tools, and connections with different people and teams to perform the best version of that role. By setting a clear sense of purpose and clearly defining roles and expectations, leaders can then trust the experts on their teams to bring their visions to life.

Read this next

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Beyond engagement: What leaders need to know about empowering others

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discussing the concept of "empowerment" with organizational leaders often exposes an interesting dichotomy: While leaders often support empowering teams, they're occasionally wary of empowering individuals. Empowered teams, the thinking goes, are innovative and agile-but empowered individuals are obstinate and rebellious.

# data[].attributes.headline
Opensource.com - the open schooling, documentation, governance and IT website

# data[].attributes.subject
Opensource.com - the open schooling, documentation, governance and IT website

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Join the open organization community conversation about open organizational design and culture. Read more about the ways open principles like transparency, collaboration, and community are changing the way we work, manage, and lead-then submit your own story.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bring the global TED experience to your community through a combination of live speakers and TED Talk videos.

Attend a TEDx event near you featuring live speakers and TED Talk videos, sparking conversation and connections.

When you support the TEDx program, you enable our efforts to empower and grow the global TEDx community of volunteers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.

# data[].attributes.headline
In Finland we are following the Open Research and Science trends

# data[].attributes.subject
In Finland we are following the Open Research and Science trends

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 2017, most of the Finnish universities have published their data policies. The Finnish Social Science Data Archive provides a single point of access to a wide range of digital research data for learning, teaching and research purposes. The FIN-CLARIN consortium offers the services of the Language Bank of Finland and Open Science and Research Initiative offers a wide range of services.

# data[].attributes.headline
And they know about all global issues on copyright 

# data[].attributes.subject
And they know about all global issues on copyright 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"IP rights play a major role in our business through creating a strong foundation that provides us with confidence and security. IP also protects our business logo and product designs from being copied." - Lulwa AbdulRahman ALMannai, founder of LAM Leather Bags;
Read this inspiring story

WIPO Director General Daren Tang welcomes Ecuador's accession to the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances ( photo on Flickr)

WIPO's global IP systems and other services are continuing operations, with most staff working remotely. Updates can be found via this central repository.

We provide IP services that encourage individuals and businesses to innovate and create. The WIPO IP Portal is a one-stop shop for global IP services.

We provide the data and economic intelligence that enable strategic decisions, and artificial intelligence tools that enrich IP services and administration.

IP databases

(Photo: gettyimages/monsitj)

international and national patent documents.

records of national IP laws and treaties of some countries.

Artificial intelligence tools

(Image: WIPO)

Insight and analysis

(Photo: iStock.com/© NicoElNino)

We bring stakeholders together to develop global IP agreements. Follow policy discussions and negotiations on the future development of IP in our standing committees and meetings.

The 62 nd series of meetings of the Assemblies will take place in Geneva from October 4 to 8, 2021.

We help countries, businesses and individuals collaborate on using IP to improve lives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
WIPO - World Intellectual Property Organization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"IP rights play a major role in our business through creating a strong foundation that provides us with confidence and security. IP also protects our business logo and product designs from being copied."

# data[].attributes.headline
Easiest way of being legal online - Creative Commons

# data[].attributes.subject
Easiest way of being legal online - Creative Commons

# data[].attributes.body
sharing is caring

# data[].attributes.body
In my learning process I prefer "live lessons" I like to have the opportunity to ask questions

Learning platforms are great to follow up assignments and deadlines

Facebook is getting less personal - more a plattform for events and group discussions. Therefore a good tool for fast communications i.e in the university

Clear communication channels wanted! Everyone use different channels and it gets a bit confusing sometimes

Applications on the phone great

Same goes for IRL and the digital life (thinking about learning) clear instructions for different assignments

Love using clouds to share information or to co-work on projects

Thoughtful about sharing too much - what is private and not?

Unsure about some copyright issues - what is allowed and what is not?

# data[].attributes.headline
Students' thoughts about their digital lives and learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Students' thoughts about their digital lives and learning

# data[].attributes.body
Some thoughts shared by students at ARCADA

# data[].attributes.body
- All learning needs a safe environment and a healthy classroom climate
- Teacher has to learn how to create it not only in irl but also online

How?
- Copiate what's succesful in a classroom and transfer that knowledge into a digitalized classroom climate.
- Use digital tools that are user friendly in order to encourage the students use of them (Widyahastuti, Fransiskus and Utami Tjhin, 2017).
- Create a learning space where formative instead of summative assessments is the ground rule. That in order to encourage the students curiosity and willingness to try instead of forcing them to try and be afraid to fail due to grades.
- Formative assessments could also be used as a scafolding strategy and as a teacher it also gives you the opportunite to challenge the students individualy to move on to their next proximal zone: "In order to go, you also have to leave" Ray Land qoutes Sentier (2014) in a lecture att NU2018, 181011)

# data[].attributes.headline
Learning With Google for Digital Citizenship and Participation

# data[].attributes.subject
Learning With Google for Digital Citizenship and Participation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Learn Online Marketing - Free Training Course From Google

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Free online marketing training to get the digital skills you need to grow your business, your career. Free courses from Google to become a digital expert

# data[].attributes.headline
Establish rules and guides about the use of digital tools

# data[].attributes.subject
Establish rules and guides about the use of digital tools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Official UN Social Media accounts United Nations Blog Updates from the social media team

# data[].attributes.body
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names And Numbers - manages Internet Names for entire globe

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On 16 September, the ICANN Board approved plans for the first-ever changing of the cryptographic key that helps protect the Domain Name System (DNS) - the Internet's address book. The Root Key Signing Key (KSK) Rollover is scheduled for 11 October 2018 and will mark the first time the key has been changed since it was first put in use in 2010.

# data[].attributes.body
Domestic ICT Framework
Inter-national ICT protocols

# data[].attributes.body
-digital access
-digital commerce
-digital communication
-digital literacy
-digital etiquette
-digital law
-digital rights and responsibilities
-digital health and wellness
-digital security

# data[].attributes.body
Who is ”digital me”, studding at university?
Can I manage to find the right credible information?
Can I find, learn and master all the programs I need?
Can I be a digital creative problem solver?
Is it OK to use social media for learning?
Is my computer good enough or do I need to buy new tools?
I’m totally lost and scared!
How can I be successful and keep my health during digital learning?
Please HELP me to increase my digital literacy!
I could really use some support.

# data[].attributes.body
- inculcating a culture of creative and dynamic digital learning
- Interactive , Dynamic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1.6.1 Greater diversity of students

Probably nothing has changed more in higher education over the last 50 years than the students themselves. In 'the good old days', when less than a third of students from high schools went on to higher education, most came from families who themselves had been to university or college. They usually came from wealthy or at least financially secure backgrounds. Universities in particular could be highly selective, taking students with the best academic records, and thus those most likely to succeed. Class sizes were smaller and faculty had more time to teach and less pressure to do research. Expertise in teaching, while important, was not as essential then as now; good students were in an environment where they were likely to succeed, even if the prof was not the best lecturer in the world. This 'traditional' model still holds true for most elite private universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Oxford and Cambridge, and for a number of smaller liberal arts colleges. But for the majority of publicly funded universities and two year community colleges in most developed countries, this is no longer the case (if it ever was).

In Canada, with 28 per cent of high school graduates going on to university and another 20 per cent going to two year community colleges, the student base has become much more diverse (AUCC, 2011). As state jurisdictions push institutions to participation rates of around 70 per cent going on to some form of post-secondary education (Ontario, 2011), institutions must reach out to previously underserved groups, such as ethnic minorities (particularly Afro-American and Latinos in the USA), new immigrants (in most developed countries), aboriginal students in Canada, and students with English as a second language. Governments are also pushing universities to take more international students, who can be charged full tuition fees or more, which in turn adds to the cultural and language mix. In other words, post-secondary institutions are expected to represent the same kind of socio-economic and cultural diversity as in society at large, rather than being institutions reserved for an elite minority.

We shall also see that in many developed countries, university and college students are older than they used to be and are no longer full-time students dedicated only to lots of study and some fun (or vice versa). The increasing cost of tuition fees and living expenses forces many students now to take part-time work, which inevitably conflicts with regular classroom schedules, even if the students are formally classified as full-time students. As a result students are taking longer to graduate. In the USA, the average completion time for a four year bachelors degree is now seven years ( Lumina Foundation, 2014).

1.6.2 The lifelong learning market

The Council of Ontario Universities (2012) has noted that students NOT coming direct from high school now constitute 24% of all new admissions, and enrolments from this sector are increasing faster than those from students coming direct from high schools. Perhaps more significantly, many graduates are returning later in their careers to take further courses or programs, in order to keep up in their ever-changing knowledge domain. Many of these students are working full-time, have families and are fitting their studies around their other commitments.

Yet it is economically critical to encourage and support such students, who need to remain competitive in a knowledge-based society. especially as with falling birthrates and longer lives, in some jurisdictions lifelong learners, students who have already graduated but are coming back for more study, will soon exceed the number of students coming directly from high school. Thus at the University of British Columbia in Canada, the mean age of all its graduates students is now 31, and more than one third of all students are over 24 years old. There is also an increase in students transferring from two year colleges to universities - and vice versa. For instance, in Canada, the British Columbia Institute of Technology estimates that now more than half of its new enrolments each year already have a university degree.

1.6.3 Digital natives

Another factor that makes students somewhat different today is their immersion in and facility with digital technology, and in particular social media: instant messaging, Twitter, video games, Facebook, and a whole host of applications (apps) that run on a variety of mobile devices such as iPads and mobile phones. Such students are constantly 'on'. Most students come to university or college immersed in social media, and much of their life evolves around such media. Some commentators such as Mark Prensky (2001) argue that digital natives think and learn fundamentally differently as a result of their immersion in digital media. They expect to use social media in all other aspects of their life. Why should their learning experience be different? We shall explore this further in Chapter 8, Section 2.

1.6.4 From elitism to success

Many older faculty still pine for the good old days when they were students. Even in the 1960s, when the Robbins' Commission recommended an expansion of universities in Britain, the Vice-Chancellors of the existing universities moaned 'More means worse.' However, for public universities, the Socratic ideal of a professor sharing their knowledge with a small group of devoted students under the linden tree no longer exists, except perhaps at graduate level, and is unlikely ever to return to public post-secondary institutions (except perhaps in Britain, where the Cameron government seems to be dialling back the clock to the 1950s). The massification of higher education has, to the alarm of traditionalists, opened up the academy to the great unwashed. However, we have seen that this is being done as much for economic reasons as for social mobility.

The implications of these changes in the student body for university and college teaching are profound. At one time, German math professors used to pride themselves that only five to ten per cent of their students would succeed in their exams. The difficulty level was so high that only the very best passed. A tiny completion rate showed how rigorous their teaching was. It was the students' responsibility, not the professors', to reach the level required. That may still be the goal for top level research students, but we have seen that today universities and colleges have a somewhat different purpose, and that is to ensure, as far as possible, that as many students as possible leave university appropr iately qualified for life in a knowledge-based society. We can't afford to throw away the lives of 95 per cent of students, either ethically or economically. In any case, governments are increasingly using completion rates and degrees awarded as key performance indicators that influence funding.

It is a major challenge for institutions and teachers to enable as many students as possible to succeed, given the wide diversity of the student body. More focus on teaching methods that lead to student success, more individualization of learning, and more flexible delivery are all needed to meet the challenge of an increasingly diverse student body. These developments put much more responsibility on the shoulders of teachers and instructors (as well as students), and require a much higher level of skill in teaching.

Fortunately, over the last 100 years there has been a great deal of research into how people learn, and a lot of research into teaching methods that lead to student success. Unfortunately, that research is not known or applied by the vast majority of university and college instructors, who still rely mainly on teaching methods that were perhaps appropriate when there were small classes and elite students, but are no longer appropriate today (see, for instance, Christensen Hughes and Mighty, 2010). Thus a different approach to teaching, and a better use of technology to help instructors increase their effectiveness across a diverse student body, are now needed.

Activity 1.6 Dealing with diversity

1. What changes if any have you noticed in the students you are teaching? How does this differ from my analysis?

2. Whose responsibility is it to ensure students succeed? To what extent does the diversity of students place more responsibility on teachers and instructors?

3. Do you agree that 'More means worse'? If you do, what alternatives would you suggest for higher education? How would this be paid for?

4. Does your country/state have the balance right between academic and vocational education? Do we put too much emphasis on universities and not enough on technical or vocational colleges?

References

AUCC (2011) Trends in Higher Education: Volume 1-Enrolment Ottawa ON: Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

Christensen Hughes, J. and Mighty, J. (2010) Taking Stock: Research on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press

Council of Ontario Universities (2012) Increased numbers of students heading to Ontario universities Toronto ON: COU

Lumina Foundation (2014) A Stronger Nation through Higher Education Indianapolis IN: The Lumina Foundation for Education, Inc.

Prensky, M. (2001) ' Digital natives, Digital Immigrants' On the Horizon Vol. 9, No. 5

Robbins, L. (1963) Higher Education Report London: Committee on Higher Education, HMSO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
1.6 Changing students, changing markets for higher education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Probably nothing has changed more in higher education over the last 50 years than the students themselves. In 'the good old days', when less than a third of students from high schools went on to higher education, most came from families who themselves had been to university or college.

# data[].attributes.body
- A case for blended learning
- Parental involvement - "bridging the gap between old and new

# data[].attributes.body
- Professional Development
- Meeting the needs of labour
- Productive Teaching

# data[].attributes.body
- Lack of confidence and time to engage
- Distrust of the academic benefits
- Cultural attitudes

# data[].attributes.headline
Challenges and strategies to promote digital learning

# data[].attributes.subject
Challenges and strategies to promote digital learning

# data[].attributes.headline
Engage students and staff in development activities

# data[].attributes.subject
Engage students and staff in development activities

# data[].attributes.body
- Training
- ICT support

# data[].attributes.body
- Embed digital capability into the curricullum
- Focus on digital literacies within different subject disciplines