INTERACTIVE self-assessment.
As a manager or senior leader, you have a key role to play in ensuring that your team operates at peak productivity and efficiency. Ensuring there is an appropriate balance between empowerment and control is one way of doing this. The benefits include more effective decision-making, continuous improvement and innovation, as well as increased productivity, motivation and commitment. With an empowered team, you’ll have more time to focus on strategic issues and long-term issues. Take this test to find out how you’re doing when it comes to empowering your team, and to pinpoint the areas you can work on to help your team flourish.
Task
Read each question below and circle the answer that most closely resembles your real life response. To obtain a true picture, it is important that you are as honest as possible in your responses.
Calculate your score using the table at the end. Then read the appropriate description at the end of the test to identify your approach to team empowerment.
To make some improvements, you could try implementing some of the suggestions provided and gradually build them into your overall approach.
1. When it comes to setting performance objectives and development plans for your team members, do you:
A: Find it easier to define each team member’s performance objectives and development plans yourself, without much input from them.
B: Work with your team to shape their performance objectives and development plans, refining objectives and suggesting new ideas as you go.
C: Ask your team to come up with a comprehensive list of their own ideas, which you then sign off.
D: Find that although both parties bring ideas to the table, you end up to-ing and fro-ing before agreement is reached.
2. Thinking about the direction and guidance you provide to your team, do your team members:
A: Have a set of clearly established guidelines, expectations and standards to which they can refer.
B: Ask you to provide them with clarification on fundamental ‘big picture’ areas such as team goals and overall direction.
C: Regularly come to you for input into straightforward decisions or to ask to make minor improvements to working processes.
D: Work in an ad-hoc fashion – your philosophy is that the best way of doing something becomes clear when people try different ways of doing it.
3. In terms of your team members’ participation in meetings and projects:
A: They are quite unresponsive when it comes to sharing ideas and suggestions.
B: Some team members need to be prompted by you for their views, ideas and opinions.
C: Team members are generally good at voicing what they think, and can do so with confidence.
D: Team members take a highly proactive and participative role, so much so that you can often take a back seat.
4. Think of the last time you saw a team member embark on a course of action that you knew would fail, or cause problems for a client or customer. Did you:
A: Gently intervene using a coaching perspective to help the employee consider different options and guide them towards a better approach.
B: Take over yourself – you don’t want things to turn out badly and upset the client or customer.
C: Let them. Making mistakes is the only way that people will learn what not to do.
D: Take over yourself – but have the employee watch how you dealt with it so they could improve their approach next time.
5. Thinking about current levels of morale in your team, would you say:
A: Morale seems to be at an all-time low, but you just can’t put your finger on why this might be the case.
B: Spirits are high, as your team tell you that they feel happy and engaged in their work.
C: Things are generally ticking along and you don’t have any major causes for concern.
D: Like any team, you have good times and bad times; however, you feel there have been more bad times recently.
6. How would you say that tacit knowledge is used within your team?
A: People tend to hoard knowledge and are generally reticent when it comes to sharing what they know with others.
B: Team members will share their knowledge when you ask them to do it.
C: Team members regularly pool their knowledge and help each other to complete tasks and solve problems.
D: Team members only really come together and pool their knowledge in a crisis situation.
7. The last time a team member came to you with a great new idea to improve the way the team works, did you:
A: Think to yourself ‘that’s a great idea’ but fail to do anything about it, as it kept slipping to the bottom of your ‘to do’ list.
B: Do all you could to implement the new idea, and thank your team member for their efforts.
C: Implement the idea, but feel some resistance about putting someone else’s idea into practice – you were worried about how it might work out in the longer-term.
D: Do nothing. You don’t really encourage people to challenge the way things are done in your team.
8. The last time a member of your team made a mistake, their response was typically:
A: To try and solve the problem on their own without involving anyone else.
B: To come to you immediately and pass the problem on.
C: To work with their colleagues to try to find a solution that works for everyone.
D: To hide the problem and cover their tracks so blame could not be apportioned to them directly.
9. On the last few occasions when you needed to make a significant decision that affected your team considerably, did you mostly:
A: Give everyone the opportunity to give their input to the decision, not just the most vocal people in your team.
B: Canvass feedback from a couple of people in the team.
C: Feel confident that you could make the decision yourself without needing to bother your team with the details.
D: Solicit ideas and feedback from your team although you already knew in your mind what decision you would make.
10. When it comes to rewarding and recognising your team’s efforts, do you:
A: Tend to single out the same people for praise.
B: Make a point of recognising the contributions of all members of the team.
C: Feel you could do more, as your team are always asking you for feedback in their performance review meetings.
D: Feel that because your team do a great job already, there’s no need for you to give them positive feedback.
Scoring Table
Question 1 a. 1 point b. 4 points c. 2 points d. 3 points | Question 2 a. 4 points b. 2 points c. 3 points d. 1 point | Question 3 a. 1 point b. 2 points c. 3 points d. 4 points | Question 4 a. 4 points b. 2 points c. 1 point d. 3 points | Question 5 a. 1 point b. 4 points c. 3 points d. 2 points |
Question 6 a. 1 point b. 2 points c. 3 points d. 4 points | Question 7 a. 2 points b. 4 points c. 3 points d. 1 point | Question 8 a. 3 points b. 2 points c. 4 points d. 1 point | Question 9 a. 4 points b. 3 points c. 1 point d. 2 points | Question 10 a. 2 points b. 4 points c. 3 points d. 1 point |
Interpretation and Action
10 – 20 points – Need to work harder
Your responses indicate that you will need to work hard to improve your approach to empowering your team. It may be that the concept is quite new to you, or that you have not been involved in team empowerment for some time. To help you get started, you may find it helpful to speak to your line manager to find out about any support that might be available within your organisation (e.g. coaching and mentoring from more experienced managers). You could also speak to your organisation's staff development or HR team for advice. You may be able to shadow a more seasoned team leader to pick up tips on their approach to empowering their team.
You can also improve your knowledge of team empowerment by reading up on the subject. Consider undertaking some research to improve your knowledge. A wide range of books, journals and internet resources are available, and you should make full use of these.
21 to 28 points – Some way to go
Your responses indicate that you’ve still got some way to go before your team becomes fully empowered. Perhaps you’ve just started thinking about how best to empower your team or you’ve recently started managing a new team. Key areas you should focus on include:
Clearly defining the team’s goals and working practices.
Adopting the role of coach, where you gradually allow team members to take greater responsibility for their work, while providing advice and support as it is needed.
Giving ongoing feedback to boost confidence and offer encouragement.
Helping your team develop the relationships and lines of communication they need to operate successfully within your organisation.
29 to 36 points – Well on the way
Good work. Your team is well on the way to becoming fully empowered, but you need to keep up the momentum of your efforts so far. If you haven’t done so already, ensure that everyone participates fully in all aspects of the team’s working life. This should include:
making a proactive contribution to team meetings and projects.
setting performance standards (both individual and for the team).
sharing their knowledge freely.
giving input to decisions which affect the team.
37 to 40 points – Top marks
Well done. You have given your team the authority, responsibility and accountability they need to self-manage their work effectively within clearly set parameters. Keep up the good work by continuing to act as their coach and mentor, providing support and guidance rather than micro-management. This approach will help your team develop the confidence, skills and working relationships they need to take personal responsibility for achieving their goals.
If you are a seasoned team leader with plenty of experience in how to empower a team, you might consider sharing your knowledge by offering to coach or mentor less experienced managers in your organisation. Managers who are new to empowerment can find the transition difficult, and may be looking for support as they start to hand over responsibility to their team. You can help by offering reassurance and feedback on individual performance.
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