According to research, empowerment is the single biggest driver of team performance. 25% of performance can be attributed to this one factor.
When we think about what makes a team successful, we often focus on skills, resources, or the presence of a charismatic leader. However, research shows that one of the most significant drivers of team performance is something more foundational: empowerment. This single factor can account for up to 25% of a team’s performance.
These outcomes are influenced by the three key components of empowerment: authority, ability, and accountability. Today, we’ll explore what empowerment means, how it impacts your team, and practical steps you can take to foster it.
What is empowerment?
Empowerment is the sense of control an individual feels, which drives motivation at work. In a team context, empowerment means team members have meaning in their work, have a choice in what they do, believe in their ability to succeed, and feel they can influence outcomes that matter.
A leader who wants to empower her team must do more than grant decision-making freedom or assign greater responsibilities. Empowerment emerges from the team and organisation’s structure and culture — how work is structured, what support is available, the level of trust within the team, and more. We’ll explore these elements and focus on three practical components: ability, authority, and accountability. But first, let’s discuss why engagement matters.
Why does it matter?
A decade-long review of team effectiveness by J. E. Mathieu and colleagues found empowerment had the strongest impact on team performance, out of thirty factors studied. Empowerment accounts for up to 25% of team performance. This factor led to direct increases in job satisfaction, innovation, and creativity, as well as lower levels of turnover and disengagement. So, what makes empowerment happen?
The structural foundations of empowerment
Empowerment doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s deeply rooted in the structure of the team and the organisation. Factors that influence empowerment include:
- Clear roles and responsibilities: When team members know what is expected of them and understand their specific contributions to the team’s goals, they are more likely to feel empowered to take action.
- Work design: Work designed to be meaningful and challenging encourages team members to take ownership of their tasks. Jobs that offer variety, significance, autonomy, and feedback are more likely to empower team members.
- Team member characteristics: Individual attributes such as self-efficacy, motivation, and competence play a significant role in empowerment. Team members who are confident in their abilities and motivated to achieve the team’s goals are more likely to feel empowered.
The influence of social and cultural factors
Beyond the structural elements, social factors within the team and the broader organisation also influence empowerment:
- Organisational support: Empowerment is reinforced when the team has the organisation’s support. This includes access to resources, support from other departments, and recognition of the team’s contributions.
- High-performance management practices: Practices that emphasise high performance, such as setting challenging goals, providing continuous feedback, and recognising achievements, contribute to a culture of empowerment.
Practically, there are three areas that a leader can focus on to empower her team.
A practical definition of empowerment
Empowerment can be divided into three practical components: ability, authority, and accountability. When a team scores highly in these areas, it is more likely to achieve the positive outcomes associated with empowerment.
- Ability: Does the team have the skills and mindset to handle the work?
- Authority: Are they allowed to make decisions?
- Accountability: Do they own their processes and continuously improve them?
Ability: Can they handle the work?
Ability measures whether a team can handle work on their own. No team can feel empowered when they’re struggling to complete their work. Rather than considering only technical skills, you can think of ability in terms of two components: skill and will. Skill is competence in the traditional sense. When your team has the proper knowledge and capabilities to complete their tasks, they have skill. Will is a mindset. A team that believes in its purpose has will.
Authority: Are they allowed to make decisions?
Authority means being able to make decisions without prior approval and without being overruled. Like the other factors, authority is a sliding scale: in a low authority team, members might submit their work to you for approval, while in a high authority team, they may decide what work needs to be done and how they’ll do it. When you delegate, you grant authority.
Accountability: Do they own their processes?
Accountability goes beyond task completion; it’s about owning and continuously improving the processes that drive the team’s work. For example, team members might suggest and implement changes to how retrospectives are run, or they might take turns leading projects. An empowered team is invested in improving how they work.
How can I empower my team?
The short answer: Focus on ability, authority, and accountability.
The long answer…
Empowerment requires deliberate and ongoing effort to create the right environment, provide support, and build trust in your team. Some factors, such as organisational support and individual characteristics, are difficult to change. But you can affect your team’s level of authority, ability, and accountability. Here are some suggestions to get you started on empowering your team.
How to grow your team’s ability
Ability is the most straightforward empowerment factor to improve, yet many managers take a narrow view of how to do so. Formal skills training is only one element. Remember the two components of ability, namely skill and will. To develop skill:
- Delegate: Assign tasks that match or slightly exceed your employee’s skills so they can learn through doing. Delegation is primarily a tool for growth, not a way for you to offload unwanted tasks.
- Train: Provide formal opportunities for your team to build skills (such as conferences, courses, or coaches) or up-skill them through mentorship.
To improve your team’s will:
- Inspire: Share a vision with your team. Help them develop a sense of purpose in their work.
- Support: Ask what your employees need from you. Show that you care about them as people through your 1:1s.
How to develop your team’s authority
Authority means being able to make decisions without being overruled. The most straightforward way to develop your team’s authority is to delegate. You can delegate tasks and projects to products and functional areas. Different employees and tasks require different approaches to how you delegate. Meet people where they are. You can delegate tasks to your team at five levels of increasing responsibility:
- Gather facts.
- Suggest options.
- Make a decision, then wait for your response.
- Make a decision, then let you know the outcome.
- Own the situation.
Expand their decision-making scope as your team gains confidence and competence with the work. Start small.
How to increase your team’s accountability
Remember that accountability is process ownership. You can help grow accountability by defining processes that can be owned and improved. For example, you might set up a simple system of daily standups, weekly team bonding time, and fortnightly retros. Your team can then take ownership of these processes and improve upon them.
Consider these four areas of process:
- People: Who does what and how they’ll grow. This also involves scheduling and allocating work, as well as managing culture.
- Leadership: Setting goals and communicating with external leaders. All groups need leadership, so team members take on leadership roles.
- Operations: How the work is done, ensuring a quality product, deciding what tools to use.
- Continuous improvement: A meta-process for improving all other processes. Think: running retros, measuring success, and using that information to be better next time.
Encourage your team to own these areas. Create processes to improve, establish an environment where team members want to improve their work, and then let them do so.
The bottom line for empowerment
Empowerment is more than a nice-to-have — it drives team performance. When done right, growing an empowered team leads to higher goal achievement, greater individual growth, and more time for you as a leader to think strategically. Empowering your team should be a primary aim. Remember: focus on ability, authority, and accountability.