Hey Articles!Article Directory & Elite Resources

This entire article serves to describe and detail the effectiveness of implementing a philosophy of shared leadership involving the practices of accountability, ownership, empowerment and communication.

Create the Right Culture:

Construction of the right workplace environment and team

People in every workplace talk about team building, working as a team, and “my team”, but few understand how to create the experience of team building or how to develop an effective team. Many view teams as the best organization design for involving all employees in creating business success and profitability.

Employee empowerment is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee empowerment is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations. Rather, employee empowerment is a management and leadership philosophy about how people are most enabled to contribute to continuous improvement and the ongoing success of their work organization. Employee empowerment however should be the goal and there are many tools to which management can empower employees and make the philosophy into action items for the benefit of all.

Employee ownership is a strategy and philosophy that enables employees to make decisions about their jobs. Employee ownership helps employees own their work and take responsibility for their results. Employee ownership helps employees serve customers at the level of the organization where the customer interface exists.

Employee accountability, the expectation of individuals to not only be accountable for results but also for building a high-performing team and for the functioning of that team. In the process of team members holding individual peers accountable, the teams will be held accountable, too. It is not an option for team members to drag their feet and resist an individual’s effort. Without accountability everything possible to help that individual become an effective team member is worked towards only the individual. We cannot accomplish what we want to accomplish in the future if we don’t help each other. Accountability is an expectation of team members to roll up their sleeves and get involved. When everyone is involved and committed, shared leadership will be created.

The support and participation of upper management in every level of this process is critical.

Company executives must be willing to move to a shared-leadership model that involves all employees in developing and enacting a common vision. Executives must be comfortable receiving constructive feedback from employees about what’s working and not working within the company. And, finally, those that run the company must commit the time required for teams of employees to work on improving the company’s internal communications. In our experience, what seems initially to be time away from daily work is in fact an investment in the development of a positive, forward-looking organizational energy that yields long-term productivity. Creating a climate for positive change within a company begins with courageous and committed executives who are open, flexible and responsive – who are they, themselves willing to take a risk.

This article has six (6) parts in its entirety. Part two (2) of this article is entitled “Managing Everybody Else: Shared Leadership – Accountability”

Image by Getty Images via Daylife