Part 1 Types of Teams
Part 2 Team Key Elements and Keys to Success
Part 3 The Decision Making Process
Developing Empowerment and Boundary Management
Empowerment is a form of decision making. It involves individual and not team decisions. Ownership of the business, for clarity purposes must formally approve the overall Empowerment of each High Performance Team. The team in turn determines individual empowerment and boundaries.
Define what the power is
The key issue is what the team is empowered to do without Ownership approval. Additionally what levels of empowerment are allocated to core areas of the business; namely Sales, Marketing, Operations and Finance.
Who has it?
Who are the members and how many will there be? Will therd be an advisory member? Who will be the Team Leader? What skill sets reside on the Team and what level of empowerment is given?
Boundary Management
Ownership needs to define Where it starts (Boundary) and Where it ends (Boundary). Once overall boundaries are defined each member of the High Performance Team will be identified for one or two areas of key strengths. Inevitably tasks and responsibilities will be passed along to another person. Therefore the team will set internal boundary definitions of Start and End.
A plan for Boundary Management within the team should consist of:
- Method(s) for negotiating constraints
- Agreeing on constraints
- Which team members are free to make decisions on their own
The Empowerment Grid is a simple and effective tool to keep High Performance teams performing! Download The Empowerment Grid and see how easy it is to use. The grid should be developed by the team and used regularly to track performance. The grid consists of four constraints/parameters to answer the question of “how are we going to do this?”
- It explicitly states what each team member has the authority to do.
- If it is not stated explicitly, the team member must consult with others before acting
- The leader creates a target for each constraint
The Objective is set by Ownership
The Constraints in each box are initially set by the team leader. The Constraints are then negotiated with the team. As things change, the Grid forces the members to go back and check the validity of each constraint. The grid allows each team member to know what lengths they must go to without asking for permission. The grid helps define boundaries and provide the Joint Accountability necessary for obtaining high performance.
Summary
Family Businesses consist of Economic, Human and Intellectual Capital. Families by their makeup are natural High Performance Teams. High Performance Teams capitalize on obtaining the best of the Human and Intellectual Capital through Empowerment and clearly defined Boundary Management.
I urge you to try this in your family business to during these tough times to insure your business is there for the next generation.
All the best!
Dom Celentano
Tips on Running a Family Business
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