Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
-Vol. 12/08
January 2012 MONTHLY ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP DOZE Quotation for the month
Conscience is an open wound; only truth can heal it Uthman Dan Fodio Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time; vision with action can change the world Joel Barker
Empowerment Defined:
Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social, racial, educational, gender or economic strength of individuals and groups/communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their (own) capacities. This is the definition offered by Wikipedia. The term empowerment covers a vast landscape of meanings, interpretations, definitions and disciplines ranging from psychology and philosophy to the highly commercialized self-help industry and motivational sciences. Sociological empowerment often addresses members of groups that social discrimination processes have excluded from decision-making processes through - for example 1 - The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs & Leaders (ITEL) Jan 2012 Newsletter.
discrimination based on disability, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Empowerment as a methodology is often associated with feminism (gender empowerment). Economic
empowerment has to do with equipping the people with relevant marketable skills, knowledge, techniques, competencies and motivation to increase their productivity and relevance in todays business world.
When people are not empowered they likely become marginalized. Marginalized people who lack self-sufficiency become, at a minimum, dependent on charity, or welfare. They lose their self-confidence because they cannot be fully self-supporting. The opportunities denied them also deprive them of the pride of accomplishment which others, who have those opportunities, can develop for themselves. This in turn can lead to psychological, social and even mental health problems. Empowerment, in this perspective, is then the process of obtaining these fundamental or basic opportunities for marginalized people, either directly by those people, or through the help of non-marginalized others who share their own access to these opportunities. It also includes actively thwarting attempts to deny those opportunities. Empowerment also includes encouraging, and developing the skills for self-sufficiency, with a focus on eliminating the future need for charity or welfare in the individuals/groups.
Empowerment in management is required by both the leaders and team members. It is a cuttingedge technology that provides both the strategic advantage companies are seeking and the opportunity people are seeking. It is the means of involving team members as business partners in determining company success or failure (which today is defined as being simultaneously customer driven, cost effective, fast and flexible, and continuously improving).
2 - The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs & Leaders (ITEL) Jan 2012 Newsletter.
These pressures from the customers must be managed in light of the need to remain profitable. There is always the danger of providing what the customer wants while undercutting margins to the point of risking company viability. The forces of change brought about on by global competition, new technologies, and customer mind shifts mean that whatever was outstanding last year may be ordinary this year. The bar is continually being raised, and unless your company and its people can jump over it, a competitor will gladly take your place. The members of todays work force are quite different from those of the past. They have a tremendous potential for growth and development but impatience for controlling their own destinies. There is an ongoing need to create greater trust between team members and leaders so that people can and will put forth their best efforts to act with responsibility in a context of freedom and so that leaders can and will allow their team members to act with responsibility and freedom.
Interim Note
No doubt, the source of these difficulties lies in the tremendous shift in thinking that is needed by both leaders and team members. Empowerment challenges many of the most basic assumptions 3 - The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs & Leaders (ITEL) Jan 2012 Newsletter.
about organisations that leaders and team members have come to accept as fact. The kind of thinking that led to individual and corporate success in the past is no longer valid in the world of empowerment. Attitudes, behaviours, practices, and ways of relating must change for an organisation and its team members and leaders to be empowered. In the next month newsletter, we shall provide in-depth descriptions of the actions that have to be taken to successfully navigate the difficult journey to empowerment. In the process, we shall examine briefly the three keys to empowerment: (1) Share Information with everyone; (2) Create autonomy through boundaries and (3) Teams become the hierarchy. We shall also discuss the three stages in the process of changing to empowerment: (1) Starting and orienting the journey (2) Change and discouragement and (3) Adopting and refining empowerment. We sincerely expect your comments or reactions to this write-up to further our understanding
2.
4.
Induction of New members: We need to extend our hands of relationship to our friends/colleagues/associates to become members of our great Institute. You can download our membership form/s for them. You are challenged to bring at least five new members to the fold as induction date will be announced in due course. REGISTER NOW! Fill the attached membership form, process accordingly and send to the Registrar at the address below. You are welcome!
Courtesy of The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs and Leaders (ITEL) in conjunction with TERRY KENDALL Leadership Academy. The Registrar/CEO The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs and Leaders (ITEL) st 4, Jibowu Street, 1 Floor, Off Ikorodu Road, Behind Ekene Dili Chukwu Transport, Jibowu-Yaba, Lagos O8033060594, 08173060594, 08051154486 Website: www.itelng.com Email:theitelnigeria@yahoo.com; ralphmuyiwaoni@yahoo.com
4 - The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs & Leaders (ITEL) Jan 2012 Newsletter.
5 - The Institute of Transformational Entrepreneurs & Leaders (ITEL) Jan 2012 Newsletter.