> Literally every manager who worked for me and who has tried to empower
> others has at first made the assumption that they had spelled out the 'box
> of responsible autonomy' so thoroughly that the empowered person would do
> exactly what the manager would have done in the same circumstances.
Making sure the required understanding for a task is the same between all
people isn't as common as people seem to think. Just as you said. Even in
cases that are apparently easy to deal with, like "put the microfilm in
the correct order in the drawers", the correct order may not be evident to
someone else. The requirement may very well have to do with the meaning
that the arrangement is supposed to convey. And the meaning may not have
been mentioned. It could be that the interaction with the customer is not
"just to give them the information" but to communicate in a way that keeps
them as a customer, yet it might be common to say to the worker, "convey
this information."
One solution is to invite or realize that there will be questions through
the process and not just because the workers are perfectionists. Then when
the worker realizes that there are nuances for the arrangement of film in
the drawer, asking a question should be their response. Another is to not
expect results that have been imagined yet not communicated. That doesn't
have to be negative. You send your child out to paint the garage, and they
may not paint it exactly like you would.
Have a nice day
John Paul Fullerton
jpf@myriad.net
--"John Paul Fullerton" <jpf@mail.myriad.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>