[This post was originally written some months ago, but never posted.]
I woke up this morning contemplating a discussion with one of my leaders yesterday at the new job, particularly the topic of how his vision of the organization is that it should be one where people can get things done. Comparing that to my previous employer, I began to develop a small metaphor that I think describes the dichotomy.
In traffic, we need a certain amount of control over flow. When the traffic moves too fast, our ability to compensate for the inevitable mistake is diminished. On the other hand, we need traffic to move quickly, as that allows us to arrive at our destination (achieve goals) faster, and thus respond to needs more efficiently. In traffic, the variable is speed, in business, it's developing and implementing new ideas, products and services.
When we put up metaphorical guide rails, we offer the ability for our employees to move. Give them limits, and protections, and then get out of the way so they can get things done. This is the crux of empowerment. You know what you are responsible for, you have the freedom to navigate within boundaries that are well defined and clear, and you have the ability to move.
Another way to prevent our employees from going off the metaphorical edge of the road is to put up roadblocks. We hear these all the time: "That's not the company standard.", or "I don't want to be in the business of supporting X.", or "We already have that, and it works just fine."
Roadblocks are used as an easy implementation of guidance, but they are not same as guide rails. Guide rails empower employees. They provide the necessary limits, yet encourage productive movement within those limits. Roadblocks demotivate. They tell employees directly, "Your idea doesn't count." or worse, "I don't trust you." As it happens, roadblocks are much easier to manage, as well. Saying 'no' is easy. Saying 'yes, and here are the bounds we need to work in' is simply more difficult, as it forces leadership to think through potential gains and pitfalls.
At one of my previous employers, I was developing three new ideas simultaneously. One was a collaboration tool that, while commonplace in the technology industry, was new to the organization, and promised to greatly change the way in which team members interacted. Another, a piece of software (more specifically, the functional specification for the software) modeled after the air traffic control industry, that aimed to solve a very real problem we were having with understanding what changes were being made in our server environment. A third was a methodology for removing operational mistakes and guaranteeing quality of service through automation. The timing was coincidental: As I deployed the first innovation to test within the team, our manager announced in our team meeting that same morning, a unilateral decision (without consulting us) to remove a tool we all found great utility in. The tool was open source (no cost), and maintenance was trivial, at best. The signal was very clear: Innovation will not be necessary, at this time. Unfortunately, the current leadership chose the course of putting up roadblocks rather than encouraging innovation by the employees who deal directly with problems. Of the three new ideas, the first was removed without anyone knowing it was ever deployed, and the other two were never proposed.
There are very real problems with roadblocks. They dissolve trust. They tell employees that they are here to punch out widgets, not to think about improving things. Also, as was the case in our situation, they prevent any idea, good or bad, from ever being considered in the first place.
