I firmly believe that your team can only be successful if it is empowered to do its job. If you ask the manager, they think they have empowered their employees but that is not necessarily true. Empowering your employees means giving them the authority, resources, trust, and freedom to make decisions and take ownership of their work rather than simply following orders or being closely managed. This approach is the opposite of micromanagement and is centered on building team members’ confidence, competence, and engagement.
In many of my epiphanies, I discussed your team’s power. Unfortunately, they can only be as good as you allow. They must be well trained, but you must empower them—and have you really given them permission to be innovative?
Lack of Clear Guidelines or Rules of Engagement
Managers may think they have delegated authority, but employees are unclear about what decisions they can make. There is often a significant disconnect between what managers believe they have empowered employees and what employees feel empowered to do. This gap can be identified by creating a list of tasks, actions, and decision areas and asking the manager and the team members to indicate what they can and cannot implement or act on.
- Does the team understand the mission and the rules of engagement?
- Is there a standard operating procedure to follow?
- Have they been trained effectively to know their roles and parameters?
- Is the team empowered to solve problems and be innovative?
Can they try something? Is there a protocol, process, or sounding board for them to follow? Is this a safe zone to ask for resources and support to allow them to test or recommend alternative actions?
False Empowerment
Many managers ask for employee input or feedback but have already made decisions. This is known as “false empowerment,” where leaders seek buy-in rather than genuinely sharing decision-making power. Employees quickly recognize this insincerity, which erodes trust and morale, reduces innovation, and creates frustration and an attitude of “Why bother?”
Fear of Mistakes
The fear of mistakes creates a powerful tension in the workplace, especially when it comes to employee empowerment. Both managers and employees often find themselves caught in a cycle of apprehension: managers worry that granting autonomy could lead to costly errors. In contrast, employees fear that making mistakes could jeopardize their job security. This mutual anxiety can stifle initiative and innovation, making it difficult for organizations to realize the benefits of empowerment fully. As a result, both parties may default to playing it safe, missing opportunities for growth and improvement.
From the manager’s point of view, empowering employees means relinquishing some control and trusting others to make crucial decisions. This can be daunting, as managers are often held accountable for the outcomes of their team’s actions. The possibility that mistakes could negatively impact business results or reflect poorly on their leadership may make managers hesitant to truly empower their staff. This fear may lead them to micromanage or set overly restrictive guidelines, ultimately undermining the empowerment they wish to foster.
On the other hand, employees may feel anxious about embracing empowerment if they believe that mistakes will be harshly judged or could even result in job loss. Without a culture that supports learning from errors, employees will likely play it safe, avoid taking the initiative, and stick strictly to established procedures. This fear of repercussions limits their professional growth and prevents them from contributing new ideas or solutions that could benefit the organization. For empowerment to be genuine, employees need reassurance that mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning, not grounds for punishment.
The fear of organizational mistakes creates a vicious circle that traps managers and employees, making genuine empowerment difficult to achieve. Managers, who are often employees with their own bosses, may want to empower their teams but hesitate because they lack autonomy and fear the consequences of errors. This cycle of fear and disempowerment perpetuates a culture where risk-taking and innovation are stifled, and both sides feel constrained by the same anxieties
Discipline Enables Freedom
Jocko Willink’s book Discipline Equals Freedom outlines the separation of roles between you and your team. Jocko advocates for a structure based on preparation, process, and a mission completion mindset that enables them to operate freely and deliver on the company’s business objectives.
Jocko advocates for a structure based on preparation, process, and a mission completion mindset that enables them to operate freely and deliver on the company’s business objectives. When employees are disciplined in their approach, and management has this confidence, they earn greater autonomy and trust, allowing them to operate more independently and creatively.
As a marksmanship instructor, the SEALs trained at the far end of my range. I noticed no one was yelling safety commands, reminding people to put the weapons in the safe and drop the magazines. They were just doing their thing in their lanes, shooting from different ranges and positions. I asked my boss why they did not have the same safety protocols as we enforced. His answer was simple: It was unnecessary because they were too disciplined to shoot each other.
Jocko recalls a similar experience in the book because SEAL discipline on the range means meticulously following safety protocols, maintaining weapons, and rigorously drilling marksmanship fundamentals. They don’t need to be micromanaged. This disciplined approach is not about rigidly following orders for their own sake but about building trust and competence so that, when it matters most, SEALs have the freedom to adapt, improvise, and make critical decisions under pressure.
Breaking Rules that Don’t Exist?
I have talked to several business owners who get frustrated when their employees do not deliver for clients, are unprepared, and are late for meetings. Then you ask them if they know this. They look at me like I am crazy. what do you mean they don’t know not to be late or prepared for meetings? Exactly that, what is the expectation, and have you outlined it? Do they know, as my father taught me, that if you are not 15 minutes early, you are late and doing the required reverse calculations and contingency planning to ensure you are “on time.”
Hands-Off or Free-Range Management Fallacy
I have made this mistake over the years, sometimes undermanaging my team leaders. For most of my personal and professional life, I have operated independently or as a small autonomous team where we were given very clear parameters on what we could do, clear mission intent, and extensive training. I mistakenly thought that others could effectively operate in that environment, even with detailed role parameters. Many people need reminders, feedback, and sometimes a complete breakdown of what they should do. This is why it is critical to understand the mindset and needs of each team member and adjust direction and role latitude accordingly.
I have seen some managers mimic my free-range management style and mistakenly believe empowerment means leaving employees alone to figure things out. Employees need guidance, support, and clarity about their responsibilities to feel truly empowered. Without this, what appears to be empowerment is under management, leading to confusion and lack of initiative.
Moving to Empowerment
Empowerment is not a one-time declaration or a hands-off approach but an ongoing commitment to clarity, discipline, and mutual trust. Teams thrive when expectations are explicit, boundaries are understood, and leaders and employees are aligned on the mission and their roles. True empowerment requires leaders to invest in training, communicate openly, and create a culture where disciplined preparation is the norm and mistakes are seen as opportunities for learning, not punishment. When discipline forms the foundation, as Jocko Willink describes, freedom naturally follows: employees feel confident to act, innovate, and take ownership, while managers can trust their teams to deliver without constant oversight.
Ultimately, the path to real empowerment is paved with intentionality and self-awareness at every level of the organization. Leaders must regularly examine whether they are genuinely sharing authority or merely giving the illusion of empowerment, and employees must be encouraged to step up, knowing they have the support and structure to succeed. By breaking the cycle of fear and embracing the discipline that enables freedom, organizations unlock the full potential of their people—transforming compliance into commitment and routine work into remarkable results.
