Here is a person who has empowered his organisation and his team and he shares his experiences....

Manoj Sethu, Director & Operations Head 3MRT Software India Pvt Ltd

Excerpts:  Empowerment is something we practice in our organisation, without preaching about it! We call it ‘Freedom', freedom for the employee to do what they want and need, as long as it falls in line with company's general disciplinary policies and there is output at the end of the day.

Simply put, we are one of the few companies that don't have a formal written policy handbook, although we do have unwritten rules passed on from time to time. Employees are sensitized to our policies at the time of joining, by way of an appointment letter, Employ-ment agreement and a Non Disclosure Agreement. We have set the main framework of boundaries, and the employees are helped to work within these boundaries, in a year's time, most of them get comfortable with it.

This empowerment is given to the senior developers, as the junior engineers will need understanding of the imaginary paths, otherwise they will be lost in their tracks !!

Empowerment is not just delegation of a job function or work, it is more of delegating of the decision making process. To truly practice empowerment, there has to be lot of trust between the Employee and Employer, and between employees. Whatever level you are in the organisational hierarchy, when you make a mistake, you should have the maturity to accept the mistake and say ‘Fine that was a mistake, we can make amends and continue'.

Empowerment is the internal fuel required for the rapid growth of an organisation. Privacy at work and great personal relationship helps in building Employer - Employee relationship; hence decisions are taken quickly. All this works towards keeping the Customer happy as the customer expectations are met without having to wait for the manager's approval.

An employee is given the flexibility to experiment within boundaries, there's no one looking over his shoulder and prompting at each right or wrong move, so far as there is learning from mistakes and the same mistakes are not repeated.

There is continuous scope for improvement and quick growth. There is trust and high confidence within the team. Productivity of the employee increases; managers are on their toes as the employees are pushing them. Management is on their toes as the managers are pushing them. The driving force is ‘down-up' not ‘top-down', the empowerment is Top-down. The organization starts doing well. An example of how empowerment works, would be to throw handful of marbles on the floor, it scatters in all directions; if you set boundaries and then throw the marbles, they are still moving in all directions but within set boundaries and finally form a pattern.

The perception of excessive freedom is only when there is no direction. We keep taking notes at the beginning and end of week. What has it resulted in....

First, the good results...

This kind of empowerment to the senior developer's level has let to result oriented performance. At 2 - 3 years in the company, they feel quite senior and responsible for the direction of the company's performance.

They have a say in most things, of course the final verdict is with the top management. What it also results in is giving a free mind to apply their thoughts and improved creativity. The employees feel powerful and happier; this has resulted in 70% retention over the last 3 years.

The bad patches...

Some stereotyping occurs by those who cannot apply their thoughts. There is also the danger of lethargy setting in.

Danger of people questioning the very foundation of some of the policies, it has not occurred with us thus far, but it is possible. If these queries are not handled properly, then there's bound to be disaster. Empowerment works only with people who understand self-discipline and responsibility.

Lastly, whether good or bad, employees who leave us for better prospects face a total change of environment, some adapt while others suffer in silence!

It's controlled empowerment, not to the extent of pulling strings, but controlled in the sense the directions being given.

Manoj Sethu has set up 3MRT Software India as a subsidiary of 3MRT Ltd. of Scotland. He has spent about 9 years in E-Learning Industry, besides 12 years in the IT industry. He is a Director and Share holder in the Indian subsidiary. His mantra - ‘Work for now, plan for today and think for tomorrow'.  Basic Belief - Big things can be achieved by some very small methods

He was speaking at a Panel Discussion organized by Businessgyan and TASMAC  on the topic ‘Empowerment'.

Compiled by Ms. Mangal D Karnad for Businessgyan

Issue BG89 Aug 08

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