“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reasoning and critical analysis.” - His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
This is an interesting quote. There are the obvious personal and moral viewpoints to this statement. How do we conduct ourselves and take action based on our value structures and our ability to do what's right? However, do we have that type of authority when it comes to business?
I would imagine that many of us would say that that there are several occasions where we feel we don't have the final authority with decision-making. Also, many would say that we're not overly confident in consistently putting ultimate authority in the hands of our employees to make proper decisions.
In a previous role at a company called Infinity Systems, I worked with organizations across several industries on alignment to mission and vision. One of the items we measured when analyzing alignment was empowerment. Within that, we worked with leaders on how important it was to drive down decision-making to the lowest possible level. We saw so many organizations flounder under the weight of leaders having to get involved with fighting fires when they didn't need to be involved.
Building ultimate authority through empowerment
Of course, in order to have ultimate authority at all levels, there are various items that need to be take care of first.
- There needs to be alignment to mission and vision, so all understand the core purpose for decisions.
- Proper training and guardrails need to be established in order to equip employees with all they need to make appropriate decisions.
- Feedback loops at various levels are needed to regularly look at reasoning and critical analysis that are being used to make decisions.
- The Four Fundamental Forces of Leadership need to be discovered and developed within all employees so they can actively explore possibilities to meet the mission and customer/stakeholder needs
What empowerment does for your ultimate authority
When decisoin-making is driven down through an organization, the time and energy you needed to take to resolve those issues and put out those fires will get transferred to more forward-looking and powerful efforts. You may have time to Respect situations that are creating conflict in a way identifies the issue at the source. This enables you and the team to take care of the root and eliminate the issue from creeping up again.
You will have more time to see the organization in a way that allows you and others to see how the mission can be furthered.
Take ultimate authority of how you can build the Four Fundamental Forces of Leadership within yourself and others. You will see a lot of positive results.