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Joan Pastor: Joan Pastor is based with Joan Pastor & Associates, Oceanside, California, USA
Introduction
We hear the word empowerment being bantered around, thrown back and forth between people and yet there seem to be numerous definitions of just what empowerment actually is. The best way to define empowerment is to consider it as part of a process or an evolution - an evolution that goes on whenever you have two or more people in a relationship, personally or professionally.
There are two aspects of empowerment we must address to understand the concept fully. The first is personal empowerment, i.e. that which individuals are responsible for doing for themselves in order to feel empowered in their lives regardless of circumstances. The second dimension of empowerment has to do with the way in which we work with others to nurture their sense of self-esteem, autonomy and growth.
Let us talk briefly about each. In personal empowerment, one develops the ability to change one's behavior, when appropriate, in response to new situations, and to be accountable for one's own actions and decisions in life. Mark Samuel, founder of Impaq Organizational Systems, describes how people demonstrate accountability for their behavior. This takes the form of a question people ask themselves when situations occur that they might find difficult to accept or adjust to.
The question the empowered and accountable person asks is; "How did I create, promote or allow this situation to occur?" This is an appropriate question in terms of taking both personal and professional responsibility, the first step in the process of empowerment.
In the workplace, hierarchies of responsibility and power are expected to exist, and they certainly do. One of the most common misconceptions I see when I talk to managers about empowerment is their belief that to empower means letting their employees or "team" loose on a project, meaning that they are now "empowered" to go do whatever it is that they are supposed to do.
I liken the situation to an "anointing". It is like the king who takes his sword, lays it on the knight errant's shoulder and tells him he is now empowered to lead the crusade, to sally forth into the realm and just "Do it!" - whatever "it" is.