{"id":28561,"date":"2021-02-22T11:54:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T11:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/?p=28561"},"modified":"2026-02-12T11:04:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T11:04:01","slug":"if-you-dont-dismantle-control-empowerment-is-just-an-aspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/if-you-dont-dismantle-control-empowerment-is-just-an-aspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"If you don’t dismantle control, empowerment in a matrix is just an aspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Empowerment and the decentralisation of control has been one of the most intractable challenges in the 30 years we have been focusing on new ways of working. Everyone knows empowerment increases engagement and performance, but giving up control feels risky. In the matrix, centralised control tends to inhibit flexibility but unless we let this go then empowerment in a matrix is an illusion.\u00a0 The fundamental problem is that everyone loves to be in control, but nobody likes to be controlled<\/strong>. When I have control it feels like empowerment, when you have control it feels like micromanagement. It is not a matter of whether you will have control in your organisation, often control is useful, the big question is who gets to exercise it and at what level <\/strong>and what is a healthy balance<\/a>?<\/p>\n

In my career I always experienced positive outcomes when I pushed control further down the organisation and had it exercised closer to the action, I got better control and more empowered people at the same time.<\/p>\n

Just about every organisation that we work with aspires to empowerment. Many have empowerment as part of their corporate values. Anyone with a management education in the last 30 years knows it is the right answer. But when you get down to doing it in practise, it can feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

Some of our work is around the behaviours and skills involved in leading people on the journey to more autonomy and empowerment in a matrix. But that is not enough unless we also change the formal control mechanisms<\/strong> in the organisation to match.<\/p>\n

How do we dismantle\u00a0the barriers to empowerment in a matrix<\/h2>\n

These are what we call the \u201ccarriers of control\u201d; the formal approvals, delegation of authority levels, escalations and review meetings that constitute the practical exercise of control in an organisation. This is one of the most difficult of the challenges in matrix management.<\/a><\/p>\n

If you want to move from aspiring to be empowering to actually delivering it, you need to dismantle some of these controls, or at the very least push them further down the organisation.<\/p>\n

Why not try this now<\/p>\n