Leading an Empowered Organization
Leading an empowered organization (LEO) is where future leaders are developed and current leaders challenge and hone their leadership skills.
Many managers in health care are promoted because they are a talented clinician, and just because you’re a great nurse doesn’t mean you will make a good leader. Technical skills don’t always apply to leadership skills. Creative Health Care Management developed the Leading an Empowered Organization framework for healthcare leaders in all seats to learn about leadership style.
There are follow-up activities to sustain participants learning to ensure leading an empowered organization has not only empowered employees within the organization but also empowered environments for qualitative research, patient safety, and problem solving.
Over 200,000 Leaders Have Successfully Completed our Three Day Course Worldwide
Leading an Empowered Organization was developed out of health care for health care leaders. Participants come away with new ideas, practical tools and effective strategies to enable individuals to change so they can lead in ways that are effective, as opposed to restructuring aspects of the organization outside of the leader’s authority. Are your staff members expected to function in empowered environments?
This 3-day workshop improves both individual and group performance and can be delivered in-house and licensed. We provide education, coaching, and ongoing support for your internal facilitators.
Let Leading an Empowered Organization improve your staff participation in decision making, build organization-wide accountability, and deliver a healthier work environment.
Prepare leaders at all levels in your organization to accept ownership of their work and reach their full potential. Call us today.
Want Work to go Smoothly?
Our proven methods improve accountability and communication with senior staff and offer new clarity that is as energizing for staff members as it is leaders.
Responsibility + Authority + Accountability: The Formula for Decentralization and Empowerment
Leading an Empowered Organization unifies your organization’s leaders with a common lexicon for clarity around who is responsible, who has authority, and who is ultimately accountable in any given situation. The formula to identify and facilitate greater personal ownership and alignment among teams is R+A+A.
Responsibility
The clear and specific allocation of duties to achieve desired results. This is a two-way process, both assigned and accepted.
Authority
The right to act in areas where one is given and accepts responsibility.
Accountability
The retrospective review of the decisions made or actions taken to determine if they were appropriate. When teams are not functioning in ways they are intended to, it is likely that one or more of the R+A+A components is out of balance. Most typically, someone is asked to take responsibility and full accountability but is not given the authority necessary to achieve what they have taken responsibility for.
Approaching Change Through Appreciative Methods
The study of Appreciative Inquiry led by David Cooperrider has provided important insights for leaders about the power of focusing on the positive for good leaders. Cooperrider discovered that by focusing on what’s working well rather than on problems, we amplify the positive things.
If we focus primarily on problems, we’ll feel as though we are leading or working in a troubled organization or department. What we focus on becomes our reality.
Leaders should try using appreciative questions in your next huddle to build positivity and energize your staff. People become energized when building on success.
Examples of Appreciative Questions and Reflections
Share a story of something you did for a patient or family recently that made you feel particularly proud.
I noticed that you were successful in leading your team through a really difficult shift. How were you able to accomplish that?
Who has observed a co-worker going above and beyond to help someone?
Six Core Competencies of Empowered Leaders
Empowerment exists within individuals and groups who accept responsibility, authority and accountability for decisions that affect their lives and work. Leaders can create an empowered environment where others gain greater ownership and control over their work and decision making is shared. Empowered leaders demonstrate core competencies that support their effectiveness. These qualities are:
Articulates clear and positive expectations
Accepts responsibility and ownership
Creates a culture of ownership and accountability
Builds healthy relationships; appreciates and inspires
Develops and nurtures team members
Leads change, engaging others
The Leaders Role in Relationship-Based Care®
Relationship-based leadership includes empowering the people closest to the work to design and refine their own practice. Leaders in a Relationship-Based Care organization inspire and model healthy relationships. They use decentralized decision making, intentionally involving first-line staff members in decisions through a structure of shared governance (sometimes called shared decision making). Leaders implement shared governance by establishing staff councils. These councils develop innovative changes to embed Relationship-Based Care into their work areas and to measure the impact of their changes. This results in staff members taking ownership for the positive impact of their work.
