A Simple Way to Empower Your Team

I love to study trends in business. And two trends are clear: operating a business has grown increasingly complex, and the organizational structure of companies has become more flat, requiring greater transparency.

I have also observed that today the success of these organizations depend more than ever on TEAMwork (successfully practicing communication, coordination, and cooperation) by maintaining and enhancing relationships AND at the same time, driving for results.

“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.”

– Reid Hoffman

One of the best ways to approach flat organizations in a very complex business world is a participative leadership style that I call Engage2Lead and using the 1-2-3 tool in your leadership tool box.

Every leader can have a culture where teams thrive and profits rise by using the 1-2-3 decision-making tool. 

What is 1-2-3?

1-2-3 is a unique approach to the decision-making and goal-setting process defined as:

At the very beginning of the decision-making process— AND before making a decision – the empowering leader seeks input from his or her employees. Such a leader asks:

1. Who can help me make a better decision?

2. Who will have to carry it out?

3. Who will be impacted by it?

The 1-2-3 approach reminds leaders to involve their people as appropriate when making important decisions and setting goals. By doing so, every leader can develop a more effective and efficient TEAM by asking these three simple questions that bring consistently better results while maintaining and enhancing relationships.

Who should use 1-2-3?

A 1-2-3 approach to decision-making is not something that is reserved only for top or middle managers or supervisors.

It is a process that can and should be used by everyone in an organization from the person in the corner office to the people on the front line when situations call for it.

When should  1-2-3  be used?

When 1-2-3 should be used is a little bit trickier question.

A 1-2-3 approach obviously isn’t necessary for routine decisions required in the course of day-to-day business.  Nor is it a good approach when following a set procedures, regardless of what kind of business you are involved in.

Guideline: In general, the more significant a decision is or the broader its impact, the more it calls for 1-2-3.

But sometimes even the most significant decisions do not lend themselves to a 1-2-3 approach for any number of reasons.

For example if the owner of a company is considering selling the business or if he or she is considering an offer to buy another company, those discussions of a possible sale or purchase must be limited.

In fact, in these types of situations, non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements usually will restrict disclosure of information about them to people with a “need to know” because of the sensitive nature of the subjects and the risks of the information being made public prematurely.

When you embrace Engage2Lead participative leadership and use the 1-2-3 decision-making tool, your people will embrace your transparency, and they get real excited to help you achieve managing your flat organization in a complex business world for results.

What important decision can you make today using the 1-2-3 decision-making process?  What goals do you want to achieve?  Please share your comments <here> and share this blog post with a friend or co-worker.