Leaders Who Empower: Why Kenny Kicks Tiffany’s Butt Every Time
Within a 4 hour period on Friday I witnessed excellent leadership and an abject failure of leadership. Both experiences occurred with the leaders in absentia. I’m basing my assessment of their leadership on the performance of their team members.
I needed a new tap for my beer keg because mine was busted. It was a crisis situation. I called the beer distributor at 4:47PM and spoke with Kenny.
“How late are you open?”
“We’re open until 5 but I’ll be here until 6 so no worries. Here’s my cell number. Just call me when you get here and I’ll hook you up.”
When I arrived, I called Kenny’s cell. A skinny 24 year old with an awesome Mohawk came around the corner and said “Hi, I’m Kenny. Don’t shake my hand, I’m covered in grease. Let me see what’s wrong with your keg.” At this point, things got interesting.
Kenny quickly assessed my problem – it wasn’t the keg. It was my old tap. He went back to the office and came out with another tap. “Here you go. Take this one. I’ll just take your old one and rebuild it or use it for parts.” It was a nice tap. Probably cost around $35 or so. I shook Kenny’s hand (and yes, I got greasy), thanked him, and left.
From there I stopped by the video store to clear up a $32 charge I didn’t recognize on my account. Tiffany, the 24 year old clerk, looked through my account and said “You had two movies that were late so we sold them to your account.”
“How could they be late when I drove them over right after I got your phone call saying they needed to be returned by close of business that day?”
“I don’t know. But the system says they were late.”
“Can I speak with your manager?”
“Ummm, she’s out getting a bite to eat. You can come back later.”
So far, I’ve “gone back later” two more times since then. Both times Tiffany’s manager was out getting a bite to eat (seriously). Both times, Tiffany’s response has been “well she’ll be back later if you want to come back.”
I almost slammed my head off the counter the third time I got that response.
So here’s what I do know: Kenny’s boss is awesome and Tiffany’s boss is a control freak who doesn’t trust her subordinates. I’ve never met either one (and I’m sure if I drive over to the video store now, Tiffany’s manager is still out to lunch – both literally and figuratively) but I’m going out on a limb and making an assessment of their leadership skills anyway.
Kenny’s boss understands the concept of empowering his subordinate to make decisions. He gives Kenny free reign to make a call when he’s not around. Kenny knows he has the latitude to be master of his domain when his boss isn’t around. Kenny makes decisions and takes care of business. He’s also a pretty happy guy who seems to enjoy his job. He had a smile on his face and was more than happy to help me at 5:30 on a Friday afternoon.
Tiffany’s boss is afraid to give up any control over her domain. Tiffany probably can’t make the call on whether the peanut or regular M&M’s should be on special this week. She hasn’t taught Tiffany how to think on her own or given her guidelines on how to behave in her absence other than “don’t do anything until I come back.” Her boss would do well to read about how not to be a taskmanaging micromanager.
Tiffany looks like she hates her job. No smile. No enthusiasm. She was embarrassed to say “she’s out to lunch” for the third day in a row.
The Kennys of the world will always beat the Tiffanys.
By giving Kenny freedom to operate and providing him some authority to make decisions, his boss gains leverage. He can focus on more bossly things rather than making the call on switching out a $35 tap.
Tiffany’s boss will forever be mired in the minutiae of the day to day. Thank goodness – by being stuck there she won’t have the opportunity to manage more people and make them as miserable as she makes Tiffany.
Back in my army days (about 15 years and 20 pounds ago) we HAD to act like Kenny’s boss. I had to empower 18 year old privates with the authority and decision making latitude to possibly take another human life. That private had to make decisions in my absence. He couldn’t exactly wait for me to get back from lunch to ask if he could shoot someone who was attacking him.
That delegation of authority made my soldiers feel competent and trusted. They liked their jobs and were enthusiastic about growing personally and professionally. Dime to a dollar says Kenny’s boss subscribes to a similar leadership approach.
My prediction: Kenny will someday take over his boss’ job and go on to train a bunch of mini-Kennys. Tiffany will quit her job soon because clearly she’s not needed around there since her boss is a micromanaging control freak who gives Tiffany responsibility without authority.
So are you more like Kenny’s boss or Tiffany’s? How much latitude do your team members have to make decisions without having to check in with you? Do you truly empower them or just say you do?
As a leader, you have to give up control at some point. Give it a try – your team members will surprise you with how talented they are and how ready they are to make decisions on their own.
Make sure you repost and tell us what Tiffany's boss was like when you finally talk to her!
Mike,
Great stuff, as always, but I have a couple of questions:
– How can your keg machine get busted up so much? :) This is the second post I've read of yours where a keg problem was encountered – time to buy that industrial version. Heh.
– I note with interest your description of delegation in the Army, and I've heard that from other sources as well. If that's true, then why does tech/IT and the DoD acquisition process behave more like Tiffany than Kenny?
Culturally, in Forge.mil, I'm fighting against antibodies that want to exert micro-managed control over every little project aspect. Yes, I know, there are contractors involved, but, if more DoD acquisitions specialists and program managers acted like Kenny, I think we'd get a lot more done.
I hope I get to witness that at some point working on Forge.mil – heck, maybe we should have you come give talks alongside us as we educate on what we are trying to do. :)
@Marty – I met Tiffany's manager today. She's a miserable person. Not a single smile. No shred of human emotion. I was afraid of her as a customer – I can only imagine what it's like to work for her.
@Guy – Keg gets busted becuz I no haz mekanikal skilz. As far as tech/IT and DoD, you have to realize they're cut from a different cloth. I took bureaucratic politics in school. If the local university will let you audit that course I truly think you'll find it informative. I hope things go well for you on Forge.mil. I'd be more than delighted to come speak to you guys. Shoot me an email and we can discuss.
AWESOME ARTICLE! And I know both Kenny and Tiffany (small world)
you had me up until you were delegating the authority to kill people.
As a journalist, I used to rail against corporate communications staff that would have a break-down at the thought of an employee speaking to me (never mind that they talk to customers all day).
Now, as a trainer of corporate bloggers — or attempting to sell the transformation of employees into spokespeople — my firm has to work to overcome that defensive reaction.
But it's highly satisfying to pass the tipping point and see those who were concerned come to wonder why they never thought of turning their employees into empowered mini-marketers.
That said, I'm not surprised you found the guy who works with beer happier than the gal who argues with people about late fees every day. Go figure.
@Anonymous – it's not pretty but it's reality. Military leaders have to delegate authority to subordinates to do things that are incredibly difficult including taking a human life. I don't make the point flippantly – I make it to demonstrate an extreme of delegation. A military organization has perhaps the most expansive practice of conferring authority out of sheer necessity. I'm also trying to illustrate that 18 year old men and women are entrusted with decision making authority well beyond what many believe they're intellectually capable of (sort of like Tiffany). I'm making the point that you should look at your team members as capable adults (who do indeed need strong guidance, values, and supervision) rather than simply as a clerk.
And by the way, the only fighting I ever did during my time in the service was in a bar (and it was self-defense).
P.S. Your elected officials delegate the authority to kill… think about it for a moment…
@Reid – great point. Give your folks good guidance and they can do great things. You can't manage everything they do every moment of their lives. You get much better results if you expend that energy on giving proper guidance and coaching. And great point on why Kenny was happier. I'd probably be happy too working at a beer distributor…
I have to admit, I must have met Tiffany at the same video store!!! Honestly, lack of empowerment is the one thing that almost gets me unglued.
Early on in my career I read a book called "Zapped – Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute". Short, funny story, but had a huge impact on the way I viewed leadership.
Great job on the post.
Made me think about how I'm leading:)…we always have to do an assessment based on where we are now, not just where we've been.
Warmly,
Tiffany
@virtualpartner
I was recently landscaping my front yard and putting out that landscape fabric that prevents weeds but allows water to filter through. It occurred to me that underneath this thin black cloth, there's an anxious flower waiting to bloom.
I left a position I loved, customers who I considered an extended family and hardworking coworkers who suffered from stress, obesity, low self esteem and workplace tyranny. That guy has no clue! He is slowly killing his employees. Nothing drains self esteem faster than questioning every move you make, every day. I used to be such an educated person. That is, before I worked there.
I now work with Kenny's boss and have lost 20 pounds, stopped getting grey hair (at least for now) and can't wait to get to work everyday. Leaders empower; managers control.
Great article, I hope DS is reading this.
I appreciate the labor you have put in developing this blog. Nice and informative.
I've seen this problem countless times in a variety of businesses. Unfortunately, there are too many people that are not good teachers, instructors, to take the time and really care about giving the proper lessons for others to succeed. It's amazing how important the high school, college student, standing at the register drives the sales and inevitably, the future of a corporation. I don't care if the president was the valedictorian of the Harvard school of business, if high school students are in control of the ground level sales, the president is worthless. I've seen high school/college kids having a picnic during business hours and money being lost in every direction. It's a sad, sad picture.