Empowerment:. John Tschohl
to come up with the perfect answer. They aren’t even aware of the halfway mark at which most people stop.
The world economy is shifting. It threatens to leave behind the classic employee. No longer can the modern workforce expect security and comfort in positions that ask them only to come to work every day, keep their heads down, follow orders, and avoid risks. The next generation of workers must utilize all of their skills and talents to sell themselves to their customers and their employers every day and in every undertaking. The days of punching the clock and avoiding superiors are over. The future workforce will be more agile, creative, multitalented, and above all, empowered.
Empowerment helps you focus on making quick decisions on your own in order to ensure overhappy customers and to set yourself apart from the teeming masses angling for your job. An entire workforce of empowered employees will give your company a dramatic facelift and keep it competitive, strong, growing, and stable. You will be amazed at what Empowerment can do for you and your organization.
Definition em • pow • er (v): to give power or authority to; to authorize
The definition of “Empower” is to give power or authority to, or to authorize. In the workplace, empowered employees have the power and the authority to make quick, informed, and on-thefly decisions to help a customer, move a project forward, or solve a problem. When your company empowers you, it expects you to use all of your skills and all of the tools at your disposal to make a decision that benefits everyone involved… without having to consult with five different managers or supervisors. Empowerment puts you in control of your performance and tasks you with continuously improving and impressing on the job every day.
Consider your own worth. What is your true value to your company or any organization that might employ you in the future? How are you more than the suit or uniform you wear every day? How do you stand out in a crowd? How do you put your worth on display for all to see? Successful people and organizations utilize Empowerment to show off their talents and reach their goals. Those who reject Empowerment also fear risk. Employees who cling to the status quo will forever lag behind and be left in the dust.
Empowerment is all about creating an environment that gives employees the authority to make fast decisions to benefit customers. Empowered employees create happy customers and breed a culture of empowerment that infects every corner of a company.
Empowerment means working quickly and efficiently.
Empowerment isn’t just about power and authority; it’s also about responsibility. Those with great power have just as great a responsibility to use their authority efficiently, appropriately, and to the greatest affect. Not only do you have the chance to decide, solve, and improve, you are now expected to do so on a daily basis, in every task or situation you encounter. You are responsible for utilizing your own talents and assimilating the significant information. You are challenged to make that one decision that will change someone’s day, improve a timeworn process, or completely reinvent your company. Success in the economy of the future depends on thousands of those individually empowered decisions. That’s the mark of innovation.
Use all of your education, humanity, common sense, and knowledge to jump into risky situations, quickly dissect problems, and make on-the-spot decisions. Empowerment gives you the authority to do whatever it takes.
“Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is Empowerment in itself.” Gloria Steinem American Activist and Writer
Empowerment also means working quickly and efficiently. The word “slow” does not fit into an empowered workplace or in your empowered decisions. Time is of the essence, and being able to make an empowered decision helps to rapidly move things along. Speed of thought, action, and consequence are the tools of the empowered worker. Without speed, the effects of your decisions will diminish. In a world where there is often so little time and so much to do, speed puts you front and center. Speed allows for maximum impact.
“You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing, there will be no result.” Mahatma Gandhi Pre-eminent Political and Spiritual Leader of India
What is a life without Empowerment like? Imagine a world where no one makes decisions. Every employee passes the buck and moves a problem up the chain of command. It’s a world where you dread coming to work, where you constantly fear being fired. It’s a place where you slog through an endless calendar of eight-hour shifts, all for a paycheck, and where your talents go wasted; a universe where you blend into the crowd and are forgotten by history. A world without Empowerment. A life without Empowerment is a life unfulfilled.
Now consider the opposite. A world of Empowerment means loving what you do. It’s coming to work every day and feeling wanted, needed, and valuable. You’re encouraged to continually learn, interact, change, and remake yourself. It’s using the best of your talents and skills to maximize your opportunities, make your mark, and fuel your future success. A life of Empowerment is a life fulfilled.
World Class Customer Service
Imagine a place where empowered employees consistently call you by name, leave hand-written notes upon arrival and departure, and even sing to you. Think about having each and every request greeted by a smile and positive attitude. Picture the “perfect 10” in customer service and you’ll understand what I am talking about.
With this level of service, you’re probably envisioning a 5 star hotel on 5th Avenue in New York City, a luxury spa in Zurich, or in Dubai. Actually the ultimate in customer service can be found in Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Seychelles. Wilderness Safaris has it hands down over others in the hospitality, travel, and tourism industries; even those famous for service.
Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and Maun, Botswana, Wilderness Safaris has 70 locations, with over 2700 employees (85 percent of which come from local rural communities around the conservation areas in which we work) in 7 countries. Formed 27 years ago, the company is committed to conservation, education, and customer experience. Keith Vincent, the Operations Director of Wilderness Safaris, manages the best and most consistent customer service I’ve ever seen. He understands that he is not in the travel or safari business, he is in the Customer Experience business. Very few people realize that they are in the customer experience business. At Wilderness Safaris they get it and I’ve never seen such depth of leadership throughout any organization.
In Botswana, with an unemployment rate of 30 percent, creating jobs is very important. The company’s leases are dependent on increasing employment for the area’s village people. The average salary is about $265 a month. Workers, more than 85 percent of which come from remote rural communities surrounding the areas they help to protect, remain at camp for three months at a time, followed by a one-month vacation.
All food and lodging is free. Often employees live better at work than they would in their own homes. The company pays employees airfare home for their month off. Wilderness Safaris has helped quiet, rather shy people become outgoing customer driven, empowered employees who love their job, the company, and the customers.
Most people enjoy a safari more for the wildlife. Participants concentrate on the following three areas to measure their customer experience while on safari.
1 Guiding (Including the skill of the guides and the opportunity to view the animals.)
2 The facilities and the food (With 6 meals a day you can rapidly gain weight.)
3 Customer service.
While the sleeping facilities were awesome, large, plush, better than any hotel suite, and the food delicious, the attitude of the employees was where the magic came alive.
We were always met at the small landing strips by our guides and then driven to the camps. Upon arrival we were greeted by management, who already