Page 71 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

56 Just Promoted!

under which the company could substitute its stock for as much as half of its
payments into a retiree health-care trust. “The modifications will protect jobs
for UAW members by ensuring the long-term viability of the company,” the
2
union’s president, Ron Gettelfinger, said. On March 9, the UAW announced
that its Ford members had accepted the agreement, which also required court
approval. In large part because of the company’s history of working with the
union leadership and listening to employees, Ford has fared better than its
domestic competitors. Jobs have still been lost, but Ford is still in business and
the company will need to continue to empower its employees to survive for
the long term. As we saw in the example of public schools, paying lip service
to empowerment without adequate follow-through demoralizes the organiza-
tion. Real empowerment can make dramatic improvements in productivity,
quality, and employee engagement. During your first months on the job, you
will have great opportunities to help your people be a real part of the action.

Empowering Relationships: A Self-Concept Approach
to Managing People
A manager’s ability to empower is an important element in facilitating suc-
cessful employee job performance. The manager’s or leader’s attentiveness,
expectations, encouragement, attitudes, and evaluations are primary forces in
influencing an employee’s productivity and engagement.
Think about the following example: “After working at an entry-level posi-
tion for two years, I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to go back to school
while looking for a higher-level job at the company where I worked. So I went
to my boss to discuss it. My fear was that he would discourage me because I
had worked at only an entry-level position. But he surprised me and said he
was hoping that I would decide to do this. What a relief and a great feeling.”
An individual’s self-concept and feeling of personal power can be influenced
by his or her boss’s support.
Feelings of personal power are linked to how one approaches the job and
to actual success at work. What and how we think about who we are, and how
we see ourselves in the eyes of others, often triggers a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If we see ourselves as being effective, responsible, creative, and productive on
the job, we generally will be. The high-achieving individual almost always feels
his or her supervisor’s support and encouragement.
Whether or not we perceive ourselves as high or low performers often
depends on how we interpret reactions from important people in our work