By now, we all know the business case for diversity, namely, that it provides a strategic advantage that positively affects the bottom line. But to reap these benefits, managers have to empower their diverse team members and colleagues to take ownership over their work. For managers, this means giving up power of their own, decentering themselves, actively championing others, and challenging their own assumptions. But how can empowerment be implemented into daily management business?

1. Redesign collaboration

• Cross-functional teams: Create cross-functional teams that combine diverse skill sets to work on specific projects. These teams should have the autonomy to make decisions and manage their workflows because of their unique dynamics. The unique dynamics of these teams are: 1. Usually have competing identities and loyalties 2. Undergo significant pressure and conflict 3. Face high-performance expectations (Holland et al., 2000)
• Decentralized decision-making: Empower teams and individuals at all levels to make decisions. Establish clear guidelines and boundaries within which they can operate independently.

2. Implement agile practices

• Adopt agile methodologies (Mishra et al., 2020): Implement agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban. Provide training and resources to ensure teams understand and use these practices effectively.
• Iterative processes: Encourage iterative processes where teams can continuously plan, execute, review, and adjust their work. This allows for rapid adaptation to changes and continuous improvement.
• Learn from your best practices: Many organizations have teams or units that already utilize (some) agile practices. Give them visibility, use them to track what works (and what does not), and roll out their successful practices elsewhere.

3. Make structural changes to empower all

• Flatten hierarchies: Reduce the number of hierarchical levels within the organization to promote a more democratic distribution of power (also sometimes referred to as “unstructuring”). This encourages leaders to be more accessible and collaborative. To be effective, this process needs to be managed carefully: Manage your employees’ expectations closely; purposively redefine leadership roles; reconfigure communication channels and decision-making processes (Anicich et al., 2024).
• Flexible leadership: Expect (and enable) your leaders to adapt their leadership style so that they can best serve their team and, in the process, respond to unforeseen scenarios. The combination of flexible leadership and culture offers a competitive advantage and improves communication and coordination among people (Anning-Dorson, 2021). Flexible leadership requires a constant openness to feedback, an eagerness to develop new habits and willingness to try new techniques. A few question you might ask yourself to increase your flexibility as a leader:
  – Am I dependent on a specific behavior or technique?
  – Do I respond to feedback or criticism with defensiveness?
  – Do I consider multiple approaches when solving an issue, and am I willing to change course?
  – Am I able to admit to personal mistakes?
  – Am I willing to try new strategies suggested by my (subordinate) team members?

4. Change the culture

• Promote team-based achievements: Shift the focus from individual to team accomplishments that highlight the team’s strength and enhance trust among members. This enhanced trust will impact the team’s performance (Verburg et al., 2018).
• Increase workplace experimentation: Currently, 91% of top management believes there is room for experimentation and creativity in the workplace, compared to 35% of lower management (Agile Business Consortium, 2023). Shifting organizational culture to allow employees to have the time to experiment will help lead to more creativity and innovation.