Business owners often demand managers step up, then undermine them by taking back control when decisions differ from their own. Employees notice every time autonomy is given and taken away. Real empowerment requires letting managers work through outcomes, even when it's uncomfortable.
I hear business owners say this a lot. I just need my managers to step up. And maybe they do. But the last time one of your managers made a decision differently than you would have, what did you do? Did you let them work through it? Or did you step in because it was faster, the customer was upset, or this one just mattered too much? And the last time they answered a customer without checking with you, what happened after? Did they leave thinking, I can handle this? Or did they leave thinking, next time I better ask first? Because people notice those moments. They notice what happens when they make the call, and they notice what happens when they get it wrong. And they definitely notice when something they thought was theirs quietly gets taken back. So when we say we need managers to step up, I think we also have to look at what happens around them every time they try.
