• “Sorry, Mr. Brown, I can’t treat you until my boss gives the okay.”
• “If you can come back after lunch, I‘m sure I can get the duplicate x-ray that you need for your surgery tomorrow morning.”
• “The requisition doesn’t specify which leg is to be x-rayed”
• I know your appointment was at 9:00 a.m., but it’s only 11:30 and I’m sure you’ll be next.”
• “I realize your child has a temperature of 103, but there’s nothing I can do about the air conditioning set at 68 degrees.”

The problem is organizations don’t trust their staff. Perhaps the even more deeply rooted problem is that managers don’t trust themselves. You see, on the one hand, we hire our staff members because they prove their ability through background and personal interview. We hire them because we are satisfied and even encouraged they can bring dimension to our organizations. There’s just one thing. We really don’t want their dimension: We want them to be under our management thumb like everyone else on the staff. So we socialize them to be like everyone else… a kind of Stepford Wives surrealism.

Many employers say they have empowered employees, but few actually do. Why? Because they don’t understand what real empowerment is. Too many managers think empowerment is giving employees the “okay” to make a decision to take care of the customer… as long as the action they take follows the rules, policies, and procedures of the organization, which means there actually is no empowerment.

An empowered staff member has the “real authority” to do whatever is necessary to immediately take care of a customer… to that customer’s satisfaction… not to the company’s satisfaction. (This is the distinction between serving the organization and serving the goal of the organization.) We cannot tie the employees’ hands with cumbersome policies and procedures and expect them to provide exceptional service. True empowerment means employees can modify, refine, sometimes even break the rules to serve the customer. Management must recognize and remember: If the customer doesn’t win, it’s the company that loses.

Many managers fear empowerment because they think it will diminish or eliminate their roles. Granted, they will have less “control” with empowered staffs, but that doesn’t mean management is out of a job or even that the environment will get out of order. It simply means managers will have to figure out whether it’s peak performance they want or control by organizational grip-lock. The former is in line with why managers got into management in the first place.

Disney World is the epitome of customer service and empowerment is like a religion there. Employees are thoroughly trained and then told they have the responsibility and authority to do whatever is necessary to solve problems on the spot in order to make customers happy. The Disney philosophy is reflected in this statement: “Management must not only support the front line, but must trust it as well. After all, these are the persons we hired.” In fact, management interference is discouraged at Disney World.

There are limits to empowerment, however. For example, empowerment doesn’t mean that prices can be indiscriminately slashed to retain a customer. What it does mean is that employees can take the initiative in solving customers problems so that they will continue to do business with the oganisation. Front line employees must have the authority to respond to the needs and problems of individual customers with speed and courtesy. An example of exceptional customer service and empowerment is L.L. Bean, Inc. One of its employees actually drove 500 miles from Maine to New York to deliver a canoe to a customer who was leaving on a trip the next day.

One of my friends checked into a hotel late one night and asked an employee if room service was still available. It wasn’t. However, the employee offered to go into the hotel kitchen and get the guest something to eat. That employee empowered himself. He was sincerely concerned about the guest’s comfort and made the extra effort to see that the guest did not go to bed hungry. I call this “breakaway service.” It is the best of service: An employee going above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that a customer is satisfied.

Exceptional service is putting the customer first, being responsive to a customer’s needs, and being resourceful in meeting those needs. A Federal Express employee was recognized for his resourcefulness when his truck broke down while he was making deliveries. The employee called a tow truck then persuaded the driver (while towing the Federal Express truck) to follow a route that coincided with his delivery route-and to stop at each delivery site. That remarkable employee knows the value of service and took it upon himself to deliver it.

The opportunity exists daily for staff to make a mark by doing whatever it takes to deliver satisfaction to the customer. Empowering our colleagues to handle customer complaints will not only maintain customer loyalty, it will engender it. But we already know this. So, these insights are not in question. The real question is: Do staff members trust management and management’s sense of self-confidence enough to know they can push the envelope, draw outside the lines, and do whatever is reasonably necessary to satisfy customers?

The first step in empowering staff members is to invest in their orientation and training. Most companies, however, think they should “train their people” for a few minutes once every five years. Organisations who are serious about keeping customers and maximizing profits, should be investing a minimum of 40 hours annually in orienting each and every staff member in the skills of empowerment, customer service, quality, performance, and the significance of extra mile efforts. Irony has it that most employers spend more money on copy machine maintenance than they do on maintaining the mindset of their staffs. Unfortunately, employees in those organizations break down more often than their machines. Instead of those organizations investing in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), they spend their money on “continuous employee recruitment.”

Employers must realize that knowledgeable, courteous, helpful and empowered employees bring in – and retain - customers. Thousands, even millions of dollars in advertising and marketing will bring customers to the door; but poor service will turn them away, keep them away and worst of all, drive them to competitors.

Empowerment is a powerful management instrument that guides organisations of all sizes and configurations to new heights of performance. Its focus is on the individual staff member’s right to perform independently, intellectually, and passionately. And while the ultimate benefit is intended for customer satisfaction, everyone benefits. The organization is applauded for peak performance. Staff members are lauded for peak accomplishment. And empowerment is celebrated.

John Tschohl, founder and president of Service Quality Institute