When I grew up, my mother had a strict rule about homework: she would say that it’s our own responsibility to do it on time, and if we don’t – it’s up to us to deal with the consequences at school. 

When my oldest daughter started school, I stuck to the same rule. I told her it was her own responsibility and left it at that. I didn’t manage it at all, not that there was much to manage since our school has a no-homework policy in lower grades, except for math and English. My thought was that since my daughter is indeed a capable and responsible girl, when she did have homework she would simply do it, and if she didn’t, the teacher would manage the consequences. Unfortunately, neither was true. 

You see, while my daughter knew perfectly well that she should be doing her homework, she forgot all about it by the time she came home. School, on the other hand, didn’t bother to check on it since she seemed to have known the material quite well. And so she breezed through the first few grades without doing any homework whatsoever. It worked well. Her grades were great, the teachers never complained, and everyone was happy. 

It was only in her 5th grade when things became harder. As smart as she is, some practice was needed. It was especially true in math and English (which is not our first language), both require actually doing some homework and happen to be very important subjects for my daughter’s future. We had a problem.

The reason I say “we” despite the fact that I still don’t see myself as responsible for my daughter’s homework is that I realized I took it too far. In letting her own her homework altogether, I gave her absolutely no guidance on how she should be doing it. As a first grader, she simply didn’t know better. When I realized that, I started working with her on organizing her day so that she has dedicated time for homework within her busy schedule, and writing down what she needs to do so that she can truly manage it herself.

In our effort to build empowered teams, I see many product leaders making the same mistake I did with my daughter and her homework. They let them run independently, expecting certain results. When the outcome isn’t what they expected, they need to run a fire drill to fix things at the last minute. If you manage senior people, this is even more true. It is much easier to expect them to succeed without you, but unfortunately, that’s not how things work, even with talented and experienced people. 

Remember that with empowered teams, it’s not that your people would need less guidance. They would still need your guidance, just a different kind. Here are the things you must pay attention to.

Set the Right Expectations

Contrary to what you might think, your people don’t really know what you expect from them unless you tell them explicitly. It’s frustrating, I know, but it’s true. Even with senior people who had done it before, if they hadn’t done it with you before you still can’t be sure that you see eye to eye.

I’m talking here about the meta-level of empowerment, not a specific task that they were assigned. You should discuss and define with them how this should work. For example, when do you expect them to reach out to you even if they can make a decision on their own? How and how frequently would you like to be informed about what’s going on so that you don’t lose sight? How far does their responsibility go, and how will you assess their success?

All of these might seem obvious, and if that’s the case, then the discussion about them would be short and sweet. In most cases, however, you will find out that the answers to these questions are not that clear, and that you and your people might not see things the same way. It is far better to identify these gaps initially and not after they have already gone down a path that you wouldn’t have approved of if you had the chance.

Teach Them to Succeed

Once you have set the expectations, and assuming that you are trying to change how you and your team work, there is another gap to handle. The gap is that most people won’t know how to succeed in this change, even if they are fully on board and have the best intentions. 

If you want to get them to operate at a certain level that is higher or at least different than how they operated up until now, you must guide them through it. For example, if you want them to independently develop a solution of your liking, you must teach them how you think about solutions and how you assess a good one. 

The best method I know for teaching is through doing. Let them run independently, but monitor their progress closely at first. When you see things that don’t seem to go in the right direction, don’t take over and dictate the right solution! While that would definitely bring you the solution that you were looking for, it would defeat the purpose of teaching them and would require you to stay involved in the future as well in areas you don’t want to be involved in. 

Instead of solving it for them, explain to them the problems that you see with the solution they suggested. Explain why they matter. Make sure they understand where you are coming from, and then send them to another attempt to come up with a good solution. Continue doing that until the solution is good, and continue doing that over time until they come up with a good solution on their own on a regular basis. That’s when you know they got it, and it’s only then you can (if you want) take a step back and let them run the show. 

Note that this process requires your time and attention. It might seem counterproductive, but change requires that nonetheless. If you want them to run independently while producing great results, you have to invest in teaching them to do that. If you do it right, it would have a great ROI in the future. Make sure to make the right trade-offs. In some cases, if time is of the essence, maybe you would want to be more involved and solve things yourself. But you should make it a conscious, one-off, decision, and not the rule. 

Don’t Detach Too Soon

One of the greatest misconceptions about empowered teams is that they need to figure things out themselves. While true at some level, too often product leaders take it to an extreme that simply cannot work. 

Figuring out what to do on your own is extremely difficult. I remember it was one of the things I was quite shocked to see about myself when I became the VP Product at Twiggle. I have run much larger product groups before, and still, the role was harder than I expected, partly because no one told me what to do and I had to figure it out myself. This is one of the challenges that product leaders face at the top level, but your job as a manager is to make sure your people don’t face the same.

Detaching too soon and letting your people figure things out themselves is not only scary but also counterproductive. I always explain it using a simple metaphor: imagine you have a glass full of water in your hand. You want to spill the water at a certain point on the floor (don’t ask me why, it’s a metaphor!). If you flip the glass too high above the floor, the water would spread all over. If you want it to be on point, you must wait with flipping the glass until you are closer to the floor.

In this metaphor, flipping the glass is releasing your team to do the work on their own. If you do it too soon, before giving them proper guidance, you will cause them to spread too wide and they will most likely be unable to deliver the results you are looking for. 

This guidance includes an elaborate context on what you are trying to achieve, strategic priorities (which means decisions you have already made about what to focus on and what to leave out), and breaking down the objectives and goals to a tangible level that is simple for everyone to understand. It’s important to do it not only because they can’t understand it otherwise, but because the process of getting there includes many strategic decisions that you would need to make, and that you want everyone to adhere to.

The guidance itself can come in multiple forms. If you have thought it through already, or if you prefer consulting with someone outside of your team, you can write down everything I mentioned above, including the logic that led you to decide what you have decided on. If you prefer, you can prepare in advance only the context and figure out the rest in a two-way discussion with the team. There is no right method, there is only one that is right for you and your team. 

Whichever method you choose, make sure to have a discussion with the team and make sure they fully understand you before you take a step back. Remember that normally people wouldn’t understand these things just because you said them explicitly. You might need to repeat them over and over until they are fully understood and taken in. it’s not a problem, it’s simply how these things work.

Empowered teams are a great goal to have, but on your way there, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Your team, as empowered as it may be, still needs you. Just differently.