Dealing With the Authority Conundrum

Rather than empowered, employees encouraged to work things out at their own level often find their hands tied.

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In the collaboration revolution occurring in the modern workplace, “work things out at your level” effectively pushes as much communication, decision-making, and cooperative action as far down the chain of command as possible. When it works well, everything runs more smoothly and swiftly: information exchange, decision-making, planning, resource sharing, and execution. It also reduces unnecessary problems and waste.

The problem for most people is they don’t have the authority they need to work things out at their level. People don’t always have the same agenda. There are competing priorities and limited resources, not to mention egos involved.

The authority conundrum

This presents an authority conundrum: The goal is to empower collaboration throughout the organization as far down the chain of command as possible. But when there’s a problem and you’re left to work things out at your own level, by definition, nobody has the power of rank to resolve things swiftly and efficiently. And the conundrum emerges even when you are dealing with people in diagonal roles—up or down. One person might have a higher rank, but no one has direct authority, which complicates the relationship even more.

The fact is that despite the collaboration revolution, with its flatter organizations and self-managed project teams, there is always somebody in charge who is making decisions. Choices are considered up and down the chain of command. At your own level, there will always be conflicts that can’t be worked out.

Too many people find themselves, in effect, proceeding until apprehended, leading to real business problems and costs. Meantime, most people in the workplace need a lot more guidance than they get when it comes to managing their sideways and diagonal working relationships. But they feel they are discouraged from going to their managers for that guidance until things are already going wrong. Or they sidestep authority and go in the wrong direction until it comes back to bite them.

The ad hoc, unstructured, as-needed communication that is typical of the collaboration revolution often breeds unnecessary problems that get out of control—leading to delays, errors, squandered resources, and plenty of relationship damage.

Alignment is the solution

The solution to this conundrum is alignment. How you align yourself in terms of decision-making and support—and with whom—is the core mechanism of “working things out at your own level”.

Going vertical is the first step. At work you deal with so many people from all over the organization chart—up, down, sideways, and diagonal—that in order to keep your priorities straight and set yourself up for success, you must align yourself vertically along the way. You need to know clearly where you have discretion and where you don’t. The only place to get that clarity is from above.

When you don’t know an answer, you’d better check with your boss. Over time, you will get the answers to many questions that recur, and you’ll learn more about the organization’s overarching objectives and policies, ground rules, politics, and standing marching orders. The more you check, upfront and in advance before proceeding, the more situational awareness you’ll gain—and the less likely you’ll be apprehended going in the wrong direction.

The same goes for your direct reports. You must align with them so they understand their marching orders and have the authority to make choices and get their work done.

Vertical alignment is your anchor because:

• If nine times out of 10 you already know exactly what your boss (and your boss’s boss) would say, you have a lot more power to work sideways (and diagonal)—to communicate, decide, and take action—with confidence. That power comes from managing up.
• If nine times out of 10 your direct reports already know exactly what you (and your boss) would say, then they have a lot more power, too. That’s the power you give your direct reports by managing down—or, just plain managing.
• It is also much easier to deal with sideways and diagonal colleagues who ensure their own vertical alignment, with their own bosses and direct reports. Otherwise, you may think you are making decisions and taking action with colleagues at your own level only to find that they were never empowered to do business with you in the first place. While you can’t control that, you can try to check up front.