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Empowerment is relational

Empowerment is relational. The word ‘empowerment’ conjures the image of a father handing his truck’s keys over to his son. It means autonomy and authority for the empowered. Merriam-Webster lists as synonyms commission, authorize, enable, and invest (empower). Spreitzer’s study discovered four conditions that foster empowerment in an organization. The conditions may be summarized vision, teamwork, roles, trust (security), and, from Maxwell’s definitions, I infer clarity (pg. 202-203). Galvanizing vision. “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owner will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood (King Jr.…