The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work

I feel empowered af tho

Great tool for the modern day middle managers. Explains very well the old leadership paradigms vs. the responsible adult / empowered manager approach.

As an update to the previous version released in the late 80s, many of the concepts covered are familiar to managers who have been reading about how to improve and adapt management styles. It includes theoretical ideas with practical applications; the focus is really on thinking of the people who report to you as those who drive the business. It's important to encourage growth and ideas, to reward good ideas even if they fail, and to help people grow into their own place. It can be a good read even for non-managers to encourage them to step up in a new way. The one complaint is that that it did start to feel a little repetitive.

I've been a big fan of Peter Block and am a firm believer in empowering your employees (and adequately resourcing them) to find their own path to success. I've been an executive for over a decade and as much as micro-managing seems like the least risky method of management in the short time, it's almost never the correct long-term approach. This book reiterates some great pearls of wisdom that you probably already know, but may need a refresher on.The book also is very realistic about the price that some will pay in their quest of achieving quality.I took one star off because the content could have been condensed to probably half or even the third of the size and although some of the anecdotes were great, the others struck me as repetitive.

The Empowered Manager is written for two kinds of people, according to its author: managers involved in running an organization and those working somewhere in the middle of an organization. Both types of people may be experiencing struggles and frustrations in their roles. Block writes for readers who have a “conservative style” and a “radical heart.” In this book, Block offers a mix of practical guidance and philosophical discussions. There are concrete instructions along with approaches to the meaning of life. It is a well-balanced, well-written and organized book that will help readers in envisioning and in carrying out their roles and relationships.The book was originally written in 1987. This is a revision that is quite contemporary and relevant. There is no indication that it is dated or patched together. It seems fresh and creative.One of the author’s goals is to help readers determine the difference between whether actions are courageous steps of faith versus reckless and self-destructive. He ultimately wants to help readers be themselves and to pursue their hopes and goals according to their own values. I think he offers a blueprint for readers to use to adjust their approach to work and careers. Much of this is in leading readers from a patriarchal approach to an entrepreneurial approach to organizational leadership and management.Block writes that “Empowerment, in its purest form, means creating a culture where people are confronted with their freedom.” His approach to leadership and contributing to an organization is based in developing a culture of freedom and courage for everyone in the organization from the top to the bottom. He conveys the sense of how to develop such a culture and to reap its benefits while confronting the elements that seek control and safety.This is an excellent book that I think any sort of leader or manager would benefit from reading.

This is a very good leadership/management book. The author does a good job of explaining what type of people would find this book helpful. It is a good blend of theoretical and practical ideas. This book is an update of a book that was written in 1987, when the economic climate was similar to today. The author has added some modern ideas, but the theory of people driving the business is still the main idea. This book is good for managers b/c it encourages them to think about the business and those under them as idea makers. It's a good book for those in the middle, underneath the managers, as it encourages them to step out and own what they are doing, even if that means sacrificing some of your comfort. Overall, this book has a lot to offer and I really enjoyed the theory that is encouraged and the practical application that is relevant.

I have Mr. Peter block as the absolute best, most incredible & fantastic teacher of organization change in the world. If I recall, he coined the phrase empowerment or empowered or something like that years ago when he was one of the first internal change agents in the world at Esso. At least I know he was known in the corporate world as the empowerment guy. He is a man who walks his talk. He offers a lifetime of reflection on the philosophical aspects of the empowered manager. Wisdom Indeed! Practical! A must-read for anyone interested in organization transformation and change. This is especially inspiring for the millennial generation. I am using it to help women in the Middle East to become empowered.Roland Sullivan

This is a fantastic book with a plan on rolling out a positive environment. If you lead people or want to lead people then read this, Peter does an outstanding job relaying common sense with a twist, it's not your everyday book on leadership and you'll certainly walk away with a game plan and new ideas.

Peter Block é um ícone da administração. Neste livro ele discorre sobre o poder e o uso do poder sob a ótica da política positiva dentro das organizações. Não faz isso de forma utópica, mas com ensinamentos aplicáveis no quotidiano de nosso trabalho.

Read this if you want an intimidating, eye-opening and possible even life-changing view on what is really going on and the hard path available to you. Wow.

Peter Block is an organization development consultant and founder of Designed Learning (a consulting training services provider). In this fascinating book he examines the characteristics of patriarchal organisations and negative politics and how they disempower and demotivate employees and explains how to use more entrepreneurial ways of working so that workers have more control of their work and take more responsibility.The book is divided into two parts – the first looks at politics in the workplace and ways of rekindling the entrepreneurial spirit and the second advises on positive political skills at work.For me, the first part is more interesting than the first because I think it’s a neatly executed dissection of traditional office power structures and politics – especially the bureaucratic, patriarchal models and the behaviour that they encourage and reinforce, e.g. maintenance, caution and dependency. Having worked for numerous large organisations, I have to say that I recognised an awful lot in what Block points out here about top-down, high control management where success is defined as moving up the ladder and employees engage in manipulative behaviour to those above and below the to create dependency.The section where he talks about how people don’t talk about feelings in this type of organisation because the focus is on just getting the job done especially resonated with me, as did the section where he talks about how sacrifice is encouraged for vague future rewards that then fail to materialise. Being honest, I also have to say how much I recognised in myself the behaviour types such as focusing on financial rewards and seeking approval of performance and how I instinctively moved towards safety. Block is also good at recognising how even when you’re at the top you’re still powerless in organisations like this as there are shareholders who you have to please.Much of what he says about characteristics of entrepreneurial structures and empowerment are common sense, e.g. being straight with employees when communicating with them (whether it’s about cuts or career progression) but I thought he made good practical points about pancake structures and practical steps to ensure that supervisors/managers aren’t given an opportunity to micro-manage so as to delegate decision making further down. I also think he makes sensible points about how not everyone will be up for changes aimed at empowering people while making suggestions for how to structure things like meetings and task assignment to encourage employees to take more control (e.g. by having employees initiate and lead staff meetings or expressing tasks in broad terms and having employees explain what support they need to achieve them).The second section about positive political skills at works wasn’t quite as successful for me, mainly because it really focuses on establishing and enacting visions of greatness, which is just one of those management-speak things that sets my teeth on edge. That’s not because I don’t think people should try to do the best they can but because they so often get caught up in grandiose language and because I’m not convinced people need a vision in order to work hard to achieve something. Also, although Block addresses the fact that some people will not have a vision, his “solution” is to ask them to suppose they do and then describe it, which I think is a bit circular although he does give more interesting advice later in terms of focusing on customers and what they want and forgetting about being number one he also tells you not to be practical because it will restrain your vision and that just cuts against my grain.The chapters where he talks about ways to identify allies, fence sitters, bedfellows and opponents are more useful in terms of strategies for dealing with the same, facing reality, being honest and authentic about our own contribution to problems. Again, there’s a lot of common sense here and Block did succeed in making me re-evaluate my own approach and behaviours.I should say that this is a very US-centric book (as a lot of management/leadership books tend to be) and that influences some of the analysis (notably with regard to the fear of being let go given the looser termination regime there) but there’s enough practical advice here to also apply to UK organisations.Ultimately I think there was a lot here that was useful and which I recognised from my own experience in working for large organisations and as such, I think it’s worth a look if you want to take a critical look at your company and what you can do to improve things.

This updated second edition looks at both modern theories of management and leadership in the workplace and practical ways of applying them in the workplace. The book is written for the American audience; however, the theories and many of the actionable items can be relatively easily adapted for the UK.The book is divided into two parts: Part 1: Politics in the workplace - rekindling the entrepreneurial spirit; Part 2: Positive Political Skills at Work.Topics covered include: personal choices that shape the workplace, the bureaucratic cycle, the entrepreneurial cycle, the patriarchial cycle, manipulative tactics, myopic self-interest, the empowerment cycle, creating a vision, what is vision and why is it important, communicating the vision, critical skills, negotiating agreement and negotiating trust, autonomy, interdependence, finding peace with the boss.I think of the management books I've read, this was my least favourite. I didn't like the use of 'we' throughout the book and I didn't find anything new that isn't already covered in many other management books more thoroughly.This isn't just for those starting in management positions but would also be suitable for those aspiring to become managers. It is a good book but there are many other better options out there.

Subtitled, “Positive Political Skills at Work,” this is a book about Empowerment. There are a number of such titles available, but there are, as the author says, two reasons to read this book (or, rather, that it is aimed at two kinds of people). It is relevant for managers involved in running an organisation, who struggle to create something they can believe in, or which expresses their values. Or, there are those who feel powerless to make the changes they want. The book is a mix of philosophy and practical ideas, so if you are looking to make changes, then you will, hopefully, find this useful.The book covers politics in the workplace; including personal choices that shape the work environment, a culture of empowerment and the empowerment choice. Part Two concentrates on positive political skills at work – creating a vision of greatness, negotiating with allies and adversaries, balancing autonomy and interdependence, facing organisation realities and enacting the vision.How useful you find this book will probably depend on how many books about empowerment you have read. It is quite dense – not all bullet points and diagrams, but it is a book that really needs to be read all the way through. I think the author says it best when stating that, “empowering ourselves comes from acting on our enlightened self interest,” as it includes inviting employees, at all levels, to follow the lead of contributing towards an atmosphere of working independently towards achievement and community. I am not sure it added much that was new, but it was a very readable account of the issues; although it is not easy to find ideas without reading the book cover to cover.