It is rather interesting that there is a common view out there that when you empower someone with something that you own, you are absolve of all accountability. I think not.

Empowerment involves gradually turning over the responsibility for direction and support to another. Empowerment is used by leaders to develop their team’s skills and knowledge while supporting them to use their talents. It is about sharing control but not ownership.

You will never have an empowered, self-directed team unless you are willing to share control. Empowerment is all about letting go so that others can get going. Letting go may cause you to face the fear of losing control, which is a prominent fear for many traditional leaders yet it is necessary to lead a team.

Therefore, a leader who empowers his team does so by sharing control (responsibility) but not by transferring ownership. This means the leader is still accountable for what the team does.