Why is Freedom to Act Necessary in TVET Organisations?
When implementors share in the decision-making, most likely, the decisions have stronger buy-in. When members of an organization buy into the policies, this is already half of the battle won.
It is important, in fact, of great strategic value to have the implementers share in the decision making. Phases, where implementers can make decisions, need to be identified early in the process for smoother and more effective implementation.
If every meeting has to be approved at the top, it slows the implementation down. Not only that, it makes the implementers unable to act immediately to remedy a very simple problem or issue on the ground. When removed from decision making. often, implementers shrug from responsibility and accountability.
Decision making when shared train the one in the lower levels to learn how to make choices that benefit the organisation.
Often, especially in highly authoritarian cultures, those at the lower levels only wait to be told what to do.
Many lose the initiative to act and most likely, when promising young employees lack challenge, they will move on where they can find meaningful engagement and you’re left with most of the slackers.
It is time to share the decision-making and the first step is to identify at what point of the hierarchy, decisions are to be made for certain issues that may come up.
Decision-makers at this point must be held accountable and must be encouraged to act.