From Silo to Network: Empowering Teams to Make Decisions

From Greg Kihlström, Marketing Technology Keynote Speaker and MarTech Consultant

TL;DR: Even with collaborative decision-making processes in place, many organizations still treat “empowerment” like a vague corporate aspiration rather than a real, operational directive.

It’s not enough to say teams are empowered—you have to show them where their autonomy begins and ends, give them the tools to succeed, and be willing to support them when things go sideways. Otherwise, empowerment becomes little more than a buzzword that gets people excited until the first time they try to actually use it.

Empowered teams are the backbone of a networked organization. But empowerment doesn’t mean a free-for-all. It means clearly defined autonomy, support for good judgment, and trust in people to make calls that move the business forward. Here’s how to do it without turning your org into a chaos factory.

Set Boundaries, Not Rules

Telling teams they have “freedom” without setting clear boundaries is a recipe for confusion or disaster—or both. Instead, define a decision-making sandbox: where teams have full autonomy, where alignment is required, and where leadership still holds the keys.

Example: Imagine your content team wants to experiment with short-form video. Instead of requiring VP-level signoff on every post, you establish parameters: they can test any format under 90 seconds, with a $5K max spend, and must share weekly performance data. Within those boundaries, they’re free to test, learn, and iterate. No micromanagement, just informed autonomy.        

Push Authority to the Edges

The people closest to the customer, the product, or the problem typically have the clearest perspective. So why are they often the last to make decisions? Push authority to the edges—let frontline teams call more of the shots when it’s their expertise and context that matter most.

Example: A support team keeps seeing a pattern of complaints about a specific onboarding email. Rather than filing a Jira ticket for someone upstream to evaluate in Q3, the team is authorized to rewrite or replace customer comms up to a certain threshold. Fast feedback, fast fix, and a better experience for everyone.        

Tie Decisions to Metrics

Decision-making feels safer when success is measurable. Giving teams clarity around what “good” looks like—and how it’s measured—turns empowerment from guesswork into guided autonomy. This also makes it easier for leadership to support bold moves, even when they don’t fully understand the nuance.

Example: Your digital marketing team is experimenting with landing page formats. Instead of asking for creative approval on every variant, you set a clear metric: improve conversion rate by 10% over baseline. As long as their changes move the needle and stay brand-compliant, they own the process. The KPI becomes the gatekeeper—not a committee.        

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Celebrate Ownership, Not Just Outcomes

If you only reward successful outcomes, you’ll end up with risk-averse teams that wait for permission. But if you recognize thoughtful initiative—even when the result is mixed—you build a culture where people take accountability seriously and learn from action, not just from memos.

Example: A regional sales team pilots a new incentive structure to boost long-tail accounts. It doesn’t deliver the lift they hoped for, but they document the process, share learnings across regions, and proactively recommend an alternative. Instead of being punished for “failing,” they’re praised for owning the challenge and contributing to the broader system.        

Empowering teams isn’t just about handing over control—it’s about creating the structure, clarity, and culture that makes good decision-making possible. By defining boundaries, pushing authority to where the action is, tying decisions to metrics, teaching judgment, and celebrating ownership, you enable your teams to lead from wherever they sit. In a networked organization, that’s not a nice-to-have—it’s essential. Because when decision-making is distributed thoughtfully, momentum scales. And momentum, unlike bureaucracy, actually gets things done.

Conclusion

Building a networked organization isn’t about throwing out structure and hoping collaboration magically appears. It’s about creating smarter systems—systems that tap into the collective intelligence already sitting inside your teams. Real empowerment comes not from loosening control, but from deliberately shifting it to the right places, with the right support. When innovation is expected, captured, and acted upon—and when decision-making is both distributed and intentional—you stop relying on top-down mandates and start building real momentum from the inside out.

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