As you sit through meetings celebrating the potential of BPM software to empower every employee throughout your company, consider a recent proposal in Texas that would make it legal for blind persons to hunt. There's more to empowerment than meets the eye.

Yes, there's a lot of satisfaction in knowing that you have vaporized a varmint with a steel-jacketed slug. Yes, there's pleasure in the certainty that the deer you just dropped is no longer a threat to your garden. Yes, anyone feels more powerful sitting on his porch with a cold steel weapon on his lap, confident that people will finally take that "no soliciting" sign seriously. But does that mean it's a good idea for a blind person to experience these little joys? No! And just as you may think twice about giving a blind person a shotgun, you may question the wisdom of executives who don't think twice about whether the average employee is fit to be additionally powered. Here are some ground rules to accept before endeavoring to empower anybody:

Be sure everyone knows what you're talking about. Some managers use "empowerment" as a synonym for "Watch me dump on you all the things I hate!" Before empowering someone, ask yourself, "Am I developing that person by giving her more responsibility, or am I merely sugarcoating a task that I want someone else to do so I can devote my time to visiting YouTube?" If it's the former, that's empowering; if it's the latter, that's managing.

Consider what people really want. Not all employees sit around thinking "I wish I could soar with the eagles!" because most who actually think that have already leapt from office windows and soared for just a few short, horrifying seconds. Before you ask employees to take on more responsibility, ask them if they want it. If giving them more responsibility means they will earn more, make sure to tell them that. If it doesn't mean more money, make sure someone else tells them.

Separate desire from capability. I have the desire to play strong safety for an NFL team. I have the capability to play CDs. Empowering an employee means being sure he has the capability to accept the additional responsibilities. If employees don't have the ability to do what empowerment entails, you'll have to train them or, better yet, empower someone else to train them while you listen to CDs.

Little steps for little feet. Just as an inexperienced driver would be dangerous behind the wheel of a Ferrari, so would an inexperienced operations manager be dangerous behind the wheel of an SEC filing. Start your budget managers out on safe terrain, such as estimating the number of pens they'll go through in the next year.

Never actually say "empower." It sounds so Sixties, like the kind of word you'd hear from a union organizer or someone wanting to use your jumper cables. More modern words that express the same sentiment include "task," "personal growth trajectory," "developmental strategy," and "You're it!"

Be prepared to unpower. Not everyone you entrust with more authority, independence, or responsibility will prove worthy of your judgment, which may even make you wonder who was misguided enough to empower you to empower others. Don't get down on yourself. Everyone has their special calling, and someone has to take care of that deer in the garden.

Dan Danbom writes humor for a number of publications. His latest book is "Humor Meets Your Workforce: Make Laughter One of Your Organization's Goals."