IT Project Management - life on the front line

The reason I titled this post with a question mark is that I believe empowerment to be a very misused term. Here's the Cambridge dictionary definition: Of course, you know this already. Yet for some, "to empower" has become synonymous with "to abrogate responsibility" Or in other words, passing the buck to your team: 'boss we need help dealing with team x' 'you're empowered to deal with that' This is just crappy leadership. Of course , you have to empower people so you're not a blocker. Of course , you have to give people additional responsibility to help them develop beyond their current role. But when you 'empower ' someone, you retain the accountability overall.  It's not a get-out-of-jail-free card to blame them if things don't go as planned or to turn around months later and say 'well you can't complain.  I empowered you to do it and you failed' No.  If you're my bos