The role of autonomy in creating an environment for high performance
Another critical piece of the puzzle in how a leader can create the best conditions for thinking is autonomy - how much control we feel over our own lives. In a work context, it’s the degree to which we can make choices and take decisions. Autonomy from a leader signals that they trust and value the person's ability to get the job done.
Most people know that autonomy is a fundamental human need - a study of over 400,000 people across 63 countries found that autonomy was a better predictor of wellbeing than wealth (yes money helps to a degree - but only if it brings a sense of autonomy with it). Having a sense of autonomy moderates our stress response. And at the very end of the spectrum look at how we punish the worst behaviour in our society – jail, the ultimate deprivation of autonomy!
There's no one right formula for autonomy in the workplace. Modern working environments have complex adaptive problems that require broad contribution from the organisation to solve them. Giving too little autonomy means you will create a ceiling on the quality of thinking you’ll get from the broader team - people will be less motivated to contribute, will be more dependent on you to solve problems, you’ll get less ‘above and beyond’ effort, and the learning curve of your team will be slower (which means your job is harder!).
On the flip side, giving too much autonomy without appropriate checks and balances can introduce additional risk (as if someone messes up, you’re still accountable), and the team may miss opportunities for collaboration and information sharing.
It’s better to look it as a balancing act – for the best quality thinking and higher performance, give as much autonomy as you possibly can, depending on the context and the person. Here are a few things you can do as a leader to create the freedom to think:
Refer back to the tips on establishing psychological safety in my previous post – if people don’t feel comfortable speaking up then they won’t share their thinking!
Get into the habit of speaking last – it may take a bit of persistence if people are used to you speaking first.
Silence means people are thinking…if you have a tendency to over-verbalise, use the acronym WAIT – Why Am I Talking?
Coaching is gold to help people think. If someone comes to you with a question/problem, ask a question instead of defaulting to advice (‘before I give a suggestion why don’t you test your thinking with me first? What’s the first option that comes to mind? What else?)
A good test of whether you can ‘drop the rope’, is to imagine you’re in a boat, and any negative consequences from giving autonomy to someone are a hole in the boat – would any potential damage be above the waterline (fixable) or below the waterline (the boat will sink)?
There so much more to say about autonomy in terms of getting the best from people - I managed to write a whole post about it without mentioning micromanagement… but that’s one for another day!