From compliance to autonomy
The traditional idea of management is that managers are responsible for controlling the efforts and compliance of the people working for them. The irony of that notion is that the managers who put the idea of compliance aside are the ones who get more of the behaviors they are looking for.
People begin striving and yearning for autonomy early in life—to have the ability to act independently from someone else’s control. In many ways, today’s work environment is the opposite of autonomous because people are paid to contractually do a prescribed job in a prescribed way. Under the best circumstances, that job is in alignment with the employee’s purpose, but there are no guarantees.
The best companies are the ones that take this approach: “We hire smart people, let them know where we’re going as a business, get them to care deeply about the purpose of our business, provide them with a clearly defined playing field, and then let them make decisions as much as they can to accomplish the goals that have been set.” In this regard, autonomy is not only something that employees want, but also something that really benefits the company.
In today’s organizational setting, people want the ability to freely pursue and excel at the job they have been hired to do. The most important things employees are looking for now are the resources, tools, and means to work independently and to show their managers how competent they are.
A big part of being a manager is saying, “I’ve done what I can do, and now I need to turn it over to people so they can be accountable and responsible for their own performance.” The reality is that managers can’t watch their people all the time, so at some point their people are going to have to act on their manager’s behalf, consistent with the way that their manager wants them to act. This requires the manager to provide a clear picture of the desired outcome.
…if you are a parent, you know that sooner or later your children are going to be out in the world, living and making decisions outside of your expressed views. If parents don’t let their kids do anything independently and develop their own skills before they turn 18 and leave for college, then they’re asking for trouble. Parents, as well as managers, need to slowly loosen the leash and give more autonomy over time. Otherwise they’re going to see some real disasters because they haven’t built up a person’s capacity to be autonomous.
- Ken Blanchard and Scott Blanchard
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(Source: Fast Company)
