Autonomy Frameworks.
Happy Friday and how the year is flying. If you prefer to watch this week’s piece, you can click the 141 sec. video or read it below.
At a foundational level, autonomy is all about control, and as people, to have control over our own lives is important. And it’s this decision ownership, this ability to choose and initiate, that creates greater self-volition and personal expression. It’s how we are made.
Autonomy in the workplace is about managers releasing control and allowing team members to experience this decision ownership. Freedom is granted to choose how they will use their time to fulfil their tasks and in what order they will do them. It’s the inverse of micro-management.
So far so good, however…
Autonomy has its downsides and here are a few areas to be mindful of when granting individuals greater levels of freedom.
Is the person skilled with time and task management? Are they good with task prioritisation and do they know the difference between high value and low value tasks?
If you operate a hybrid office model, does work-from-home (WFH) work-for-them (WFT)? Some thrive at home, others more-so at the office.
If the person leads a team, are they skilled in effective delegation?
Do they have performance metrics in place for their roles? Do they know what constitutes high productivity? How do they measure it? How does their manager measure it?
What about their ability to manage daily anxiety and stress levels? If they struggle with this and find it difficult to manage tasks in an autonomous environment, it may not be great for their well-being.
In relation to the point above and also at a broader level, how much support from their manager do they require? Some need more, some less.
How are people kept accountable for results?
In a previous life I played guitar in a band and we loved to improvise. But this individual self-expression (of improvisation), was all done within a chordal framework. If that structure wasn’t there, it would have been a discordant mess.
And the same applies for our people in the workplace.
Autonomous working conditions need to be applied within a performance framework that factors in the points above and operate within the guide-rails of accountability. And the more robust this is, the more harmonious the performance will be.
Ray
PS. For simPRO software users, there are two upcoming events with the guru, Darren Whitby from Perth, and I will also be speaking. If you would like to meet with me in either Brisbane or Sydney this week, please reach out and we’ll see if our schedules align.
BRISBANE: July 12th from 5pm. Click here for details and to register.
SYDNEY: July 13th from 5pm. Click here for details and to register.
+61 403 341 105; ray@rayhodge.com.au; www.rayhodge.com.au
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