Have you ever questioned how much power your staff members actually have over the task they perform? Do they feel empowered and confident to offer their thoughts, or do they worry about being rejected and humiliated? Do you think the level of employee engagement is acceptable?
Your staff must respond to these questions correctly!
Employee independence at work
Gretchen Spreitzer of the University of Michigan examined 20 years’ worth of studies on workplace empowerment and discovered startling advantages of employee autonomy. A few factors at the top of the list included increased job satisfaction, productivity, performance, motivation, and fewer turnover/burnout.
Organizations need to modify their organisational dynamics and let their employees have more independence. As a leader, it is imperative that you focus your efforts on doing excellent work rather than micromanaging and microregulating your team members to foster a culture of autonomy at work.
Businesses must evolve, and leaders must provide workers the freedom to do their best work. Employees demand flexibility and autonomy at work in order to develop original ideas and make wise decisions.
The problem, though, is that managers frequently struggle to draw a boundary and settle the conflict between employee freedom, operational excellence, and discipline.
It’s critical for managers to recognise the value of autonomy and have faith that freedom will not be lost just because a broad strategy is developed through collaboration. Employees can work independently and become committed to helping organisations grow by developing a framework, inspiring employees to succeed, and achieving organisational success.
Instead of debating whether to grant autonomy, managers should consider what kind of autonomy should be granted. Because of the high degree of trust this fosters among staff members, levels of ownership rise, resulting in the success of the company.
What is meant by autonomy?
“Autonomy is a sensation of being in charge and having a choice,” according to Harvard Business Review. We reap the benefits of feeling well naturally when we have choices.
“52% of employees feel that their employment lacks autonomy.”
What is meant by employee autonomy?
The following are some of the key elements that create independent workplaces:
Ability to make decisions: Autonomous workers are given the freedom and capacity to make their own decisions. Employees are not required to seek approval from their managers for every decision they make or to perform menial tasks.
bolster inventive concepts: Employee involvement and effort levels rise when they feel that their ideas and contributions are valued. For instance, Google developed the “20 percent time” concept, which provided employees the freedom to spark their imaginations and come up with ideas for G-related passion projects, giving rise to some innovative methods like Gmail and Google Maps, among others.
Add some flexibility. Employee autonomy allows individuals the freedom to choose their own tasks and timetables while keeping the overall objective in mind.
These characters are becoming more and more of a gender-neutral concern because flexibility and autonomy go hand in hand.
How might autonomy be enabled for workers in hybrid workplaces?
Control! It’s reassuring just to think about it, especially if you’re the boss. But the necessary transformation is being accepted by the leaders.
Understand that there is no one-size-fits-all framework for supporting employee autonomy before introducing it to your workplace. Employees vary in their requirements and working methods. Others function better when allowed freedom, while some people work better under supervision. Through regular dialogues, executives must become familiar with and understand their workforce.
“On average, autonomy at work enhanced employee productivity by 5.2%”
Effects of independence at work
Why is independence more crucial than ever in these unsettling times? While promoting employee autonomy, executives encounter challenges as more workplaces adopt the hybrid approach. Follow these instructions for a seamless transition if you find yourself in the same situation.
Effective communication is the first step since management cannot expect workers to implement strategies without conveying the strategic goal. Because of this, leaders must jointly create a framework and explain their vision before putting workers into automatic mode. Establish a two-way communication channel with a strong sense of autonomy while communicating what you expect and promote.
Every employee has a unique expectation of autonomy from their supervisors, therefore step two is to get feedback from them. Employee engagement, productivity, and output will all rise by getting the right input on what the staff finds effective and how they would like to add more autonomy for next projects.
Step 3: Stop micromanaging. While eliminating spoon-feeding is a good first step, holding frequent meetings to monitor employee development and providing negative criticism reduces employee liberty. Instead, develop a project blueprint, hold weekly creative brainstorming sessions, and encourage team members to reach out to one another if they are stuck.
9% of the employees questioned by Gartner reported being more productive with less managerial oversight.
Step 4: Acknowledge staff members’ efforts:
Employers are urged to fall while guardrails are built for them. Employers who value autonomy in their workers are more likely to reward them. A sense of belonging is created by acknowledging modest victories. It could be something modest like a thank-you card or substantial like a bonus.
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According to study, 79% of workers exhibit higher accountability and performance output when granted autonomy at work.
The tendency of leaders is to give autonomy to teams. They have begun to think that this is the obvious course of action to encourage innovation, creativity, and development. But they also fear the anarchy that will come after liberation.
Employee engagement strategies: giving managers more control
It is possible to provide the right framework and controls while simultaneously granting your staff the freedom they require. How? By allowing managers to create barriers that will aid in real change being made by leaders.
Managers must continually work to hear from their staff through pulse surveys and then act based on in-the-moment information. Due to their workloads or because they downplay the significance of prompt steps after surveying the workforce, managers in the majority of firms frequently fail to conduct follow-up actions.
To address these issues, CultureMonkey created manager dashboards, which can assist team leaders in identifying problem areas and formulating a plan of action to address them by looking at in-depth information. When they don’t act, the system delivers timely reminders and alerts to assist them in setting priorities for the mechanism.
As a result, people will be able to treat action items as priorities of value rather than as a necessary “job.” Here are some steps you as a manager may take to promote autonomy in the workplace.
- Foster a strategic mindset: Help employees develop an autonomous strategic mindset where everyone from the top to the bottom has a fair understanding of business operations, strategic plans, and knowledge of how their projects will affect the organization’s overarching aim.
Giving people this knowledge can help them grasp the meaning and importance of their work, which will reduce misunderstandings and communication breakdowns and increase efficiency.
- Distribute risk mitigation: Organizations that prioritise their customers have many quality standards in place to guarantee consistent customer experiences. These businesses naturally worry about autonomy since it may jeopardise their reputation. However, a lack of autonomy will worsen the situation for businesses.
Create a structure and train staff on customer delivery to reduce risk. Give each person a share of the responsibility for not putting the business at danger.
- Create a culture of trust: According to a ManpowerGroup Solutions study, nearly 40% of employees worldwide cited autonomy as one of the three most important considerations in choosing a job.
Employees that work in an environment where there is trust have more freedom to express their thoughts, issues, and challenges. Micromanaging staff members can have a negative effect on their behaviour, morale, and engagement. Instead, creating a culture of trust and independence at work will provide managers the authority to confer with workers about their jobs, support fresh ideas, and enable two-way feedback.
Frank Tyger once said, in conclusion, “Doing what you like is freedom. Being happy means doing what you enjoy.
Flexible working conditions
A US-based video firm called Netflix described its culture as a mix of “freedom and responsibility.” They contend that workers operate more effectively when they are not required to seek authorization for every small task. By eliminating constraints and emphasising flexibility above efficiency, the organisation grants employees complete authority to choose their vacation time, maternity leave, and other leave options.
“We want to help individuals learn and give them air to make mistakes,” one of the executives said. For Netflix, each of these strategies was effective. With more than 100 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix has evolved from a mail-order movie rental service into an internet streaming service. The workforce’s commitment, engagement, and empowerment are credited by the organisation with its success.
Drive your purpose into action as soon as possible if you want your business to grow immensely. Share the bigger mission with your team, and offer them the freedom to create their own plans of action to accomplish it.
Each organisation must ultimately determine what is best for them in terms of their culture, sector, and overarching goal. However, when given more autonomy, employees are happier and more motivated to work.
Are you willing to increase team autonomy? Using Culture Monkey’s anonymous employee experience surveys, find out how much autonomy your staff need to succeed. You’ll get practical information right away that you can use to take quick, impactful action.
