Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose

Happy and productive people are those who are given the freedom to make decisions, those who have the confidence of being on top of their game, and those who are working towards positive outcomes. Our customer-centric world will thrive when staff themselves are focused, trained and empowered.

All of our people need to work with autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Traditional models of motivation are driven by rewards and fear of punishment, dominated by extrinsic factors such as possible hierarchical advancement and money. This does not make for a happy and productive workplace. Higher pay only motivates those doing basic mechanical tasks.

If the task involves cognitive skills, decision-making, creativity, or higher-order thinking - as performed by many of those involved in our digital journey – then each of our workforce needs to be able to work with autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Autonomy provides employees with a sense of collective ownership. They are part of a greater whole, active (rather than passive) members of the team, making a positive overall contribution to the organisation. Autonomy is motivating, and motivated engineers build better products, and do so faster - decisions are made locally instead of by managers and committees.

Mastery is the urge to improve our skills, which encourages us to participate and learn, and thereby contribute further to the quality of the outcome.

Purpose is the desire to do something that has meaning and is important. Businesses that only focus on profits without valuing purpose will end up with poor customer service and unhappy employees. If our people understand their place in the grand scheme of things, and that scheme has value and purpose, then they perform well.

Working towards a content and motivated workforce is a goal for every organisation. Helping your staff achieve autonomy, mastery and purpose will help you on that journey.