Autonomy Playbook

Some years back I met a few people that changed my perception on how to lead people, that’s when I learned about the word “Autonomy”.

What’s the meaning of Autonomy?

According to Merriam Webster is the following:

1: the quality or state of being self-governing; especially: the right of self-government The territory was granted autonomy.

2: self-directing freedom and especially moral independence personal autonomy

3: a self-governing state

All three of these definitions are about self-sustainment or at the very least a minimal amount of supervision or guidance needed.

We all started somewhere with someone teaching us something about a job that we were doing or way to make jobs easier. These days they are being defined as potential shortcuts or drifting from procedure execution. But in the very beginning of the conversation about any task that needs to be completed, one on one or as a team, we know the characteristics of our team and our leaders. If we don’t know who our leaders are on a face to face level and what their abilities are, how can we ensure that the “Autonomy” that we are handing over to them is going to be accomplished?

When team members have the freedom to approach their jobs in a way that governs their skill sets and personalities, your team goals can flourish as long as the plan is followed.

You self-insure yourself for success by understanding what they need, what they need to be successful with whatever the task may be, sometimes it is may be just a phone call to let them air their concerns or to have a “vent” session, are we allowing our leaders to “vent” when they need to? Do we respond by email when there is concern or do we pick up the phone and make it personal when they need support?

How do you increase the amount of autonomy that you share with your team?

Increasing it will vary from time to time based on the way your operation is performing and the type of execution phases you are working with. Letting your team leaders and decision makers control their work situation, depending on the environment in which they apply it, it may involve a choice. A choice in selection of project importance, when to stop certain jobs and when to start certain jobs, they are inside of the machine and they see it operate 24 hours of the day so their decisions are vital to your expectations even though not completely apparent when the decisions are made but many follow up meetings will show that these moments are during the execution phase when there may be a roadblock or potential stop in progress, this is when the “Autonomous” leadership is worth its weight.

It can be beneficial for junior supervisors as well as the team leaders. When a junior supervisor has some power over his/her activities they are more likely to be successful when they understand the full expectations of their team leaders.

Is it time to put down the emails, forecasts and meeting to make a face to face visit?