How does autonomy, voice and choice improve your team's performance?

Freedom, flexibility, autonomy…good things right? To have a voice in how I manage my day and to feel in control of my work. The freedom to choose, the flexibility to spend time on the things that are most important to us and the autonomy to approach things our way. The need for autonomy is not just an ideal it’s a critical and key performance indicator. Having a voice and a sense of choice is a prerequisite for engagement. We have an opportunity right now to carve out and continue to nurture autonomy and flexibility. To build collaborative partnerships between employee and employer, built on trust that will not only improve our performance but will significantly boost our health and wellbeing.

Research by Deci and Ryan has shown that, ‘autonomy when accurately defined, is essential to the full functioning and mental health of individuals and optimal functioning of organisations and cultures’

The definition to which they refer is our perception of choice and to what extent we believe that our actions can influence the path and/or outcome of a situation. And, importantly that the actions we take when we reflect back on them, fit with our values and needs.

Higher perceived control and choice is linked to lower psychological stress, better cardiovascular health, better outcomes for patients and even in one study a link to even living longer. When we believe that our autonomy is limited and our capacity to control the parts of our world that are important to us is our of our reach, the brain shifts us into a threat state – after all relinquishing control from the survival perspective of the brain is inherently dangerous. Factors at work such as targets, management style, reward structure, uncontrollable workloads, long hours culture and so on, can accumulate to quash our perception of choice. We often accept this situation as ‘just the way work is’, but ultimately not only is our performance and engagement reduced, we also face over the longer term risks to our health.

Interestingly, micro-managing, which in its very approach reduces the voice and choice of the team members, is a defence behaviour borne out most often from a reduced sense of control of the manager themselves. It’s often why you hear from managers when asked about implementing flexible working phrases such as ‘If we do that it will open the flood gates’; ‘How will I know they are working if they are at home?’  Next time you hear this replace their words with something along the lines of, ‘I’m fear that I won’t be able to control the work-flow, and that may mean that I won’t meet the targets, and that may mean I’ll fail….’ The same goes for when you hear someone, often in times of change’ say, ‘They told us..’, ‘It’s not my decision, it’s come from head office…’. They are actually saying – I have no say in this, my choice has been taken away.

Autonomy, choice and a sense of control puts the brain into a safe zone, in other words it directly correlates to trust and trust is the true performance currency. If you have employed the right people for your business do what Jack Welch says – ‘Give them the tools, and get out of their way’