Loosening the Reins: It Just Makes Business Sense

The other day I happened to be browsing through one of the best-known leadership books of all time, The Leadership Challenge, by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. Remarkably, I landed on the following passage, which fits right in with the topic of autonomy about which I’ve been writing lately. I thought that Kouzes and Posner’s words were worth quoting in their entirety.

“If leaders want higher levels of performance and greater initiative from their constituents, they must be proactive in designing work that allows people discretion and choice. In another word, latitude. [In yet another word, autonomy - JK] To feel like they’re in control of their own work lives people need to be able to take nonroutine action, exercise independent judgment, and make decisions that affect how they do their work without having to check with someone else. It means being creative and flexible – liberated from a standard set of rules, procedures, or schedules. It means having more broadly defined jobs, offering more alternatives. Narrow job categories confine choices; broader categories permit increased flexibility and discretion. Those who hold broadly defined jobs have more options about how to accomplish the assigned objectives.

“In this dynamic global environment, only adaptive individuals and organizations will thrive. This means leaders must support more and greater individual discretion to meet the changing demands of customers, clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders. With this increased discretion comes an increased ability to use and expand one’s talents, training, and experience.”

As I read these words, I was particularly struck by Kouzes and Posner’s observation about the connection between latitude and adaptability. This shows that allowing autonomy is not simply a matter of providing more personal satisfaction for individuals; it’s also necessary for organizations to survive – and, if fully embraced, to thrive.

REFLECTIONS FOR THE YES! LEADER

Certainly leaders need to be aware of how well their people are progressing toward work goals. But are your actions in monitoring your people’s work really coming across as “looking over their shoulders”?  You might find another opportunity to provide autonomy by easing up a little on the supervisory reins.

What would happen if you were to do the following?

·         Focus less on your people’s activities, focus more on their results.

·         Extend the time between “check-ins” on your people’s work.

·         Hold a brainstorming session with your people about how they can keep you in the loop without having to provide a play-by-play account of their activities.