Autonomy

by Don Harkey

The 3 needs that create motivation are competence, autonomy, and relatedness. In the last article ("I Think I Can, I Think I Can"), I talked about competence. Now I want to talk a little about autonomy. Its trickier than you think!

Autonomy is simply a person's ability to choose whether or not to do something. The ability to choose a course of action is a basic component of motivation. Someone who gets to choose how and whether to act will be more likely to act as long as they feel competent in the action and as long as they feel related to what they are doing. This seems very intuitive, but it presents supervisors with a challenge.

A supervisor must get their people to do a job. The easiest way to do this is to simply order the employees to do the job. However, as we just discussed, this can be demotivational. This is the challenge. How do you get someone to do something without telling them directly to do it?

The answer is complicated. Providing a vision on what to do does not necessarily mean giving details as to how to it. For example, I could tell my employees that a new client will be visiting the office at 3PM that afternoon and that I thought we should put our best foot forward. The employees will likely take steps to make sure the office is welcoming. They will take both expected and unexpected steps toward the mission. The trick is to answer the questions, "why are we doing this?" and then empower the people to find a way to get it done.

This is a real challenge, especially if you are working with someone who has been working in an unhealthy management environment for a long time. These people are used to getting orders and don't function well at first when they are empowered. However, it is well worth the investment of time it takes to show these people how rewarding their jobs can be.

Consider carefully the role autonomy plays in leadership and make sure to focus on the vision and goals rather than on the specific steps. Your people will take you places you never dreamed and they will love doing it!