How to Develop Your Team's Autonomy

Author

Jon Matzner
December 17, 2023

Greetings Earthlings!

Our topic today is one that I find myself often pondering:

How to best develop autonomy in the people who work at your company (including global talent!) - to push the ball forward without your (the leader’s) specific input.

Almost every business owner I work with is interested in the topic, but that’s about where the conversation ends.

They say

“Sure Jon - I’m all about that goal - but how the hell does that actually work?”

Well fear not dear leader - here is exactly how to do it, step by step.

The ladder of leadership is David Marquette’s - and is incredibly applicable in building autonomy in your local and global talent.

First and foremost, throughout this journey it's essential to resist the urge to simply instruct others on what to do, as this is a major barrier to fostering leadership and autonomy.

In the modern digital workspace - this is magnified with tools like Slack, where the presence of a green dot next to a leader's name can prompt team members to frequently message for confirmation or input on decisions.

WRONG.

Relying too heavily on this quick communication becomes a crutch, leading to poor leadership practices.

This approach may work in small organizations, but as the company grows, constantly seeking the boss's input becomes impractical and hinders the development of those actually doing the work.

Additionally , these team members, over time, gain a more nuanced understanding of the on-the-ground realities and business considerations than the senior leadership!

OK - so you’ve pressed the “I believe button” and are now rocking and rolling.

David Marquette’s Ladder of Leadership is 100% the way to go here. The idea is that everyone starts at the bottom rung (tell me what to do) and your job as a leader is to climb your organization up the ladder.

When first getting started, focus on getting to the 4th rung!

Until you’ve gotten good at the concepts, moving beyond that will probably scare the bejesus out of you.

Step 1: “Tell Me What to Do”

Here’s where you begin.

It's safe, but it's also where potential is waiting to be unlocked. Everyone starts here. Some weak leaders never allow their organization to move beyond this step, and every action that the organization ever takes is directed by the boss.

Weak sauce - but we all have to start somewhere

Step 2: “I See”

This is the beginning of teaching your team to be proactive.

Now instead of just sitting around waiting for you to tell them to do things they can start to make observations.

An example would be them telling you:

“I see that when people join our email newsletter are confused. “

However small that observation might appear … it is the beginning of initiative!

They have spotted something that you wouldn't have seen and are calling it out.

Have them create a list and bring it to your next one on one.

Step 3: “I Think”
Now, not only is your team observing issues or problems they are starting to make a subjective judgment as to the context of what they see.

Adding to the example above - instead of simply saying ‘people are confused when they join our email newsletter’, they would then add "I think a new welcome sequence that added frequently asked questions would make a big difference”.

Huge step!

You then play a key role in refining their thoughts… specifically using moments where ideas might be off-target as coaching opportunities.

Don't jump back into giving them answers.

Jump into “coaching and mentoring mode” asking them to explain why they think what they think and if it's off-base, giving them feedback as to why it is a bit off.

Step 4: “I Would Like To”

Now we are really cooking with gas!

The member of your team now not only spots a problem …they think about the problem … and propose a solution.

They don't implement a solution without approval from a higher authority, but they've gotten the decision to the point of yes or no for their supervisor.

Often times and hierarchical organizations. This is as far as the leadership is OK pushing autonomy.

There is nothing wrong with that but I do believe it is limiting.

Using the same example: “people are confused when they are joining our newsletter, and I would like to rewrite our welcome sequence to address frequently ask questions”.

As always, if they propose a dumb solution, don't give them the right answer. Coach them on arriving at the right answer themselves.

Step 5: “I intend to”

This is the big leap. Your relationship goes from default approval needed to default approval given.

This is the stage you get to once you've refined the judgment and autonomy and they're showing that they can handle the responsibility well.

The default answer is yes to any suggestions.

“People are confused when joining our newsletter, and unless I hear from you, I'm gonna send out a new frequently asked question document tomorrow at close of business”.

At this stage, the organization can make decisions without your active involvement.

Step 6: “I’ve done”

At this stage, you've built a high trust relationship with your team.

They keep you in the loop out of courtesy, but their judgment is so refined that they don't need your input to continue to pursue the higher purposes of the organization. They keep you in the loop after the fact.

“Hey, I just noticed our email welcome sequence was confusing, so I fixed it”.

Step 7: “I’ve been doing”

The ultimate level of autonomous leadership and trust.

Now, beyond, just informing you of individual projects or actions that have been closed, you are kept in the loop retroactively about ongoing responsibilities, decisions, or resource allocations.

“Hey I noticed our welcome to the newsletter sequence was off, so I hired a new copywriter on upwork, and updated the sequence”.

Heaven!

A Few Final Observations (each of which could be it’s own post):

  • Don’t force this - not everyone makes it to the top. That is OK!

  • You have to give context to your team. They can’t move up if they don’t know what the company is doing, what their peers are doing, and what is expected of them.

  • The worst thing you can do is have someone excited to move up the ladder, well on their way, and then you jump in and override them. This ruins the psychologically safety that this process is meant to create. If you aren’t comfortable enabling the people around you to be successful - including occasionally making decisions - you shouldn’t do this!

Your exercise for this week - when one of your team asks you a question that you know the answer to - ask them instead “What do you think?”, and coach them to get to the right conclusion.

Let me know how it goes!

Yallah Habibi,

Jon

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Passage of the Week - From Adam Smith:

“If a single action was sufficient to stamp the character of any virtue upon the person who performed it, the most worthless of mankind might lay claim to all the virtues; since there is no man who has not, upon some occasions, acted with prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude.

But though single actions, however laudable,  reflect very little praise upon the person who performs them, a single vicious action performed by one whose conduct is usually very regular, greatly diminishes and sometimes destroys altogether our opinion of his virtue.

A single action of this kind sufficiently shows that his habits are not perfect, and that he is less to be depended upon, than, from the usual train of his behaviour, we might have been apt to imagine”.