Freedom Can Make Your Team Players Amazing
I rarely use the word freedom in the workplace. It is a 4th of July word. It works well when I talk about our founding fathers, not so much in the workplace. If you have a weak team player, freedom may mean they will goof off, not work or, worse yet, hide. I have a friend who often jokes about weak team players in this way:
“Why aren’t you working?”
“Because I didn’t see you coming.”
But autonomy (a.k.a. freedom) will foster creativity and initiative among good team members. It is a powerful tool for the great employee who can handle it. First, offering an employee autonomy requires some oversight on your part. Remember the old saying, “People will respect what you inspect.” But inspecting the work for quality gives the employee a chance to show what they can do.
For some employees, giving them freedom to take ownership of their role and the expected outcomes instills a sense of responsibility. You will know quickly if an employee can handle the freedom. If they can, it should cultivate trust and deeper collaboration, as team members operate with mutual respect and understanding.
Daniel Pink, in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, emphasizes the importance of autonomy in driving motivation and productivity. He says: “Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement.” He makes the argument that when individuals have the freedom to direct their own work, they are more engaged, motivated, and capable of achieving mastery in their tasks.
Autonomy (a.k.a. freedom) provides an opportunity for employees to be amazing and the higher we go up, the more we need others to work with us, not hide from us.
Keep growing amazing leaders! Jeff
