How to make your teams more independent[Storytime Saturdays]
How different leaders create teams with autonomy, independence, and initiative.
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Leadership is hard. I’ve interviewed over 30 Leaders, in fields ranging from education to generative AI Art, from startups to Big Tech firms. Wildly different challenges, cultures, stages of development, and processes. And they all had one common thing to say- the most challenging part of their work was dealing with people. This included clients and customers, but the leaders often expressed serious challenges in galvanizing their employees to work at a high level without supervision. They feel an urge to constantly micromanage and look over their employees’ shoulders since they feel like nothing ever gets done without them pushing for it. Ultimately, this is a negative experience for everyone involved.
Whenever you can, create the spirit of autonomy in your teams. By letting your reports have their autonomy you hit many benefits at once-
You improve their experience of working under you. No one likes micro-managers.
You free up your time and energy to study the larger trends, allowing you to make much better decisions. You can also then focus your efforts on the areas where you are needed the most.
You give the people working under you the ability to grow and tackle challenges. Not only will they do a better job than you would (since they do it day-day), but they will go on to develop better skills. This will allow them to thrive, strengthening your position and network.
In this article, I will be going over some of the techniques that multiple successful leaders have shared with me that they employed to get their teams running without the need for constant supervision. By leveraging these techniques, you will be able to create teams with a lot of autonomy, independence, and initiative. Whether you’re a leader looking to take things up a level, or someone who’s aspiring to get into management- you don’t want to miss this writeup.
According to the two researchers, self-determination is made up of three components: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. They defined autonomy as “the desire to be the causal agent of one’s own life.” If we think of entrusting employees with greater autonomy as the encouragement of self-determination, we can expect a greater degree of satisfaction, fulfillment, and engagement at work because the outcomes are likely to be perceived as the result of their own inherent ability. Similarly, it will serve as an intrinsic motivator to perform better.
-Taken from “Forget Flexibility. Your Employees Want Autonomy” by Harvard Business Review
How To Create More Initiative in Your Teams
Amazon's process of documenting mistakes- We are going to start off with something I learned from a former manager at Amazon (currently at Meta). We were talking about internal tooling and the constant development of new systems at Amazon. He told me that because of this constant churn, developers often created systems with bugs and caused things to break. Or they would pursue paths that were ultimately dead-ends, spending weeks of development on a feature that ultimately turned out to be useless. However, this manager’s way of treating failures was very interesting. Mistakes would not be penalized if the person who made it documented their mistake, analyzed what caused it, and how it would be avoided in the future. This approach is great because it allows people to learn from their (and other people’s) mistakes. This manager would encourage his reports to write extensive reports on the mistake/failure they made and publish them on Amazon’s communication channels.
Loss Aversion exists in a variety of contexts, and can kill drive in organizations. This was quite interesting to listen to because Big Tech is notoriously cut-throat when it comes to firing low-performers (leading to a very high burnout rate). If you want to inculcate a culture where people are comfortable going out and taking charge, then you want to create a culture where they feel safe to take risks. Remember that we fear potential loss much more than we love gain (about 2.5x more). This means that most people will not engage in a scenario where they can make 20 Dollars on winning if they lose 10 Dollars on failure (assuming equal odds). If your employees are scared of making mistakes, then they will be hesitant to take charge, no matter how lucrative your bonuses are.
Praise Publicly, Criticize Privately- One of the key factors that influence autonomy is feedback. Feedback can help your team members learn from their mistakes, improve their performance, and feel valued and appreciated. However, feedback can also have a negative impact on autonomy if it is delivered in a harsh, unfair, or inconsistent way. To promote autonomy in your team, you need to give feedback that is constructive, specific, timely, and respectful. You also need to consider the context and the audience of your feedback. A good rule of thumb is to praise publicly and criticize privately.
Praising publicly means recognizing and celebrating your team members’ achievements and contributions in front of others. This can boost their confidence, motivation, and reputation. It can also encourage other team members to emulate their behavior and strive for excellence.
Photo by Elissa Garcia on Unsplash Criticizing privately is the opposite. giving constructive criticism or corrective feedback in a one-on-one setting. This can avoid embarrassing or demoralizing your team members in front of their peers. It can also allow you to have a more honest and open conversation about the issue and how to resolve it. Remember, a lot of tension will kill the initiative of the teams, and there is no better way to have your team walking on eggshells than criticizing your team in public.
Make Responsibilities Clear- Another factor that affects autonomy is clarity. Clarity means having a clear understanding of what is expected of you, what are your goals and priorities, and how your work contributes to the bigger picture. Without clarity, your team members may feel confused, frustrated, or directionless.
To promote autonomy in your team, you need to make responsibilities clear for each team member. You can do this by:
Defining the scope, objectives, and deliverables of each project or task
Assigning roles and accountabilities based on skills, strengths, and interests
Setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals and milestones
Communicating the vision and purpose of your team and how it aligns with the organizational strategy
Providing regular updates and feedback on progress and performance
My personal favorite was the bi-directional communication framework, used by Fidel Rodriguez, Director of Analytics at LinkedIn. This involves setting a very strong culture of 2-way communication- Fidel first makes sure to have 1-1 meetings with all the stakeholders in a project/venture to understand their needs and wants very well. He then takes time to sit with his reports and share these needs in great detail, taking input from their end. These inputs can then be used when shaping strategy and setting long-term goals. By doing so, the whole organization is aligned as one, and things progress smoothly. If you want to learn more about Fidel’s thoughts on leadership and productivity, you can read about our conversation here.
Put team members over customers- The final factor that influences autonomy is empowerment. Empowerment means giving your team members the authority, resources, and support they need to make decisions and take actions that benefit the team and the organization. This fosters a sense of ownership, responsibility, and accountability among your team members.
To promote autonomy in your team, you need to put team members over customers. This may sound counterintuitive, but it actually means trusting your team members to know what is best for the customers and letting them act on it. You can do this by:
Delegating decision-making power to your team members based on their expertise and experience
Providing them with the necessary tools, information, and training to perform their tasks effectively
Encouraging them to experiment with new ideas and solutions without fear of failure or punishment
Supporting them when they face challenges or difficulties
Respecting their opinions and preferences
Promoting autonomy in your team can have many positive outcomes for both you and your team members. However, it also requires some careful planning and execution. By using these techniques - praise publicly, criticize privately; make responsibilities clear; put team members over customers - you can create a more autonomous team that is happier, more productive, and more innovative.
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