Autonomy in the workplace
Emily O'Flynn
As an Occupational therapist we practice that motivation and confidence is necessary for completing a task to a good standard. As human beings we see each other everyday strive to feel important, have a sense of control and seek personal satisfaction. A lot of us choose careers that perhaps we have an underlying skill in, a passion for or enjoy doing. Yes, of course we get paid, but we also chose our careers for a sense of job satisfaction. So, what happens if our desired profession doesn't give us the self-esteem boost or feeling of power that we had planned?
Sure, I can do it
I am a junior manager and clinical lead in a large occupational therapy team. I have done some training and research around the idea of “autonomy” in the workplace following a training course “Developing your teams resilience” through Estia training. For myself to make decisions as a junior manager and also for my team in carrying out their day-to-day responsibilities.
As a health care professional, I have learned how to encourage my patients to set themselves goals and adapted ways for them to achieve these. I've spent years building my patients self-confidence by providing them with the autonomy to lead their own treatment. I know this works. As a junior manager, I have realised when working with my team members, this is not as easy. When balancing targets, deadlines, expenses, upcoming projects and team emotions, it is difficult to remain resilient and adaptable to the team’s needs. Often easier to do a job myself than coach someone else into it. There is a job to do, someone needs to do it, and someone needs to lead it. This driver always has to be me. Or does it?
Encouraging autonomy in the workplace has several benefits. The act of putting faith in a team can change a business atmosphere, replacing a sense of hierarchy with one of trust. A workforce feels less pressured when given autonomy and, as a result, more confident. This, in turn, has the following far-reaching positive benefits (Wooll, 2021). If I expect to be given autonomy to make decisions in my day-to-day job, surely my team must expect to have the opportunity also.
Risks of no autonomy
Taking away autonomy from your employees can completely obliterate any intrinsic motivation they derive from their work (Rangwala, 2017). I supervise a number of people in my team. In general, I find this job quite rewarding and enjoyable. However, one supervisee, I really struggle with mentoring her. She told me that she wanted more autonomy in her areas of work, and I had seen her have issues with taking direction already. So, for a few months when discussing projects, I asked her what she thought we should do, like in a coaching style. Giving her this autonomy seemed to help her outlook with work a lot, she seemed more engaged and invested in outcomes. She spoke about enjoying the involvement more and felt pride. Although not fixing all issues with taking direction and working in a team, this has helped to get the ball rolling in the right direction.
I constantly need to remind myself although it's easier to "direct" or "tell" others what to do, in the long run it will pay off to have a more competent, confident, and job-satisfied team.
Benefits of autonomy
Autonomy at work is freedom within the confines of a greater company goal (Wooll, 2021). Points raised as benefits to a workplace include:
- Increase job satisfaction.
- Creates employee engagement and motivation.
- Improves employee retention.
- Encourages creativity and innovation.
- Builds a culture of trust.
- Boosts productivity.
- Employees feel valued.
- Develops leadership qualities in employees.
- Promotes skill development.
During a Leadership course: Developing Your Teams’ Resilience, I learned about Compassionate leadership. This is a term I had not heard of or practiced. When learning more about compassionate leadership I found out some of its leader strengths:
- attending
- understanding
- empathising
- helping
Compassionate leadership is not a soft option. It is about guiding the team in a person-centred way. In turn, meeting people with their workplace needs such as taking autonomy.
Kouzes and Posner (2016) discussed that great leaders should demonstrate the desired approach. One point specifically mentioned included planning small wins that promote progress in individuals and teams, then build on these to maintain momentum. Progress and achievements for individuals in a team will help build confidence and interest in their role, hence more want for autonomy in their work.
Why now?
Feeling like a cog in a wheel is a powerless feeling but common working for a big organisation. Our jobs are difficult enough without feeling bogged down, unable to reach our potential. As a junior manager I aim to give my team a feeling of empowerment through autonomy in their day to day job.
About the author
Emily O'Flynn is a junior manager within a large Occupational Therapy team working for the NHS. I have worked in this job for approximately 18 months and really enjoy it. The Estia Centre's 'Developing Your Team's Resilience' course has helped me with some more challenging aspects of my job.
References
Rangwala, M. (2017) ‘Leadership Lessons- Employee Autonomy is more important than you think’, yourstory, 9 October. Available at: https://yourstory.com/2017/10/employee-autonomy-importance (Accessed: 29 October 2023).
Wooll, M. (2021) ‘Autonomy at work is important: Here are 9 ways to encourage it’, betterup, 3 December. Available at: https://www.betterup.com/blog/autonomy-in-the-workplace (Accessed: 20 October 2023).
Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z. (2016) Learning leadership: The five fundamentals of becoming an exemplary leader. San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
