Pursuing Radical Autonomy for Those You Lead

Most of “modern” management theory, going back to the industrial revolution, has been about “controlling” employees—controlling their activity, time, access to information, productivity, etc. Even more recent concepts such as “management by objectives,” “performance management,” and even Six Sigma, were about maximizing the value an employee brought to their employer through their labor by optimizing use of resources, time, information, process, etc. More importantly, these approaches are based on the notion that someone in an organizational hierarchy “knows better” than the employee, and therefore must closely manage the employee’s efforts based on some management protocol. And, relatedly, in these models, the employee’s input is not particularly valued. The hierarchical organizational structure that drives these top-down approaches to management, has existed, with little significant evolution, since the turn of the last century. The only significant change has been related to flattening the hierarchy while preserving a less vertical chain of command—and that is frequently more about cost than about distributing power.

Now that we are operating in a world that is not only defined by constant change, but also by tectonic instability, neither the hierarchical leadership model nor the discounting of insight, perspective, knowledge, and experience of those “lower” in the hierarchy is sustainable. Even if the vertical model of control could operate quickly enough—and it can’t—the narrow, siloed perspective of those “at the top,” is wholly inadequate for the kinds of difficult, rapid, risk-based decisions and actions required in the current environment.

The answer is what I call Radical Autonomy. The current reality is so volatile, ambiguous, complex, and uncertain, that traditional leadership structures are simply unworkable. And a key point here, is that radical autonomy requires a shift from management and traditional power-based leadership to leadership in which success is achieved through others who are empowered to operate with “radical” levels of autonomy. In this model, most of a leader’s efforts are directed toward ensuring that others have the resources, support, information, skills, and freedom, to innovate, create value, and solve problems in a culture that honors psychological safety, collaboration, risk-taking, tolerance for ambiguity, freedom to fail, agility, purpose and entrepreneurship.  In short, the leader’s primary responsibility is to leverage fully engaged human capital as his/her/their greatest competitive advantage and as a hedge against rapid change and instability. This organizational structure for radical autonomy is neither hierarchical no flat, but “fluid,” which is based on competence, shared interest, collaboration, engagement, radical autonomy, and desired outcomes. It is not based on seniority, title, or even expertise. While radical autonomy at least initially introduces additional risk, sticking with traditional hierarchy represents existential threat.

Of course, neither leaders, nor those they lead, can switch from a highly controlled environment to radical autonomy overnight. Such a shift requires a purposeful, thoughtful campaign in which all parties can learn to think and operate differently. The Transformation Collaborative™ can support such a process through our Leadership Discovery program and our “vested partner” approach to helping organizations reinvent themselves.