“How much freedom should I give my employees?”
It’s a question I get asked a lot.
It’s understandable that many leaders struggle with this. How you handle it depends heavily on the employee or the team. People differ, and it’s about customization. One employee may need more freedom of action than another.
A few years ago, I explained to a company owner that he shouldn’t try to control everything his employees did. He was suffocating them, giving them no freedom at all. A month later, he came back and said he had made a change. “I stopped controlling and let everything go.” That didn’t work for him either. That was the other extreme. So, what then?
1. Framework
Frameworks are important within any company. This means that it’s clear what is expected of a team and its members. Without frameworks, everyone does as they please with the best intentions. So, frameworks create clear expectations. Once the frameworks are clear, some room can often be given within them.
2. Assumptions
“She should understand that, shouldn’t she? Doesn’t that apply to everyone?” The biggest pitfall is making assumptions based on your own view of the world, your own perception. What is logical for one person is far from logical for another. It helps if leaders are aware of this. That’s one of the reasons frameworks, rules, and guidelines exist. How we handle things, how procedures work, how employees interact with each other, and so on.
3. Drives
What energizes people and what drains their energy? Some people simply need more room to chart their own course than others. When I do a measurement of drives within teams, it provides a lot of insight and literally shows who needs more and who needs less freedom of action. Here you can read how to map out these drives.
4. Customization
So, more autonomy is customization. Which employees within your team manage well with freedom – within the frameworks? This also means that progress discussions with employees don’t all have to be held every few weeks. Perhaps you choose to speak to some employees every week, while for others once a month is sufficient. Leading is customization.
5. Feedback
By giving feedback in the right way within organizations, the learning ability is greatly increased. This also prevents the repetition of mistakes. And it prevents things from not being discussed and festering. Like, for example, unsupportive behavior from an employee. I’m talking about giving feedback in the right way because giving feedback is one of the most underestimated skills. In the article “Feedback that Works in 5 Steps” you can read more about the skill of giving feedback.
6. Letting Go
When do you know if an employee can have more freedom? That’s the moment when an employee says what he or she does and does what he or she says. You can rely on there being task maturity and results being achieved. That’s the moment you can let go. ‘Letting go’ is a term from the sailing world: you let out a sheet, giving more room to the sail. Letting go also implies something gradual, so you don’t let go all at once, as you read in the earlier example. And you keep monitoring, you keep building in control moments. I also call that ‘tracking & tracing’.
If you want to read more about strengthening your leadership, read or listen to one of my books.
