{"id":93117,"date":"2023-02-21T16:17:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T20:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=93117"},"modified":"2023-02-23T13:25:17","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T17:25:17","slug":"autonomy-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/autonomy-at-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Autonomy at Work: Why It\u2019s Important and How to Encourage It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Should you give your employees autonomy over their work? How does giving people autonomy affect their performance? How much autonomy at work<\/a> is safe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most organizations, employees have little autonomy to take initiative. This is bad for job satisfaction, professional growth, and for the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn why employees in autonomous workplaces are both happier and more productive, and some strategies to implement autonomy in your organization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Importance of Autonomy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Autonomy is the ability to control what you work on and how you work, including, among other things, your schedule, responsibilities, and office space. Autonomy at work is such an important determiner of happiness that Cal Newport (So Good They Can\u2019t Ignore You<\/em><\/a>), calls it the \u201cdream-job elixir.\u201d Most common dream jobs provide autonomy at work\u2014for example, many people want to own a farm not only to get away from screens and escape their cubicles, but also because the country lifestyle offers so much autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who have autonomy at work tend to be happier and more productive. In one study, Cornell researchers studied two groups of small businesses, 150 of which didn\u2019t give their employees any control, and 150 of which did. The businesses that gave their employees control grew at 400% of the rate of the non-autonomous businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another study, researchers found that when middle school teachers who worked in difficult school districts were given autonomy, they were promoted more quickly and their students\u2019 performance improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nTITLE: So Good They Can't Ignore You
\nAUTHOR: Cal Newport
\nTIME: 24
\nREADS: 119.1
\nIMG_URL: https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/so-good-they-cant-ignore-you-cover.png
\nBOOK_SUMMARYURL: so-good-they-cant-ignore-you-summary-cal-newport
\nAMZN_ID: XYZ
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Hooked<\/em><\/a>, Nir Eyal writes that threats to autonomy give rise to reactance<\/strong>, the adrenaline-fueled feeling when your boss micromanages you or your mom tells you to put on your coat. This increases the friction of completing a task<\/a>. Eyal hypothesizes that part of the reason people sneak breaks to look at their phone or Facebook at work is to regain some sense of autonomy. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Four Dimensions of Autonomy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his book Drive<\/em><\/a>, bestselling author Daniel H. Pink stresses the importance of autonomy, arguing that people who are given more freedom may be even more accountable <\/em>for their work, not less (maybe because when given more trust and freedom, they don\u2019t want to let their employer down).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Pink, employees need to have autonomy over four major dimensions of their work: the task<\/strong>, the time<\/strong>, the technique<\/strong>, and the team<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autonomy Over Tasks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In typical work environments, the entirety of what you work on is decided. Instead, people should enjoy some autonomy in choosing what they work on<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One common way to implement this is by giving 20% time to employees to work on any project they want<\/strong>. The only requirement is that the project should further the goals of the organization somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, this has seemed to unleash employee creativity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n