Autonomy, Self-Management, and Leadership
In his acclaimed book Drive, Daniel Pink makes the case that people are motivated by autonomy, a feeling of mastery in their craft or work, and by having a sense of purpose.
Autonomy is a matter of degree however. A transformational style of leadership gives team members autonomy over specific jobs, as well as the authority to make decisions once they have been trained. The last part is key. And autonomy is not absolute. One of the key elements of overseeing a team is deciding which issues the team is qualified to have autonomy about. For example, a team might have autonomy about how it does its work, but not about salaries of members of the team. As another example, if a team is one of many teams that support a product, the team might have autonomy about how and when it runs tests, but it might have to negotiate with other teams about the strategy for testing the product.
Self-management is also desirable to a degree, but should not be an absolute in most cases within an organization. In an organization, the term “manager” has special significance: it means that one has decision-making authority over resources—resources such as money, people (hiring, promotion, salaries, and firing), and other assets. A manager’s range of decision-making authority is usually prescribed. For example, a manager might be responsible for approving requests for office space, but not have authority over any staff.
When we say that a team is “self-managing”, we generally mean that has some decision-making ability over the resources that it uses. But it is not entirely self-managing unless it can also hire and fire (remove from the team), etc. If it did, it would be kind of like that reality show Survivor—not the healthiest work environment.
What people actually need is a sense of agency about how they do their work. Some people want to be involved in every decision, but most do not. But even those who do not still want to be heard if they have a complaint. So involvement is a matter of degree: and people want control over the things that matter to them individually. For most people, that includes the manner in which they perform their work, and it often also includes the freedom to make key decisions about the work itself.
But remember that with transformational leadership, it is crucial to assess if someone has the capability to make good decisions. People often do not know what they don’t know. This is sometimes referred to as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It is the responsibility of a team lead to oversee what decisions people can be trusted with. Allowing people to learn primarily through trying and failing is a very poor educational strategy, especially in today’s business climate where speed is so paramount.
Learning theory (“Humanistic Learning”) tells us that people learn well through a combination of being taught, experience with the support of a coach—playing the role of a teacher who can provide feedback and help to interpret events—and reflection over time. Importantly, each learner learns differently, and the coach or instructor must be able to adjust their approach for each individual.
The Team Lead’s Role
Not all teams start out with a team lead; but Leader-Member Exchange theory tells us in a leaderless team, a de-facto leader almost always emerges. So most teams have a leader, whether the leader was appointed or emerged in some way. Also, leadership is influence. So a team that has a person who uses soft (non-directive) leadership techniques such as persuasion and inspiration is still a leader. A team can also have more than one leader, but usually the issues over which they lead do not overlap—otherwise there tends to be conflict.
For a team to be effective, a team lead needs to be continuously deciding whether the participate in the work in the issues that arise. The Path-Goal leadership theory identifies four modes that a leader uses: achievement-oriented, directive, participative, and supportive. The participative mode involves consulting with team members and asking for their suggestions before making a decision, or allowing the team members to make the decision. Leaders who “let go” and encourage team members to make most decisions tend to nurture teams that are more autonomous and more effective, especially when the leader is not present. However, knowing when to decide and when to let others decide requires careful judgment about the risks and opportunities of each situation, as well as assessment of the capabilities of the team members.
The degree of participation required depends on the team. If a team consists of highly experienced people, and if the work carries low risk, then a team lead will likely be comfortable to simply set goals and stand back, for the most part. But at the other extreme, if the team members are inexperienced, or if the work carries catastrophic risk such that a mistake can lead the total and permanent failure for everyone, then the team lead will likely want to stay involved and at least observe as each decision is made, watching for when to intervene.
Staying Informed
To be effective, someone in any kind of lead role (appointed or emergent) needs to know what is going on. If a leader waits for meetings to be informed, then they are out of date most of the time. A leader needs to always be asking themself,
What issues do I know about?
Who needs to be aware of those?
What is the best way to resolve each of those issues?
Where might there be issues that I do not know about?
What things do I need to be checking in on?
Don’t wait for someone to inform you. Don’t wait for a status meeting or standup. Check in on things. Look at dashboard. Inspect people’s work—not to meddle with it or criticize it, but just to see what the work actually looks like. This is Gemba: walking the virtual floor and observing firsthand.
Similarly, if you are on a team and an issue arises that you feel you cannot handle, or if it has broader impact than just your work and might have broader implications, inform the appropriate leadership role—not so that they can solve it for you, but just so that they stay informed. That way they will not need to have status meetings to stay current.