Autonomy

Thriving with AUTONOMY means you do best when you have a strong sense of self-determination. You want to feel genuine pride and ownership of the work you do, and you need a meaningful degree of control and self-government to perform to your potential. You tend to have a strong desire for psychological ownership, feeling a personal sesne of responsibility and that you have a stake in your work and it’s outcomes. The AUTONOMY motive shares key characteristics with the FLEXIBILITY motive, both of which are in the Freedom Domain. When you have choices about how, when, and with whom you work, you invest your full attention in whatever you do. Although the extent of the AUTONOMY you need will be unique, it will likely concern the strategic direction for your role, and how you set your own goals. You want leeway to depend on your own judgment, bring new ideas to the table, weigh options, and draw on your own knowledge and experience. You invest less, especially emotionally, when someone else defines your day-to-day tasks or routine, and when your position requires you simply to do as you’re directed. Micromanagement and any feelings of professional powerlessness discourage and demotivate you, you want to have an emotional experience of your work being “yours.” You want freedom to shape your work life so that you can contribute your best. You enjoy self-reliance, and you value your ability to make sound decisions and to accomplish what you need to do. You tend to trust yourself, and you feel best when your colleagues and superiors can also trust and value your AUTONOMY.

 You feel this motive being met when…

+ You feel a positive sense of control and independence about how you work.

+ You feel like your work-related choices matter, and that your choices have a tangible effect on outcomes for yourself and/or for your team or company.

+ Your colleagues and superiors trust you to make the decisions appropriate to your position.

+ Your workplace focuses primarily on what gets done and how well, with little to no micromanaging.

This motive is at risk when…

– Your time or methods at work are tightly monitored and micromanaged.

 – You feel you could be more productive and/or create a greater impact if you had more control over your work.

– You don’t feel in control of your work life; instead, you feel constantly at the mercy of a system or other people.

– The longer you stay in your current position, the more you feel out of touch with yourself and with your confidence.

A Work Wellness Check-In for AUTONOMY

1. On a scale of 1-10, how much control do I have in my professional life? (1 = I have no control; 10 = I am solely and completely in control of my professional life) What would my ideal answer be?
2. Who makes the majority of my work-related decisions? Do I get to think for myself, or am I often told what to do?
3. To what degree do I experience being able to use the best of my abilities and talents? If I had more authority over my own work, would anything be different? Can I change anything that’s not working?
4. How much ownership do I feel over my work? Over my schedule? Do I make the most of my ownership if I have it?

5. Do I feel micromanaged? If I am, what can I do to address this in the most effective way? Can I let someone know how it impacts me to see if we can negotiate a solution that works for both of us?
6. Do my work peers and supervisors trust me to perform? Have I done what I can to ease concerns if trust has been breached? Have I proven I can perform and meet deadlines successfully?
7. If I know someone I work with is prone to worry, micro-management tendencies or needs control, can I communicate with them in a way that eases their mind while also giving me more freedom? Can I ask they trust me and let me run with something or try something and that I will check in or update them at a specific point in time so they can offer guidance? 

8. Where do I feel the most freedom and empowerment in my job? Where do I feel the most powerless and stifled? Do the people I work with know these things?
9. If you need more AUTONOMY in your job, can you start with one area you would like more authority in and ask for greater empowerment in this area as a starting point to grow from?
10. Do I feel like the boundaries of my control and my decision-making power are clear both to me and to others? Where can I increase clarity or ask for it if I need it?
11. Would asking for AUTONOMY in lower risk scenarios first be more effective? Would my request for freedom be better received when there is less to lose, extra time to fix things if there is a mistake, a less high profile client or customer, a less busy shift?
12. Is it possible for me to negotiate, compromise, or say no to new work-related demands or opportunities?
13. How much flexibility do I have in my work life? Does my answer impact my AUTONOMY motive in a positive or negative way?
14. Are there competency gaps or experience that is lacking that makes having the AUTONOMY I desire difficult? Can I close these gaps or gain this experience?
15. If I don’t have as much control as I would like at work, are there things I can influence? Can I focus on those things? 
16. When I communicate my need for AUTONOMY to a manager or colleague, how do they react? Do we need to have this conversation?
17. To what degree do I have the power to make my own decisions? If I feel powerless in decision-making, what can I do to resolve this? Do I need to speak with a manager, coworker, or partner?
18. If I had my ideal role and amount of freedom, what would my work life look like? What would I change? What would I keep the same?