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The Newsletter | Edition 034
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In our Off-White Papers, we provide practical guidance on how to respond to our rapidly-changing world. This weekly newsletter explores those topics in real-time, with information and action steps on how to make progress now.
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER...ALIGNED AUTONOMY
Giving your teams the right amount of autonomy at work is essential. But there is an inherent fear of the chaos that might ensue from too many different approaches. And while we know teams with diverse approaches can lead to better work, tensions can arise. So how do leaders effectively empower their teams to be autonomous, and steer those tensions in the right direction?
- "A Study of Cinnamon Toast Crunch Events," from Jess Vander
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Taking control of autonomy, from Jenny Cavaioli
- Patagonia's secret autonomous sauce, from Osei Kwakye
And this time, our illustrations from Katie Sadow.
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@CTCSQUARES: A STUDY OF "DOING YOUR JOB" From Jess Vander
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TL;DR
This guy found shrimp tails (and other foul artifacts) in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch. And then General Mills's @CTCSquares Twitter proceeded to publicly correspond to prove those 'weren't shrimp tails,' or at least, 'weren't *their* shrimp tails.' (Note: this reporting is detailing events as of March 24th.)
WHY IT MATTERSLet’s put wild internet revelations about the customer aside to consider this a study of company procedure. This is just like the Sherwin-Williams 'Paint Saga' Jillian wrote about in December, where on-the-ground employees did their jobs. Here, the social content folks repping CTC at General Mills did too. And you can't blame them: while the schadenfreude is entertaining, these stories are symptoms of employees without autonomy to make smarter on-the-ground decisions on behalf of the business. When leadership defines "doing your job" as "making employees follow a strict rule," they lay risky tracks for broadly backfiring consequences—especially PR nightmares where the problems only escalate, layer after layer of people at those companies just "doing their jobs."
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Offer your employees a kind of “override button," even one chance to ‘call it’ from the ground to prevent foreseeable consequence.
THE $2000 RULE: A MICRO CASE STUDYMost people can't afford to stay at The Ritz-Carlton—though maybe you can and have never considered it, what with all of these cool boutique hotels around now. But you should know about their $2000 Rule. As voracious marketing case study readers will tell you, The Ritz got famous years ago for empowering their employees to spend $2000 on a customer incident without asking a manager for permission. The logic is sound: compared to the lifetime value of a single Ritz customer, $2000 is a worthwhile investment. Not to mention that value compounds by the word-of-mouth benefits of a stellar service experience. You might be surprised to find more willingness to support autonomy ‘laying about’ when the downsides are so ‘down’ and the upsides exponentially ‘up.'
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AUTONOMY ISN'T OUT OF CONTROL, IT NEEDS ITFrom Jenny Cavaioli
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TL;DRTalking about autonomous work often conjures images of a wild west for leaders and managers. ‘Everyone will be doing whatever they want, whenever they want!’ The reality is autonomy isn’t about complete freedom, it’s about empowering choice within guardrails and setting conditions for success.
WHY IT MATTERSControl and autonomy are inherently connected. And in fact, they enable the best attributes of one another when done well. Control provides the structure for freedom to flourish and autonomy provides the flexibility for control to be pointed and value adding. The balance between control and autonomy is being challenged at this moment, but in some ways we also have more flexibility with work than before. In these challenging times, structured autonomy can be the key to getting the most out of your people and people getting the most out of their work. Autonomy doesn’t just lead to higher engagement, it also helps organizations build resilience. The unknowns of hybrid, distributed, and remote work may stand to benefit from some well-structured autonomy.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Shift from measuring 'outputs' to setting a vision for 'outcomes' and watch autonomy flourish.
DEFINE THE BOUNDARIES, AND LET PEOPLE CHART THEIR OWN COURSE
- Give people a coherent and crystalized purpose with shared goals for their work.
- Be clear about where authority lies within teams and individuals, otherwise, you may default to a consensus decision-making culture that looks like a competition for the loudest, most stubborn members.
- Equip your people with tools to manage tension so teams can have constructive conversations to build up each other’s work rather than tear it down.
- Don’t forget that it might get messy still, and people may need help. Asking for support doesn’t mean giving up autonomy.
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MANAGING THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS From Osei Kwakye
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TL;DRYvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, hates to be told what to do, so he avoids doing the same to others. He believes in a “manage by absence” philosophy, so his company purposely hires people who are self-motivated and competent, so that they can leave them alone to do their jobs.
WHY IT MATTERSChouinard, a lifelong tinkerer, has always been driven by curiosity. Recognizing this in himself, he’s always aimed to hire people with a similar independent spirit. Patagonia is structured much like an ant colony because, as Chouinard puts it, “There is no management. Every ant just does his job. They communicate and figure it out.” In fact, Patagonia employees are so independent that psychologists that have studied the company’s culture have asserted many of them are unemployable anywhere else. By looking inwardly, and embracing his own sense of independence, Chouinard has built a company culture that prioritizes autonomy and trust in getting things done.
ONE THING YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW
Actively model the forms of independence you want to see in your organization.
THOUGHTSIndependence can manifest in a variety of ways. For Chouinard, being able to manage his time and what he does with it has yielded a culture where going surfing in the middle of the workday is normal. But for you, independence might look more like independent thought, self-reliance, or perhaps even creativity. As a leader, what matters most is that you identify it and promote it within your organization.
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