Been meaning to come back here for a bit but had a bit on.
I like this because Sonny is at an age where if I give him a chip he won’t eat it, but if he picks his own chips he’ll get stuck into them.
I’ve been in my industry for 15 years now. 10 as a team member and 5 as a supervisor/manager/leader/whatever.
I’ve found that for me personally, the more autonomy I have, I generally perform better. I think there’s a bit at play here though. The higher up the ladder you go, the more responsibility you have. I’ve found that as I’ve moved up each of the four or five steps I’ve gone up in the last five years, the hardest part about taking on a new role isn’t the work or the extra responsibility, but the ability to let go and trust that the person below you doing your old role is capable and competent of fulfilling that role.
But then I realised that autonomy is good for almost every body and although people might have a different method to you, they’ve been employed in that role and you need to let them do it their way because that’s what will get the best result for them. As their senior I think the key is to just be there for them, check in regularly, and ensure you have an open an honest communication stream and let them work it out for themselves. Kind of like being bumpers at a bowling alley. I think a lot of older people struggle with this purely because of how things were done “back in their day”.
Over the last five years I’ve found that almost all the people I’ve managed have worked better with autonomy and control. “This is your role, your responsibility for this, this and that. I don’t want to tell you to do it constantly because I don’t think you need me to and I know you’re good enough for me to not have to do that.” I’ve found this usually gets the best out of most people.
There are some outliers though, who need very direct, strict instruction which as you mentioned above, I think is down to their upbringing. Never being afforded autonomy as kids. It’s hard because you need to find a balance of not appearing to be favouring people and having the same rules for all, but also managing each individual in a way that gets the most out of them but more importantly keeps them happy so they keep showing up in the right frame of mind.
I just try to remember to keep it simple. Treat people the way I want to be treated. Don’t tell people how to do their job, because I fucking hated people doing that to me. Focus on my own work and just ensure it’s well known that I’m there if people need some guidance and direction.
We all know a micromanaging boss is the boss nobody wants too 😊.
I think kids have less autonomy than they used to which is probably why the blame culture is getting worse.
We used to be able to ride our bikes around the neighbourhood or play with the kids on the street and come home when the sun was down. Now kids have mobile phones and trackers so parents know where their kids are at all times. The risk of kidnapping is much less than 20 to 30 years ago but kids have much less freedom to explore and make decisions for themselves.
Yep, I agree 100%. We watch too much of “some of the news” and everyone is terrified yet the actual stats show we/our kids have never ever been safer! I think we’re so obsessed with what not to do, that we’ve forgotten what we should be doing!
People said we were crazy to take an 11 month old on a holiday overseas. Why? We do everything else with him? He is part of our life and this is part of what we do in our life. It’s no different to taking him to canberra for the weekend.
I think we’ve become so conditioned to thinking inside the box and we’re so risk-averse that at times we’ve stopped living and it’s creating a generation of sheep. Maybe that’s what “they” want haha. I won’t go there.
Great blog and I agree all round. However I’ve read something lately that said a lot of people actually fear autonomy and freedom because they become entirely responsible for how things pans out.
Much easier to have a boss and blame them with things aren’t going great, then look yourself in the mirror.
Hey Clare,
Been meaning to come back here for a bit but had a bit on.
I like this because Sonny is at an age where if I give him a chip he won’t eat it, but if he picks his own chips he’ll get stuck into them.
I’ve been in my industry for 15 years now. 10 as a team member and 5 as a supervisor/manager/leader/whatever.
I’ve found that for me personally, the more autonomy I have, I generally perform better. I think there’s a bit at play here though. The higher up the ladder you go, the more responsibility you have. I’ve found that as I’ve moved up each of the four or five steps I’ve gone up in the last five years, the hardest part about taking on a new role isn’t the work or the extra responsibility, but the ability to let go and trust that the person below you doing your old role is capable and competent of fulfilling that role.
But then I realised that autonomy is good for almost every body and although people might have a different method to you, they’ve been employed in that role and you need to let them do it their way because that’s what will get the best result for them. As their senior I think the key is to just be there for them, check in regularly, and ensure you have an open an honest communication stream and let them work it out for themselves. Kind of like being bumpers at a bowling alley. I think a lot of older people struggle with this purely because of how things were done “back in their day”.
Over the last five years I’ve found that almost all the people I’ve managed have worked better with autonomy and control. “This is your role, your responsibility for this, this and that. I don’t want to tell you to do it constantly because I don’t think you need me to and I know you’re good enough for me to not have to do that.” I’ve found this usually gets the best out of most people.
There are some outliers though, who need very direct, strict instruction which as you mentioned above, I think is down to their upbringing. Never being afforded autonomy as kids. It’s hard because you need to find a balance of not appearing to be favouring people and having the same rules for all, but also managing each individual in a way that gets the most out of them but more importantly keeps them happy so they keep showing up in the right frame of mind.
I just try to remember to keep it simple. Treat people the way I want to be treated. Don’t tell people how to do their job, because I fucking hated people doing that to me. Focus on my own work and just ensure it’s well known that I’m there if people need some guidance and direction.
We all know a micromanaging boss is the boss nobody wants too 😊.
I think kids have less autonomy than they used to which is probably why the blame culture is getting worse.
We used to be able to ride our bikes around the neighbourhood or play with the kids on the street and come home when the sun was down. Now kids have mobile phones and trackers so parents know where their kids are at all times. The risk of kidnapping is much less than 20 to 30 years ago but kids have much less freedom to explore and make decisions for themselves.
Yep, I agree 100%. We watch too much of “some of the news” and everyone is terrified yet the actual stats show we/our kids have never ever been safer! I think we’re so obsessed with what not to do, that we’ve forgotten what we should be doing!
People said we were crazy to take an 11 month old on a holiday overseas. Why? We do everything else with him? He is part of our life and this is part of what we do in our life. It’s no different to taking him to canberra for the weekend.
I think we’ve become so conditioned to thinking inside the box and we’re so risk-averse that at times we’ve stopped living and it’s creating a generation of sheep. Maybe that’s what “they” want haha. I won’t go there.
This weeks Imperfects episode is about risk 👌👌.
We are too scared of being uncomfortable that it's preventing us from living fulfilling lives and is directly related to the mental health crisis.
Perfect! I’ll download and listen on the way home! Thank you!
The Thailand cave guy?
Yep! I was about to say ironically it's with the Thailand Cave diver
Great blog and I agree all round. However I’ve read something lately that said a lot of people actually fear autonomy and freedom because they become entirely responsible for how things pans out.
Much easier to have a boss and blame them with things aren’t going great, then look yourself in the mirror.
I can see that side of it too. It's not easy being responsible for your own life/actions sometimes haha.
Do you think maybe it's because we don't have enough autonomy and so when we're given it, we are afraid of it because it's uncomfortable?
I think so. Helicopter parenting kills autonomy.