How to help people feel empowered to act and work autonomously: Strategy #4.2 – Set clear boundaries
We have previously published a series of people leadership strategies around the themes of people feeling supported, valued and safe; creating a ‘team environment’; supporting learning and growth; empowering staff and building autonomy; ensuring clarity of roles and expectations; and creating meaning and purpose.
Practical Ideas Guides
We are now going to explore the actionable steps that you can take to enable the suggested strategies and actions. This is one in a series of 31 posts providing specific descriptions of the actions in practice. (There is one practical idea guide for each people leadership strategy)
So, this post focuses on theme 4 – helping people feel empowered to act and work autonomously. In a previous post we have talked through 5 overarching strategies to support building an environment where people feel empowered to act and work autonomously:
4.1 Provide opportunities for empowerment
4.2 Set clear boundaries
4.3 Encourage people to ‘take responsibility
4.4 Proactively manage the authorising environment
4.5 Provide coaching and support
In this post we take a deep dive into the specific strategy of:
4.2 Set clear boundaries.
A critical discipline underpinning empowerment is leaders providing people with a clear understanding of the ‘space’ in which they have to operate and make decisions. This clarity provides the freedom they need to operate autonomously, with full confidence of the known boundaries.
So, here are some of the actions that can be taken to put this leadership strategy into practice:
1. Mutually agree clear goals/outcomes/performance expectations but leave the path to achievement undefined.
When requesting individuals or teams to undertake a project or a task (assuming you believe they have the skill and experience to do the work), ensure you have a conversation to mutually agree on three things – the outcomes/results expected from the project or task; the context and reason for the project or task; and any ‘things to consider’ in undertaking the project or task. Don’t describe all the activities that need to be done, who they need to engage etc. However, it is not a sink or swim exercise – explain that you are available for any advice or guidance as they undertake the work.
2. Negotiate and clarify any boundaries, particularly regarding behavioural/ethical requirements.
Empowering people is not a laissez-fare activity – it is a discipline that involves providing clarity as to the boundaries and space people have room to maneuver. Wide boundaries for highly skilled, experienced, and motivated people, tighter boundaries for those less skilled or experienced. This would involve such things as clarifying what is in-scope and out-of-scope; protocols around stakeholder engagement; levels of authority in making decisions; situations where they should seek advice or guidance; and clarifying, if needs be, any ‘no go’ behaviours that would be considered culturally unacceptable or lacking integrity.
Leaders and managers are often silent on the processes for how decisions will be made within projects and tasks. This can cause uncertainty for people who undertake these projects or tasks which may result in people constantly pushing decisions up the chain. If people have clarity around decision-making processes and their role in those processes, it reduces uncertainty. This could involve identifying critical decision-points in projects and tasks and how and who is expected to be involved in those decisions, with an emphasis, where possible, on pushing decision-making down the chain to demonstrate trust in the people doing the work.
A common mistake is to ask people to be accountable for delivery of a product, project, or task without providing requisite authority. It is critically important that there is an alignment between accountability and authority. This could include such things as the ability to approve contracts, authority to obtain/recruit necessary resources, direct and allocate other staff to tasks, permission to liaise with key stakeholders etc. It breeds resentment and distress to hold someone accountable for delivery if they don’t have sufficient control over the resources necessary for success.
While it is important for people to understand the desired outcomes and performance expectations and the boundaries in which they are working, it is also valuable that people also understand what is at stake. This is not about negative personal consequences or instilling fear of failure, but rather about heightening their understanding of the importance and value of their work in the broader context. It could include such things as how non-delivery could negatively impact critical timeframes of bigger projects, customers having negative experiences, key community outcomes not being met, or financial consequences. This can help sharpen real ownership of the task – people are relying on you.
Having read this list, some questions you may want to ask yourself might be:
- Are there one or two ideas emerging for me that I might want to put into practice?
- What is the smallest thing I could do that might have a positive impact?
- How will I hold myself accountable for following through on my actions?
Good luck!