How to make employees more autonomous

Autonomy is the key to productivity in any workforce. Employees who are capable of managing their own workloads require less one-to-one support from their managers. This not only saves time for department leads, but also inspires professional development within your workforce. Here we explore five steps you can take to make employees more autonomous:

How to facilitate autonomy in your workforce:

Making employees more autonomous means putting faith in their abilities, and providing the support they need to develop their skills. Here’s how you can promote autonomy in your workforce:

#1 – Set and review SMART targets

SMART targeting is a well-practised method of making employees more autonomous. This involves setting regular goals and objectives that follow the below structure:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable 
• Realistic 
• Time-based

By using SMART targeting to manage your employees, you ensure they’re aware of when, why, and how tasks should be completed. This enables them to manage their own workloads more effectively – promoting autonomy and productivity.

Read more: How to set SMART targets for employees

#2 – Avoid micromanagement

Micromanagement is when team leaders play an overly active role in their employees’ day-to-day workloads. This may include over-the-shoulder management techniques, which compromise worker morale, and increase employees’ dependence on their seniors. 

Facilitate autonomy by taking a step back in your management strategy. Allow employees to manage their own workloads, while still providing advice and support when needed.

#3 – Run monthly strategy meetings

Monthly strategy meetings can be used to map out your team’s workloads over a prolonged period. This is often more effective than setting daily to-dos, which decreases autonomy, and aligns more closely with micromanagement.

Hold regular catch-ups with your team to establish objectives and goals over a monthly, or fortnightly period. This helps to promote autonomy in employees’ management of their workloads – saving time for you as their manager, and driving productivity.

#4 – Provide strong, structured training plans

Successful training is crucial for making your employees more autonomous. If your colleagues are confident in their day-to-day tasks and responsibilities, they’re less likely to require continuous support.

Work on optimising your onboarding processes for maximum skill development; arrange regular training and retraining sessions as and when required. This promotes learning and development within your workforce, and leads to greater employee autonomy. 

#5 – Encourage ‘colleague support’ networks

While supporting employees in their day-to-day tasks is undeniably a crucial part of management, it can be time-consuming when leading large teams.

Free up time for department leaders by promoting colleague and peer support networks – allowing your employees to share their skills and expertise to help others. This ensures your colleagues always remain supported, without requiring constant input from managers.

This also helps to promote more productive working relationships within your business, with your colleagues putting faith in each other’s skills for personal development.

Introducing…

Talos Engage: Motivate & inspire employee autonomy

Want an easier way to engage your workforce, and promote productivity? Talos Engage is 360’s gamified employee engagement platform – making it easier for employers to remain in touch with their team.

Employees simply play the Talos Engage swipe-card game to give valuable feedback on your HR strategy, management process, and workplace benefits/incentives. This is then formulated into a straightforward report, used to inform your Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

Talos Engage makes it easier to develop strategies and incentives that truly resonate with your workforce – driving productivity, autonomy, and worker retention.

Discover a better way to engage, inspire, and retain top performers in your workforce: