Empowerment vs. Autonomy
In the workplace, sometimes the words “empowerment” and “autonomy” are used interchangeably.
This is a mistake.
While these words may feel similar, I encourage you to think of them in the following ways.
Empowerment is when a person on your team sees something that doesn’t meet the bar and feels comfortable saying something about it. They understand that the things that are happening in their departments are a direct reflection of their management and leadership. When things don’t pass the smell test, they’re empowered to own that it’s likely on them and that they need to take action.
Autonomy is when someone is trusted enough to do their job with very little oversight. They’re independent contractors of sorts. They report out on what they’re working on, but mostly, they’re left alone to do their jobs.
I speak to leaders often who have team members and more junior leaders on their teams who are missing opportunities to reinforce the org values, who ignore things that need to be better, and who act like the things happening under their nose are none of their business.
These people need to be empowered. They need explicit coaching from their boss that these things matter and that they’re the person who needs to say and do something about them.
When I share this coaching, some leaders think I’m talking about giving these folks autonomy and that’s met with disagreement. The person is struggling after all. The leader will argue that they need more oversight, not less.
I agree. They need significant oversight. But only after they’ve been empowered to own the things that are clearly their responsibility.
I’ve been highly critical of the idea of autonomy in the workplace. But as a starting point, not as a place to get to. We all have team members who need less oversight than others. This is ultimately a good thing. It’s not a good thing if leaders want an autonomous team from day one. Or worse, they say they want an autonomous team because they don’t want to manage people.
Empowerment and autonomy are different. Empowerment is a must-have. Autonomy is a nice-to-have (sometimes). But it can’t exist if people haven’t been empowered first.