Autonomous teams: How I learned to let go

“As a manager, if you give people confidence in their skill set, they begin to understand the levels they can achieve – without you telling them.” 

That’s the view of Michael Burton CMgr MCMI, who spent 22 years in the RAF and learned first-hand the value of standing on your own two feet and operating independently. He now works as an excellence business partner at Amey Consulting – with a daily mission to leave people in a better position than when he met them. 

“Managers can help people realise what they have to do to be the best version of themselves,” Michael says. “They start thinking they can be better, because someone believes in them.”

Quit or return to the office?

Michael understands that, if you give your people autonomy, you can expect greater satisfaction, fulfilment, resilience and engagement in return – because they’ll connect their achievements with their own abilities and effort, and that will only motivate them to do better. 

• The dark side of personality in the digital workplace

But autonomous working is far from a reality for many organisations. Amazon represents an extreme case. Amazon was recently fined in France for its surveillance of its warehouse workers, which the French authorities deemed illegal.