If you want to help people succeed and grow, give them Autonomy. Many benefits come with Autonomy, such as learning to make increasingly difficult decisions. People are also more likely to innovate as you free them from believing there’s one right way to do something. Also, it makes your life easier as the leader, as they become less dependant on you.

However, Autonomy doesn’t mean people get to do anything they want. In fact, Autonomy without boundaries is likely to cause more problems than good.

What people and teams need is bounded Autonomy. However, don’t just tell them they’re autonomous. Spend the time talking with them about the boundaries to their Autonomy to ensure you’re on the same page.

With time, you can increase the boundaries’ size as they learn and grow in their Autonomy.

You’ve got this.