Autonomy - How to Get Started

Perhaps the most important consideration in implementing Autonomy is: don’t do it in existing organizations. Zappos tried for three years to implement Autonomy and failed. Do it in new ExOs off the edge of the mothership.

• Use your MTP. As noted earlier, the Massive Transformative Purpose is the single most important factor in an ExO for galvanizing the organization and its stakeholders and for aligning   them in the pursuit of a common goal with a common purpose. More than anything, the MTP will keep autonomous teams moving in the same direction. Autonomous teams are especially powerful at determining and then pursuing out-of-the-box Moonshots.

• Take advantage of Staff on Demand. The gig economy is key to greater Autonomy because the presence of outside “employees”—especially remote staffers—reinforces more flexible and adaptive teams. Teams can augment their internal skillset with the best outside talent, making them even more capable of operating independently.

• Use the power of Dashboards. A common management concern about increased employee Autonomy is that independent teams will go rogue and create organizational chaos. With new generations of Dashboards and sensor technology, that fear is largely misplaced as the use of OKRs usually keeps everyone aligned.

• Decentralize. Breaking up the enterprise into smaller and more functional pieces is the heart of both decentralization and Autonomy. That said, decentralization can be particularly terrifying for large companies—even though Alfred Sloan pioneered the concept nearly a century ago at mighty General Motors. But the success of companies such as Finland’s Supercell and Sweden’s Spotify suggests that this model can not only work but can even become a key competitive advantage.

• Reinforce agility. One of the core elements of an agile framework is autonomous, self-organizing teams, each with its own unique ability to adapt according to evolving circumstances. When ExOs allow for Autonomy, they simultaneously allow for a range of approaches to change, from radical to conservative, thus increasing the odds of surviving that change.

• Alter your perspective. Teach employees, wherever they are in the organization, to think and act like owners: to treat their work and their decision-making as their own property for which they are fully responsible. At the top of the organization, act as if you are the owner of that organization, not merely a caretaking executive. And, like a founder, trust in your employees to “own” their duties and to make decisions in the best interests of the company.

• Link to Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence. Blockchain and smart contracts can be used to create fully decentralized autonomous organizations, replacing the traditional bureaucratic “glue” with organic networks.

In his 2014 book Reinventing Organizations, Frederic Laloux profiled 12 pioneering organizations (including Patagonia, WL Gore, Holocracy, and Morning Star) who were reinventing themselves using radically new management practices and principles, self-management, and the precursor of MTP. He noted that these organizations operated largely without organizational charts, management hierarchies, quarterly goals, or other traditional management strategies. Instead, they were characterized by self-managed teams, intuitive reasoning, and decentralized decision-making. In other words, they were Autonomous.

We have now explored nine attributes of the Exponential Organization. Next, we’ll investigate the glue that binds together all the stakeholders—company, supply chain, distribution chain, Community, Crowd, and shareholders: Social Technologies.

Key Resources/Links where you can learn more - ING’s agile transformation | McKinsey - List of the latest WorldBlu Certified Freedom-Centered Organizations - Valve Employee Handbook - Reinventing Organizations by Frederic Laloux - Autonomy: ExO Insight