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July 2007
The Low Cost of Freedom, and 4 Steps To Take You There

This month's topic came to me during the Fourth of July
holiday, the anniversary of our Declaration of Independence.

The holiday celebrates our freedom, and we often say that freedom has a high cost--the lives of people who fought to give us freedom and to keep us free. Those lives do constitute a high cost. But I want to talk about a different kind of freedom, one that has a very low cost.

Not political or religious freedom. No, the freedom I want to address is the kind of freedom that should be the concern of every CEO, division head, and team leader: Workplace freedom.

This freedom has a low cost, but a very high return on
investment.

Workplace freedom is the opposite of what I've talked about recently when referring to hierarchical, authoritarian workplaces. In these environments, the emphasis is on getting employees to comply with policies and procedures.

Authoritarian managers tell employees what to do, and how to do it. They keep information to themselves, place little emphasis on communication, and give the impression that they don't trust employees to do the right thing.

The authoritarian philosophy is, "We can't trust 'em, so we have to hover over them every minute of the day to make sure they're doing the job." It doesn't really respect employees; it regards employees as tools, like computers or other equipment, for getting the job done.

On the other hand, an environment that promotes workplace freedom is what I call a Responsibility-Based Culture. Here managers trust employees, and respect them for their contributions.

They see employees not as tools, but as partners whose interests, values, and commitments to organizational goals are identical to their own.

The ROI for workplace freedom is high, because productivity and profitability improve in a workplace that has more freedom.

These employees are more engaged in their work, and more focused on the organization's purpose.

Employees in such an environment are also more creative, and are more likely to come up with innovative solutions to problems that adversely affect productivity and profitability.

They're closest to the jobs, and have the best insight on how those jobs are done.

Workplace freedom allows managers to tap into employee wisdom and creativity.

Workplace freedom encourages employees taking personal responsibility for their actions, and the results of those actions. No more blame game.

Now let's look at the cost. You tell me how much cost is required to take these steps to promoting freedom in the workplace.

1) Accept that other ways exist to get job done, and that they are acceptable even though they might not be YOUR way. As long as the job gets done, does it really matter whether they do it your way?

2) Educate employees on the new way of doing things, and give them the skills they need to operate in such an environment, including an emphasis on employees being in the best position to determine how to do the job.

3) Give employees the information they need to do the best job they can. We've all heard the saying that information is power. This may be true, but it's also true that the more information (or power) you share, the more power you have.

4) Stop micromanaging. This may be the hardest part, but your job is to give employees the tools to do their jobs, and then get out of the way!

Giving others freedom gives you more freedom--freedom to work on strategy, to develop and refine new ideas, to cultivate important relationships.

These are all the things you can't do when you're continually looking over employees' shoulders, or cracking the whip to make sure they do the job.

Freedom is uplifting. It's inspirational. And it belongs in
the workplace. What are you doing to put it there?

Until next edition, keep leading the way!

Copyright (C) 2007 by Terry Wall

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