According to Daniel Pink, autonomy is a central pillar of motivation.
I am fortunate to have a lot of autonomy at work, from booking a hotel I like when I travel, to deciding what I work on most days.
I can confirm that’s motivating.
How important is autonomy to you? Where does/should it start and end?
Top comments (2)
Autonomy is important enough to me that I choose to work at a place where I trade some income for it and other intangibles.
Like you, I get to decide what I work on most days. I tend to give preference to what is important to customers (internal or external), but no one is barking orders at me about it. I am also entrusted by the team to pick the platforms/tools which we use, and trail-blaze a path through new things.
The freedom to choose is important to me, because I have found some rare gems that are highly productive (and enjoyable) for us, like F#. (Along with this choice comes a responsibility to develop and demonstrate good practices that will encourage best uses.) Some of this freedom of choice would not be available in other companies because of corporate edicts and biases.
I also can confirm it is motivating to have autonomy. There is a much stronger sense of outcome ownership for me. It's not just something I am forced to do to pay bills. It is something I am really invested in when I have autonomy.
Yes, that’s what helps me focus as well.