autonomy

While dependents are great when filing taxes, they are way less beneficial to have as team members. Instead of providing a nice tax break, overly dependent team members seek constant approval, require guidance for simple tasks, and avoid making decisions they are qualified to do. This constant need for external support results in ordinary tasks taking copious amounts of time, ultimately decreasing team productivity. While it’s natural for employees to seek guidance, too much reliance on direction from managers can affect individual and team performance. The challenge for managers is how to transform these dependents into self-sufficient team members who are confident in their abilities. 

When managing an overly dependent team member it’s crucial to consider the root cause of their over-reliance. The main causes of manager dependency include micromanagement, lack of confidence, inexperience, and fear of consequences. 

Employees who have experienced a micromanager on their previous team may lack exposure to functioning autonomously. While their frequent seeking of approval is exhausting on this team, it was the norm on their previous team. Similarly, it’s important to reflect on personal management styles to ensure micromanagement isn’t occurring. Managers often struggle to delegate tasks and allow team members to take ownership of their work. Reflect to ensure delegation strategies are implemented throughout the team. 

If a team member joined the team with little to no prior experience, they may still receive treatment like the ‘newbie’ despite working on the team for a considerable time. Reflect on management styles with this employee to ensure they are treated appropriately.

Team members also may be dependent due to a lack of confidence. Doubting their abilities leads employees to seek additional reassurance when completing tasks or making decisions because they believe this will prevent errors or failure. While they have good intentions of avoiding mistakes, this can create a cycle of continued dependency ultimately decreasing productivity. 

Lacking confidence can manifest as a result of poor psychological safety. Creating a safe space for employees to make mistakes and receive constructive feedback works to build confidence and allow team members to feel comfortable taking educated risks. 

In certain situations, new or inexperienced team members might lack exposure to specific tasks they are responsible for completing. This lack of prior knowledge can lead them to seek additional guidance when carrying out the tasks. To promote more autonomy for team members with limited experience, provide clear directions and expectations for their assigned tasks. Additionally, provide resources they can refer to throughout the task and develop mechanisms for them to get more structured feedback while progressing through the assignment. 

A workplace culture that heavily scrutinizes and penalizes mistakes can develop dependent tendencies within teams. This overemphasis on failure avoidance and perfection may prevent team members from taking risks or frequently seeking approval. When employees feel a mistake could lead to repercussions such as disciplinary action or criticism, they become more risk-averse. Furthermore, this fear of consequences can stifle innovation due avoidance of innovative yet, risky solutions. 

After considering what is contributing to team members dependency, managers must develop strategies to progressively decrease dependent behaviors. 

1. Slowly Increase Responsibility– progressively allowing team members to gain responsibility will signal trust in their capabilities. Slowly increase their responsibility through delegating more significant tasks overtime to build confidence and competence. Tasking them with more responsibility will allow them to feel more capable and have an increase since of ownership over their work. Break down milestones and deadlines into smaller, more achievable goals. When each goal is achieved, make sure to celebrate their successes to continue to develop self-assurance. 

2. Provide Clear Directions– when communicating tasks or how to get feedback, make sure to provide specific instructions. Reliance on management can arise when team members are unsure of the directions they are given and consequently ask a lot of questions. To prevent this constant bombardment of inquiries and reassurance, articulate tasks thoroughly. This can be achieved through demonstrating examples, asking if they have initial questions, and providing resources they can utilize when they encounter difficulties. The goal is to provide sufficient information, so they don’t need further guidance. 

3. Establish Boundaries– team member should know when they are empowered to make their own decisions. Discuss clear boundaries so employees know when to seek approval from management and when they are encouraged to be independent. To better establish when team members can seek support, set up regular meetings to discuss concerns and relevant questions. Creating a set time to provide assistance will prevent them from seeking out guidance throughout the day. Over time, these meetings can decrease in frequency as the employee becomes more confident and autonomous. 

4. Accept Mistakes– throughout this process of developing independence it is crucial for managers to accept mistakes. Although mistakes may occur more often due to the less frequent clarifications, the dependent employee will become better at working independently over time. Being hypercritical of mistakes when trying to boost confidence is counterproductive. Provide constructive feedback and make sure to celebrate successes. Not only should managers being accepting of mistakes, but it is important to foster this acceptance of mistakes in the dependent employee as well. Work to help them develop a growth mindset, so they start seeing setbacks as opportunities. 

Working to reduce dependency can be a challenging initiative. Even with increasing responsibilities, communicating clear directions, establishing boundaries, and developing a safe place to make mistakes, team members may still struggle to become more independent. Recognize that each employee is different so different strategies may need to be utilized to coach them towards independence. If consistent issues arise, seek advice from mentors who have experienced similar challenges to learn about successful strategies they have utilized. 

Throughout this process of increasing independence, remember that team members won’t become autonomous overnight. Working to change their natural habits will require patience and guidance. Help theme to take small steps each day to become more confident completing tasks on their own.