Employee Choice, Autonomy, and Distributed Ownership: Empowering Teams for Success

How did we go from “quiet quitting” to “revenge quitting” in the span of a few years? The answer is clear to anyone familiar with the mechanics of a messy breakup: someone was wronged and the world needs to know about it.

As many companies forge ahead with unpopular policies (see: return-to-office mandates, dismantling DEI), the “wrongs” are piling up and the employee-employer relationship is more strained than ever. At the heart of this tension is a deeply unbalanced power dynamic—one where workers don’t feel as though their contributions, let alone their preferences, matter. 

So, what’s a well-intentioned leader to do? In a recent Fast Company article, social psychologist and leadership expert Adam Galinsky details the importance of giving employees a sense of active participation and control. In his studies, even relatively small gestures, like inviting a direct report to an important meeting, can build trust and spark motivation. “Involvement fundamentally changes how we approach a task. It moves us from the sidelines onto the field,” writes Galinsky. 

That’s why one of the core skills in 18 Coffees’ Change Leadership Compass is distributed ownership, an operating model where responsibility and decision-making power are spread across levels of a company rather than centralized at the top.

The benefits of distributed ownership extend in every direction: 

• For organizations, reducing the distance between front-liners and decision-makers creates a more adaptable structure in which issues and opportunities can be rapidly identified and addressed.
• For leaders, a shared sense of responsibility creates a workforce that is personally invested in big-picture outcomes. The tangible byproducts of engagement—happiness, productivity, retention—speak for themselves.
• For individuals, it means having an active role in shaping the direction of your work. You’re entrusted with some of the controls, rather than merely feeling like a cog in the machine. 

It’s human nature to want to make decisions about one’s future. And yet many work environments implicitly require the individual to cede control. This process of gatekeeping— reserving autonomy and decision-making for a select few, while expecting all others to fall into line—can have a corrosive effect, from resentment to resignation.

Distributed ownership gives us a way to empower the individual for the benefit of all. As Galinsky writes, “When we offer a choice, we are treating others as people and not as objects." 

18 Coffees can help your organization implement distributed ownership strategies with our leadership training and change management expertise. Contact us today!

Managing Partner at 18 Coffees