Understanding the Role of Autonomy for you as a Trauma-Informed Leader

As a child of the eighties (and a proud member of generation “X”), I grew up with a lot of autonomy. During those long summer days, I would go out in the morning to play with my friends who lived on the same street. My parents only expected that I return home when the streetlights turned on. There were no phones, no checking in with my parents throughout the day (except if I came home for lunch), just me and my friends exploring our neighborhood. Even at a young age, I became incredibly comfortable setting my own schedule and doing things independently – often problem-solving situations that arose on my own.

On the other hand, looking at my nieces and nephews and the children of my friends, I see a much more scheduled and regimented life than what I experienced. Of course, there are benefits to both approaches. Having autonomy can create independent thought, creative problem solving, and freedom, while having clear expectations and active support creates a sense that the world is predictable and safe.

As someone who grew up with a fair amount of autonomy, I have seen this translate into my leadership style in many ways. I love that I’m a creative problem solver and I can usually find the answer to a question or figure out how to get something done on my own without much, if any, external input. However, I also find that I expect my team members to do the same and I get frustrated if they come to me with too many “how to” questions (don’t tell them I said that!). I’ve found that I’m just not very good at figuring out the “specific” process or directive that needs to be given. Instead, I’d rather set a big picture expectation and then let my team figure it out. Sometimes that works with my self-directed team members. However, often my team needs more direction and hands on support from me than I realize.

In contrast, I’ve seen leaders who are phenomenal at giving clear and consistent directions and guidance to their team members. They have specific job duties that have been documented for each of their team members along with procedures on how to complete the job effectively. They know how to support their staff in an active and ongoing way. Unfortunately, what I’ve also seen with some of these leaders is “micromanaging” their staff, constantly overseeing all steps that they take. This can quickly weigh on team members and keep them from developing their own sense of autonomy in their roles. As a trauma-informed leader, it’s important to find a balance between the two extremes.

How our Environment Influences our Need for Autonomy

Earlier I discussed how your personal experiences may have impacted your desire to either crave autonomy or crave structure. However, it can go much deeper than a craving and can translate into how safe we feel in our working environments.  Let’s reflect a bit more deeply on the child who grew up with an abundance of autonomy and freedom. While that can be good in many ways, a childhood without boundaries and expectations can create a lack of psychological safety and trust in how things will happen. If you don’t know what’s expected of you, you might compensate by craving environments that are highly structured and might place those expectations on your team members, limiting their autonomy in their roles. You might be one of those micro-managers that I talked about earlier. This can stress out the team by inhibiting their own creativity.

On the other hand, if you grew up in an environment characterized by structure and clear expectations where you were told what to do and when to do it, you might doubt yourself and your ability to make creative decisions that are outside the “norm.” As a result, as a leader you may not be confident in the decisions that you lay out for your teams, always seeking external validation and specific guidance. Perhaps you are constantly seeking “group consensus” on every decision because you aren’t sure if your decisions are the right ones. While your team members might appreciate having some voice in the decisions that are being made, they might also crave times when you are comfortable and confident making decisions as a leader without always seeking external validation.

Autonomy and Organizational Cultures

I remember when I was first promoted to a higher position in my organization, I was so excited. I imagined that, in addition to being given greater responsibility, I would be given more freedom. I thought that I would finally be able to do things exactly the way that I wanted to. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that it wasn’t correct. I often joked that I didn’t have near the level of control or autonomy in my position that others imagined I did. I couldn’t just decide whether to spend money on a certain thing or sign a specific contract. I worked within a large organization that had specific guidelines and parameters for all these things. While my job was to lead the team, I was part of a bigger system, and I needed to function within that system.

As leaders, we all live and work within broader organizations and job roles that have their own expectations and cultures related to autonomy. I’ve worked in some organizations that were quite direct and clear about expectations for each role and there wasn’t a lot of latitude in those expectations. I’ve also seen organizations that thrive on flexibility and have created cultures where team members are given tremendous freedom to define their roles on how they do their jobs. 

As trauma-informed leaders, it’s important for us to understand the various layers that autonomy plays in our roles and on our teams (which will be discussed in greater depth on next week’s blog). We are each unique individuals with different expectations for autonomy, in turn working in environments that have their own expectations for autonomy. This understanding then translates into how we lead and support our teams within this broader organizational culture.

Determining Your Own Leadership Style

Now that we’ve outlined some aspects of autonomy and the different types of leaders, it’s time for us to dig in and find out a little bit more about where you land on the continuum of autonomy versus directiveness and how that impacts your leadership style. Take a moment to reflect on your answers to the following questions. I’d recommend pulling out a piece of paper and jotting down your answers:

• Reflect on your own childhood.
• What was it like growing up in your home? Were you given a wide berth and freedom to engage in the world on your terms or were you scheduled and directed in various activities?
• Were you known for being a child who craved freedom or one who followed all the rules?
• Were you a child who got into trouble a lot or did you try to avoid getting into trouble as much as possible? What types of things did you get in trouble for?
• When you did get in trouble for something, what message did you receive in response to that event? Did that ultimately create a sense of safety and connection to those around you? Did it feel isolating and as though you were “different” and unsupported to be your unique self?
• How did you make sense of your childhood experiences as a trauma-informed leader?
• How do you make sense of your childhood experiences related to autonomy? Do you like to chart your own path, prefer to be given concrete directions, or somewhere between the two extremes?
• Do you trust your ability to make good decisions in your role or do you doubt your abilities?
• Do you look to your own leader to provide specific directions or do you dislike having specific directions given to you? What is your preference?
• What is the culture of your organization or field?
• Do you work in an organization that prizes independence and autonomy or is it a culture that requires you follow specific directives without much flexibility?
• How do you feel about working within this environment? Does it align with how you like to work? Or is it in contrast with your preferred work style?
• Does your organization often issue directives that are outside of your scope of control?
• Do you often run into challenges or situations in your broader field that are outside of your scope of control? This may include things such as technology, federal or state funding patterns and mechanisms, etc. What is your approach to managing these situations that are outside of your control?
• Honestly Examine Your Own Leadership Style
• What is the culture of your specific team? Are the job roles rigid or flexible?
• Do you believe that only you know how to do things correctly?  If so, you might be a micro-manager who needs to take a step back. 

o   Are you so stressed in your work that you just “trust” your staff to do things in the best way? If so, you might need to lean in a little bit more and provide some additional support and scaffolding for your team.

• When your organization issues a directive in which you have no control over the actions to take, how do you roll that out to your team?
• How Does Your Team Respond to Your Style?
• Where do your various staff members sit on the continuum of autonomy and structure?
• How do they respond to your approach?
• Are there staff who are more frequently frustrated by your choices? Are they also the people who tend to frustrate you?

Take some time to reflect on the answers to the questions posed above. What types of trends do you see? What role does Autonomy play in your position? What is your comfort with promoting autonomy on your team?

Now that we have a better understanding of where you stand as a leader related to autonomy on your team, we’ll spend some time next week diving deeper into how you can balance fostering autonomy while also providing clear directions and support as a trauma-informed leader.