Balancing Autonomy and Alignment

Workplace autonomy is more important than ever. Autonomy allows teams to work independently to achieve set goals. However, it can also cause chaos. Teams may go off in different directions and lose focus on what they really need to do to win.

Because of this, large companies use various methods to create alignment - processes, standards, and values - but to varying degrees of success. This approach can enhance business efficiency, but it can also create a culture of ‘command and control’. This is when people stop thinking and start following processes, which undermines trust and autonomy.

Henrik Kniberg - Aligned Autonomy

Based on the culture at Spotify, Henrik Kniberg argues that any imbalance between autonomy and alignment eventually leads to failure at scale. Maintaining the balance between High Autonomy and High Alignment requires a great deal of attention from leaders and teams.

Here are five ways to achieve a healthy balance between autonomy and alignment:

Provide Clarity and Context

Leaders need to communicate and clarify each team's long-term strategic objectives that align with business goals. As an example, the music player team at Spotify aims to "provide fast and reliable access to all of the world's music" whereas the infrastructure team strives for "high product development speeds while maintaining a highly available service". Interdependence between teams is minimised in this way.

Define Goals and Metrics

To achieve their objectives, every team must define their own goals and metrics. Your job as a leader is to review them, understand where they're coming from, and offer your input and opinions on their decisions.

Provide the Resources Needed

Equip the team with the resources they need to help them move forward.

Build Accountability in Your Team

Hold them accountable for the outcomes by empowering them to be transparent with everyone and granting them control over what they can commit to (i.e., the freedom to prioritise and allocate resources to different things). By doing so, you should have a clear understanding of what you should expect from the team.

Remove Any Roadblocks

If the strategy fails to deliver results, guide your team to understand what went wrong and decide which initiatives to pursue and which to forgo.

Having clear objectives, goals and metrics, as well as the resources needed, makes it easier for teams to make informed decisions, trust each other, and coordinate less. Teams also become accountable, meaning they take full ownership of their outcomes.