Inclusion Unlocked

14Autonomy

If we do this really well it becomes owned by everyone and not “I come in, I solve, I go out.”

Nurit Hattab, Senior Director, DEI Experiences and Strategy at Electronics Arts (EA)

We know companies thrive when employees thrive, and intrinsic to this phenomenon is when people have freedom, control, and ownership over their work and the ways they work. Your role as a leader is to go beyond shifting your style of management to shifting the entire organization's style of working, enabling your culture to prioritize achieving outcomes, both business and DEIB related, rather than policing how they are executed. Autonomy is a fundamental psychological need and intrinsic motivator, and by instilling it into your culture, you're improving employee engagement and enhancing belonging. When an organization builds an empowering culture, each individual stands taller and with more confidence, knowing they have the power to make decisions and contribute meaningfully to the business. What could be more energizing and commercially impactful than this?

Let Go of Power and Share It

Fundamental to increasing both autonomy and inclusion is an increase in power sharing. Yes, that means you will need to let go of some power to enable others to step up, and how much power you let go of will likely be proportional to how little or much autonomy and inclusion your organization is already enabling. You may find the idea of letting go of power hard at first, let alone actually redistributing ...