The Empowered Manager, 2nd Edition

SevenBalancing Autonomy and Interdependence

The entrepreneurial choice for autonomy, interdependence, and empowerment begins with understanding what we do to keep ourselves in psychological bondage. We are conditioned from the beginning to treat people who have power over us with lot of attention and respect. This yearning for external control is an expression of our dependency, the belief that our well-being is in someone else's hands. Some of our dependency is realistic and useful. It is realistic in our early years. There are people in our lives on whom we depend, rightfully so. Family, friends, colleagues. As adults, however, the belief that our “survival” is in the hands of others becomes an issue we have to confront. It raises questions about our freedom, our sense of purpose, and requires an effort toward consciousness, which we have to deal with for the rest of our lives. No matter how much change occurs in the culture and the workplace, the perplexing undercurrent of our relationship with authority remains a constant.

The dependent part of ourselves shows up at work as a reluctance to risk or to take responsibility for the future of our unit. This becomes a critical issue for organizations as they have become committed to becoming leaner and putting more responsibility on everyone's plate. Many managers, increasingly aware of the price we pay for too many controls, have come to believe that if some of those controls were removed, a tremendous amount of positive energy ...