Developing the human capacity to make autonomy work

A community of practice for leaders in self-managing organizations who sense it takes more than new structures

The Tension

We know our people are at their best when they are given autonomy.

Yet in a transforming environment like ours, self-direction can quickly lead to a lack of shared direction, frustration, and waste.

The conventional answer is more governance, more oversight, more control. But we already know that’s not the organization we want to work in.

Yet that is what we risk if we can’t figure out how to create more cohesive self-managing organizations, capable of navigating through the complexities and uncertainties of the current moment together.

Evolving our capacity for effective autonomy

Structures that enable autonomy are only as a good as our capacity to work effectively within them.

Evolving this capacity requires deeper developmental work than implementing strategic roadmaps or building new skills and knowledge.

Effective autonomy requires our ability to:

Consider others and the systems we are working within, in a way that generates a sense of care and purpose
Manage our own states of being, in a way that makes us imperturbable in challenging external conditions
Take initiative in the face of uncertainty, in a way that prevents costly bottlenecks and waste

Evolving this capacity doesn’t happen in a formal training program. It also doesn’t happen by changing the structure of the system alone.

It happens through sustained practice and developmental dialogue, working on real challenges with fellow practitioners.

That’s what we’re doing here.

Entry Point: A Simple Invitation

If you are a leader who:

Believes in the potential for and importance of true human autonomy
Is passionate about building self-managing organizations, and
Has a sense something important is missing from the pervasive “change the system, change the behavior” approach

We invite you to join one of our free monthly Human Capacity Lab sessions. Please fill out the following form and you will receive:

A calendar invite to our free monthly series, Human Capacity Lab, where you’ll have the opportunity to get to work with like-minded leaders through structured exercises, designed around a set of proven frameworks. No cost, no pressure.
A subscription to our bi-weekly community newsletter, including stories from the field, actionable insights, new resources, and invites to events (unsubscribe anytime).