Self-employed with a boss

If everyone in an organisation worked as if they were self-employed, what do you imagine they would do differently?  


While we are in the thrall of our bosses, how much does that constrain us?  How much more creative would we be if we had no boss?  How would we view spending if it were our own money?  How would we define our own roles?  How much more productive could we be?  How much more intrinsic motivation would we find in our erstwhile routine activities?


Imagine this:  Tell a team of people in your business that, just for one week, they have to imagine that they are self-employed, running their own independent businesses which, incidentally work better when they collaborate with the other small businesses around them.   If there are business-critical constraints which you have to introduce into the mix, then do so, but leave them feeling that they have relative autonomy. 


What do you think would be the result?  What could you learn from it?  What might they learn from it?


At the end of the week, bring them back together and let them talk about the experience.  What did they do differently?  What did they enjoy?  What was difficult?  In what ways did their thinking about the organisation change?  What did they learn that they would now like to introduce into their daily working practices?  How did it feel?


When we consider that we work for someone else, we tend to place boundaries around our own freedom.  When we work for ourselves, we feel a greater sense of freedom to make decisions, to be creative, to think and plan for ourselves.  


That simple shift in mindset could re-energise your team.  Would you dare?




David


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