In Brief

The Problem

Most leaders view employee freedom and operational control as antagonists in a tug-of-war that can have only one winner. So they tend to pour their resources into regulating workers’ behavior—often unknowingly putting a damper on commitment, innovation, and performance.

The Solution

By giving people a clear sense of the organization’s purpose, priorities, and principles—that is, a galvanizing framework—leaders can equip them to make autonomous decisions that are in the company’s best interests. Employees should be involved in identifying and articulating those guidelines.

The Benefits

A coherent framework helps employees develop a deeper understanding of the business, which can boost performance on many levels, including engagement, quality, creativity, and customer service.

Leaders know they need to give people room to be their best, to pursue unconventional ideas, and to make smart decisions in the moment. It’s been said so often that it’s a cliché. But here’s the problem: Executives have trouble resolving the tension between employee empowerment and operational discipline. This challenge is so difficult that it ties companies up in knots. Indeed, it has led to decades’ worth of management experiments, from matrix structures to self-managed teams. None of them has offered a clear answer.

A version of this article appeared in the May–June 2018 issue (pp.68–79) of Harvard Business Review.