Autonomy is a great concept – but it’s also difficult. Culturally, it can be hard to actually create an autonomous workplace. Some workplaces may revert to old methods, driven by hierarchies. Others may go too far the other way, with autonomy causing inertia as staff lose sight of what they need to do and undertake competing priorities.
At Wise, we’re proud of our autonomous culture. For new joiners it can be a shock, for old ‘Wisers’ it’s a way of working that is hard to do without – and may explain why so many start their own businesses.
It’s a way of working that permeates across teams, whether they be in customer support or working, like me, on Wise Business, our dedicated product for small businesses.
While autonomy brings real challenges, it delivers huge benefits too – allowing us to work quickly, effectively and creatively. Without this culture, I doubt whether Wise would have grown to its current position in little over a decade – processing more than £6bn in cross-border transfers per month and supporting more than 300,000 active business customers.
With all this in mind, I’ve put together five tips that can help make autonomy work – they may not all fit your business, but hopefully, they’re worth considering:
1. Make your mission clear
A mission is a guiding star. At Wise, our mission is for money to move instantly, conveniently, transparently and, eventually, for free. We use this to guide all of our work – does a project get us closer to achieving our mission? If not, then why are we doing it?
It helps – but it’s not essential – if you can link this mission to something wider in society. For instance, it’s a UN Sustainable Development Goal to reduce the cost of global remittances by 3%. That’s something that helps motivate our staff, since Wise’s growth brings down the cost of our products, helping people globally.
2. Break that mission down into goals – then trust your staff to hit them
In its earliest days, Wise operated an almost puritan approach to hitting its goals. Staff were split into autonomous teams who each aimed toward one of four goals: making the product quicker, cheaper, more convenient or more transparent. They could hire who they wanted, build whatever they needed, so long as it got them closer to their goal.
Today, many of our staff are still focused on those four key goals. And even those teams which are not, still have very clear goals set that help gets us closer to our mission. By having these goals in place, we Wisers are given more freedom. We are trusted to know what we need to do to hit our goals, and given the support and freedom to do so.
The challenge now is keeping this approach in place as we grow. So far, it’s remained – and we’re at more than 3,000 staff. Can it continue when we get to 10,000, or 20,000? We hope so, and we’ll do all we can to ensure it does.
3. Give staff a reason to feel bought in
There are many ways to incentivise staff and to help them feel a part of something. At Wise, we believe in employee equity. Every Wiser is given stock options, no matter their level or team. We believe this helps everyone feel a part of what we are doing and encourages long-term thinking.
However, it brings costs. We do not offer bonuses or commissions, which can put off some potential joiners. And, since we became a listed company, staff keep one eye on our share price – something which can be difficult at times.
4. Ensure clear lines of communication
One of the big potential drawbacks of autonomy is that it can create silos. If I am working on project X to reach my goals, what happens if it’s interfered with by someone’s project Y? Or what if I need that person to support my work, but they have other priorities?
To help overcome this, we create big moments for cross-company communication. Staff gather for big all-Wise events across the globe, where we share work and inspiration. This is supported by a range of all-Wise and all-team calls. Just as important, though, is that Wisers commit to getting to know each other and to working collegiately.
5. Hire carefully and honestly
There’s one recurring theme above: people. An autonomous culture can be as well planned and as well thought through as possible, but it won’t work if the people aren’t right. Hires not only need to feel comfortable with autonomy but they must also be engaged by the mission they’re joining. Without this, they’ll soon drift away.
This requires an honest interview process – and one that allows the candidate to be as open as possible about their aims. The candidate should be able to interview the interviewer, while the interviewer should focus on understanding the candidate – not just trying to trip them up or reward generic answers.
Getting it done
Autonomy won’t work for everyone or every business. But when it’s done right, it can have a powerful impact – helping an organisation become more creative, agile and engaged. We’re proud of how we work at Wise, and we aim to keep it like this even as we grow.
Feature image by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
