One part of the debate on many issues is who should get to decide — the individual, the States, or the Federal government. It’s a more consequential version of what plays out in organizations all the time — how much autonomy to give employees, branch offices, or whether to have the parent company dictate the policy.
Determining the amount of freedom you can give that still allows for enough consistency and coherence to be whole is a tricky question. The trade-off in autonomy is often complexity — if each person or office completes a process in a different way, misalignment can occur when they try to interact. However, standardization can cause inefficiencies that fail to take into account situational differences.
Whether you impose policies with an iron fist or let your office be a free-for-all, the key issue is clarity. Everyone needs to know where the leadership stands on what level of autonomy is acceptable and what needs to stay within the strict parameters. Don’t abdicate your responsibility to define the rules.
