The concept of Self-Directed and Other-Directed is that self-directed people believe they have a choice and stay accountable for actions and projects.
While other-directed people believe they have no options but to comply and take revenge on your company and act like a victim.

When you ask a self-directed person to do a task, their thinking is to either agree or disagree with doing it. They accept the consequences of their choice and actions because they feel ownership.

The boundaries do not remove their choice to behave in a particular manner; they aid in building self-directed behaviors. After they make a choice, the consequences cannot be adequately controlled.

If team members are set up to make choices and learn from experience, positive choices can have adverse effects. When negative consequences occur, the team members can accept them because they were the team members who chose the action (they do not have to like them).

 What do you think?

• How do you, as a team leader, establish choice?
• Does your team have a choice in action? Or are you forcing the illusion of choice?
• What do you know of your team members’ beliefs?
• When was the last time you asked team members for their ideas?
• What behaviors do you, as the team leaders show that illustrate a lack of choice?
• Imagine what would happen in your team when people could choose. Is it chaos? Is it happiness?
• What choices make you accountable? What options make you unaccountable?

Do you want to make a more self-directed team? Contact Mike today to make your team and leaders better.