I'm sitting on a terrace in the Jordaan. And while I'm never late, I'm always early to the Jordan. There's nothing better than people watching, especially there!

 

Text: Mark Elschot

“Leave me” by Ramses Shaffy blares from the speakers. My brother-in-law joins us from the left side of the terrace. On time, as always. He is a pilot and everything in that world revolves around time. There is a lot of commotion on the other side of the street. A lady approached a passerby. She tries to convince the Jordanian of the usefulness of something or other. Despite frantic efforts and the lady's tenacity bordering on obsession, the Amsterdam resident makes his final judgement. “Oh man, fuck off, let me!”

Drunk with happiness

Just as the Birò belongs to the Amsterdam yup, the word autonomy seems to belong to our sector lately. There is talk about autonomy in work. If employees had more freedom to regulate how they perform their work, this would lead to more satisfied employees. Even give your employees the space to decide when they can do their work, and they would become drunk with happiness. Autonomy is hip in the world of customer contact. One expert is even more activist than the other. But I don't know it all yet. Don't we shout after each other too much? Are we going beyond our goal of working with people?

Captain Chris

Take my brother-in-law Chris, captain of the Royal Navy. A highly educated professional. From the moment he takes a seat in the cockpit, everything is assigned to him. The control tower tells him when he can leave the gate, when the engines can be started and which route he must follow to the runway. The speed at which it can take off is determined by the take-off weight. And don't think he can ask for a fly-by past the control tower. He has to follow every procedure to three decimal places.

He also has little room for control with regard to planning. He can subscribe to a number of services on an annual basis. The rest is filled in for him. Working from home is certainly not an option. And going home an hour earlier because the Netherlands is playing is not an option either. No autonomy. Yet he is very happy with his job. Apart from the generous income and seeing the world. This just suits him. He is into procedures and planning. Even with his new toaster, he reads the manual twice first. And spontaneously going into town doesn't work either. Chris benefits from clarity.

Why is autonomy so hip & happening?

Why is it that autonomy is such a hip and trending topic? If you don't apply it, you no longer seem to count. Doesn't mandating autonomy go against the meaning of autonomy? We started working in this sector precisely because we love people. We are available to assist those who contact us with a problem. We bring out the best in our employees by listening to them. Ultimately, a one-size-fits-all approach suits no one. For a sector in which humanity is both the right to exist and a core competency, we seem to be losing that humanity. What works for you doesn't work for me.

Personally, I am a big supporter of a target group approach. A group is never 100% homogeneous. Yes, of course they are all colleagues who work at company X, Y or Z. Yet there are so many differences within that. So you have the breadwinner who works full hours. The students who mainly work for fun. Others do the work for basic income, and they also devote their passion and energy to their own business or career in music. Any of these personas has different wishes and properties. The breadwinner works full contract hours during the day. The student as much as possible when there are no exams. And the musician often knows shortly in advance when he has a snack. A one-sided view of availability therefore does not work.

Control space

If you look at the control space in the work, you will see completely different connections. One person is very creative and has an excellent sense of what works for the customer. The other person is actually more helped by clear guidance. The modern organization benefits from customization: determining for each employee what degree of autonomy best suits how and when they work. Let's leave the choices up to those who matter.

I signal to the waiter that I want two more beers. Chris asks for a portion of bitterballen. “Do you want beef or vegetarian?” the waiter asks with a smile. Given choices, let me do my own thing.

(Ziptone/Mark Elschot)

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