Self Leadership in a Workplace Tsunami
The fourth industrial revolution. The AI era. VUCA.
Call it whatever you like, these phrases point to the same underlying truth: We’re in a period of unprecedented change. The world and workforce are being disrupted at dizzying speeds, and organizations are being forced to constantly course-correct.
It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and enterprises need self-leaders—people who take ownership of their work life.
The reason is simple. An organization’s agility depends on the mindset of their people. Navigating the tsunami of change requires employees who take responsibility for their growth and proactively pursue what they need to succeed.
But increasing demands on middle managers’ time is making it more difficult for individual contributors to become self-leaders.
Middle Managers Are Under Fire
A top priority of a middle manager should be helping their team members become the best versions of their professional selves. But that laudable purpose is being undermined by the change tsunami.
Consider the following: Gallup reports a nearly 50% increase in team size since 2013, with an average of one manager for every 12.1 people in 2025. More people to manage means less time for developing every team member.
Many businesses are flattening their organizational structure. Middle managers are disproportionately being laid off. This puts more pressure on the leaders who remain in these leaner organizations. And when managers feel like they are drowning, they can’t nurture their talent.
On top of that, managers are saddled with more responsibilities. Some 51% feel overwhelmed by their jobs. To stay afloat, leaders must complete their immediate duties at the expense of coaching team members, developing talent, and giving feedback and direction—the very things that empower individual contributors to take responsibility for their work.
The end result?
A tremendous amount of productivity is lost as employees wait for direction from their leaders. According to a study from Harvard Business School, the cost of this exceeds $100 billion—and that doesn’t include the price of poor morale, disengagement, and lost opportunities.
How to Encourage Self-Leadership
How do you inspire employees to become skilled self-leaders? Start by encouraging the following best practices and reward your people for using them.
Take Initiative: Instead of waiting for direction from you when you are not available, encourage your people to try to proactively complete tasks on their own. Empower them by providing the information they need to succeed.
For this to work, you must create an environment of psychological safety. Your team members must know they won’t be punished for taking initiative. You can further help them by putting up guardrails that detail which tasks and actions require additional approval.
Solve Problems: Encourage your team members to practice their decision-making and problem-solving skills. These skills are a necessity when the pace of change is constantly remaking work. Coach them on how to define a problem, brainstorm solutions, weigh the pros and cons, and create and implement an action plan.
Ask for What You Need: When time is limited, employees need to know how to ask for the direction and support they need to achieve their goals. This begins with accurately assessing their own competence and commitment on a specific goal. Once they understand where they are, they can ask for support that will help them move forward with confidence.
Many employees lack these skills and remain stuck, waiting for their leaders to tell them what to do. Invest time in coaching your people so they can sharpen these skills.
Take Ownership of Your Career: Gallup recently reported that some 69% of employees are disengaged at work. Instead of taking ownership of their careers, they are doing the least amount possible and even actively undermining their employer.
Self-leaders do the opposite. They own their careers and initiate career conversations with their leaders. Make career conversations with your people a priority and respond promptly when team members want to talk about the subject.
Riding the Change Tsunami
Taking ownership of one’s career is how employees become self-leaders. It is the red thread that ties together all these suggestions. Self-leaders are more likely to be engaged in their work, and the benefits of highly engaged employees are immense:
- 10% Higher Customer Loyalty
- 14% Higher Productivity
- 23% Higher Profitability
- 22% Higher Organizational Citizenship
- 70% Higher Wellbeing
Self leadership has always been a powerful benefit employees brought to their employers. In the middle of a tsunami of change, it’s now indispensable.
