The Cult of Autonomy Is Killing Teamwork
The Cult of Autonomy is a culture where individual independence is idolized at the expense of alignment, accountability, and shared outcomes.
It masquerades as trust or empowerment, but it destroys execution, erodes teamwork, and lets people operate in silos without shared ownership.
It shows up in companies that say they value collaboration but operate like a collection of lone wolves. It creeps in when managers disappear under the banner of “empowerment,” and team members treat feedback like a threat. It sounds like trust, but it's actually a breakdown in disguise.
The Leadership Trap: “I Trust You to Figure It Out”
The cult sets leaders up to fail by redefining what it means to have someone’s back.
Today’s default model sounds like this:
“I trust you. You’ve got this. Let me know how it goes.”
It feels respectful. It feels empowering. But in practice, it means the team is on the front lines alone while the leader stays in the bunker.
Then something breaks. A client gets pissed. A senior stakeholder is blindsided. A critical dependency is missed. And the leader is now expected to either:
Fall on the sword to “protect” their team, or
Go to war defending a decision they never vetted in the first place.
That’s not leadership.
That’s abdication.
You can’t say you’ve got your team’s back if you weren’t there for the hard part, building the plan, aligning the strategy, and ensuring it’s set up to succeed.
The Team Member Trap: “Don’t Micromanage Me”
The cult doesn’t just hurt leaders. It also gives team members a dangerous out.
Under this belief system, autonomy becomes a shield against feedback. Any attempt to inspect the work or guide the approach gets labeled as micromanagement. The result? A free pass to do whatever they want, without aligning to the mission or owning the outcomes.
You’ll hear:
“I thought you trusted me.”
“You’re always changing the plan.”
“I need space to do it my way.”
But autonomy without accountability doesn’t create ownership.
It creates chaos.
People get overwhelmed. They make decisions in a vacuum. Priorities get out of sync. And when the work doesn’t land, they point to lack of support or unclear expectations, when in reality, they never aligned in the first place.
Nothing Worthwhile Gets Done Alone
Here’s the truth: nothing that will measurably improve the three pillars, customer satisfaction, team member satisfaction, and profitability, is ever accomplished by a single person.
No one builds a winning strategy alone.
No one delivers meaningful change in a silo.
No one scales anything without a team.
Autonomy, in the healthy sense, doesn’t mean “go figure it out on your own.”
It means owning your role in the system, your position on the team, and vetting your approach with the people who are impacted by it.
That includes your manager. That includes your teammates. That includes stakeholders upstream and downstream.
If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to actually get it done, go aligned.
What Having Your Team’s Back Actually Looks Like
It doesn’t mean defending people after a breakdown.
It doesn’t mean taking the fall in an exec meeting.
It doesn’t mean fixing things quietly behind the scenes.
Having your team’s back means leading, before the work begins.
It looks like this:
Sitting down with your team to vet their solution.
Asking the hard questions and challenging the gaps.
Pushing until you both believe the strategy will work.
Aligning on expectations, timelines, and outcomes.
Inspecting progress, not to control, but to clear roadblocks.
When a leader and a team believe in the plan, when they both think it will work, the odds of success skyrocket.
That’s not micromanagement.
That’s leadership.
That’s teamwork.
This Is What Teamwork Actually Looks Like
When leaders lead this way, and teams operate this way, it delivers everything organizations say they want:
Alignment: Everyone is rowing in the same direction, on purpose.
Clear Expectations: There’s no guessing. Everyone knows what success looks like.
Trust: Not blind trust, but earned confidence based on shared ownership.
Psychological Safety: The team feels safe because the leader is in it with them, not hovering, not hiding.
Accountability: Results are reviewed together, and course corrections happen in real time.
That’s how you create a team that performs.
That’s how you deliver outcomes that actually move the business forward.
That’s how you improve the three pillars, without compromising any of them.
The Alternative? Burnout-Busy Chaos
When you don’t lead this way, here’s what happens:
Team members spiral alone in ambiguity and stress.
Priorities shift constantly because no one’s aligned.
Deadlines get missed. Expectations get broken.
Leaders scramble after the fact to explain, defend, or repair.
And in the middle of it all, everyone feels unsupported, because no one actually knows what success looks like.
That’s not trust. That’s dysfunction.
That’s not autonomy. That’s abandonment.
And it’s not leadership, it’s hiding.
The Fix Is Simple (But Not Easy)
If you want a high-performing team, you have to show up early and stay engaged.
You don’t have to control the work.
You do have to lead it.
That means:
Replacing solo ownership with shared alignment.
Vetting plans before they’re executed.
Being visible and supportive, especially when the stakes are high.
Raising the likelihood of success on purpose.
Because when leaders lead like this, everyone wins, or learns, together.
Remember, autonomy isn’t the goal. Execution is. And no one executes alone.
If you're not aligning, you're not leading. If you're not coaching, you're not empowering. And if you're not in it before the work starts, you don't have their back. You’re just watching.
Kill the cult. Lead like it matters because it does.
The bottom line
Gut-check your leadership right now. Ask yourself:
“Where have I told someone I trust them, but failed to vet their approach before it affected the team?”
“When have I felt like I was being micromanaged, but expected my manager to defend me when things went wrong?”
That’s where the cult is hiding. And that’s where you lead next.
Lead in a Way That Delivers
The fastest way to move from talk to results is to make and keep real commitments. This is how you replace wishful thinking with execution and turn alignment into outcomes. When you commit with clarity, follow through, and visible leadership, you give your team the confidence to perform and the structure to win.
We have put together a practical guide on Managing Commitments that shows you exactly how to do it. It will help you replace confusion with clarity and fragmented efforts with aligned execution.
Download it, use it, and lead like the work and your people matter.