Why I give people responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks

The science of improving motivation, creativity, relationships, and well-being.

Sophia Zaia | January 10, 2023

This is an excerpt from Breadth and Depth, the PowerLabs newsletter. Sign up below to get the next edition in your inbox.

In my previous role at Sunrise Movement, I learned that it's important to give staff and volunteers a clear purpose — the desired outcomes — and the space and responsibility to choose how to reach that purpose.

Outcomes are our ultimate goals or objectives—like electing a local candidate to office by making 100,000 calls and sending 10,000 postcards, or winning a piece of legislation by executing a campaign arc.

Tasks are much smaller pieces of work, like links in the chain that get us to our outcome—for instance, making 300 calls during a phone bank shift, sending confirmation texts for an event, or making the banner for an action.

Giving people responsibility for outcomes can help people feel more in control of their work, enjoy their work more, and improve their performance.

The science of why responsibility for outcomes is important

The importance of feeling like we have choices is well-researched and one of the three basic psychological needs for well-being identified by the leading theory of motivation, self-determination theory.

Self-determination theory is a way of understanding why people do what they do. It says people have three basic needs important for motivation and happiness: autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

Autonomy means the ability to make choices and direct our own lives, free from others' control. A common misperception is that autonomy is independence. Rather, autonomy is about choice. A person can choose to be interdependent or independent.

Relatedness means feeling belonging with others and that you are significant among them. It's about feeling like you can care for and contribute to others—and that others care for and contribute to you.

Competence means feeling like you are capable and effective.

Let's focus on autonomy.

When people feel autonomous, they experience higher-quality motivation, leading to several benefits:

Improved performance: People who feel autonomous tend to do better at their jobs and be more persistent when things get tough.
Increased creativity: Autonomy can also help people develop new ideas.
Better relationships: People who feel autonomous tend to have better relationships because they feel more confident and in control of their interactions.
Increased well-being: People who feel autonomous tend to be happier and have better mental health.

In short, increasing people's sense of autonomy can improve their motivation, creativity, relationships, and well-being.

How we can increase autonomy

There are two ways we can increase people's sense of autonomy:

Giving them choices about what they do (the task), when they do it (the time), how they do it (the technique), or with whom they do it (the team). For example, a staff member or volunteer who is tasked with planning a specific project could set the goals and vision for success with their manager or organizer, but would have autonomy over how to go about the project details and timeline, who to involve in that process and what team to pull together to execute the project.

Giving them responsibility for project outcomes instead of simply completing tasks. In the previous example, the person in charge of planning the campaign would feel responsible for creating the conditions for the vision of success for the campaign, rather than just being held accountable by a higher up on carrying out a pre-specified to-do list of specific tasks necessary to get to that vision of success.

Next week, I'll share how I created the conditions for teams of young people running one of the largest voter contact programs in 2020 to take responsibility for outcomes. In two weeks, Randall will share a step-by-step process on how you can do the same.

Learn methods to increase the autonomy of volunteers and members

If you want to learn more about increasing volunteers' and members' creativity, performance, and well-being, join the We're a Nerdy Movement Study Group.

It's a six-week program for organizers who want to use evidence-based approaches to developing a high-participation, high-commitment organizing program where members grow, learn, and lead.

The study group teaches the science of motivation and a set of methods that work together to create organizations where people thrive.

If you join the study group, you'll improve your ability to recruit new members, develop leaders, and build teams that strengthen over time, produce excellent work, and contribute to the team members' growth and learning.

Get the details and register, or join the waitlist.

Best,

Sophia Zaia

Team Coach at PowerLabs and former Distributed Director at Sunrise Movement