The opposite of autonomy is control. Control leads to compliance; but autonomy leads to engagement. When people are compliant, they do the absolute minimum that they can get away with. But when people are engaged, they actively take responsibility and contribute more than expected. You pick which destination you like, when you decide between autonomy and control. And don’t get me started on how engagement is the silver bullet to most companies’ problems!

autonomy in particular over four aspects of work: what people do, when they do it, how they do it, and whom they do it with. Engagement emerges when people have autonomy over 4Ts: their task, their time, their technique, and their team.

Results-only work environment (ROWE): The brainchild of two American consultants, a ROWE is a workplace in which employees don't have schedules. They don't have to be in the office at a certain time or any time. They just have to get their work done.

"Now that" rewards: Rewards offered after a task has been com-pleted-as in "Now that you've done such a great job, let's acknow!-edge the achievement." "Now that" rewards, while tricky, are less perilous for nonroutine tasks than "if-then" rewards.

Nonroutine work: Creative, conceptual, right-brain work that can't be reduced to a set of rules. Today, if you're not doing this sort of work, you won't be doing what you're doing much longer.