Feeling burnt out or deflated by stagnation at your workplace? Do you see yourself as a mere robot taking orders from those upstream with little voice or choice? Perhaps you need to carve out a larger slice of independence for yourself at work and get your life back.

Autonomy at work is the new buzz-phrase, the deal-maker or deal-breaker for the more emancipated, often telecommuting, post-pandemic workforce. So, what does autonomy at work really mean for the employee, and how does one work towards that nirvana-like scenario?

According to career strategist Christine Kidder, “To work independently means you are paying attention, you really care. Once you know what needs to be done, you don’t have to be monitored or micro-managed. You can be counted on to do your job and be reliable.”

This reliability quotient is your trump card in the quest for more freedom at the workplace. Once your boss/manager is convinced that you can be relied upon to complete a task, figuring out things and finding solutions on your own, without needing constant guidance, you are halfway there.

When your manager feels assured about giving you a critical assignment with complete trust in your ability and commitment, he will likely get out of your way and let you do your job. This is the essence of autonomy which is built on the foundation of trust. After all, great leaders never like to micromanage. They empower and are proud of their able teams.

So, your reliability quotient can amp up your value to the organization manifold. What can YOU do on your part to reinforce this standing? Being proactive and having an innate inclination to have your colleagues’ backs is seen as a top quality, worthy of greater freedom.

Simple gestures like asking your teammates, “How can I help?” or “We can do this together” can go a long way in fostering bonhomie and cultivating a sense of solidarity among the employees. Everybody is relaxed and having fun while the work gets done in double quick time.

Constant dialogue with your colleagues also broadens your own skillset, while improving the team’s overall performance. A happy workforce is more productive. And that is always music to the management’s ears and encourages it to accord more space and power to you.

Greater independence at the workplace is extremely critical for your mental health as well. Stress is today’s omnipresent silent assassin, playing havoc with lives young and old across the world. When there’s less interference and you have an all-access pass in office, you tend to manage your stress better and get a firmer grip on work-life balance.

Time management is one of the key considerations for the post-Covid job-seeker. Employers are now much more open to location-agnostic roles for their staff. So, flexi hours and ‘work from home’ (WFH) are options that are always on the table, and you needn’t be chained to your workstation. In fact, according to a survey by FlexJobs, 66% of workers feel they are “more productive” when working from outside the office.

One of the six ways to become more independent at work as listed by compensation management platform Payscale pins telecommuting as one of the asks. The others are – being reliable, evaluating new opportunities with independence in mind, learning something new and being ready to move on if the job isn’t the right fit for you.

Self-improvement is in fact the most significant byproduct of greater independence at the workplace. With more autonomy comes more accountability and responsibility, which is both liberating and empowering and could be the key to unlock your hidden potential. The lateral mobility accorded to interact with and help out your colleagues in other departments helps you to pick up new skills and, in the process, become more versatile as a resource.

“Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies and inputs from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts),” says Carol Dweck, author of ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’ in Harvard Business Review.

This all-important growth mindset can be fostered by a positive atmosphere at the workplace powered by greater autonomy to the workforce, and can open up bright, new career options for you. The trick is to never stop learning and to be able to strategize and take initiative so that you can keep delivering diverse assignments with aplomb and without the need to be constantly monitored.

In this ideal situation, you have announced yourself as a valuable asset to your present employer, while drawing admiring glances from HR heads of other organizations. It’s a win-win, any which way you look at it. All thanks to a little give and a little take. Your bosses gave you a voice and a choice, and you have made the most of that trust to mould yourself into a “much-improved” version of the original You.