The Real Power You Have

Agency and autonomy are often discussed as leadership concepts, but their real value is much more personal. They shape how you respond to circumstances, make decisions, and use the freedom you have. Agency is your ability to act and influence what happens next. Autonomy is the freedom to decide how you act. You can think about them this way: 

Agency: I can influence what happens next. 

Autonomy: I have room to decide how I do it.

The words are related, but they’re not synonymous. You can have agency without autonomy. For example:

• You may not get to choose the company’s priorities, but you can decide how you respond to them.
• You may not control your family’s needs, but you can decide how you manage your energy around them.
• You may not get to choose whether a project has to be completed, but you may have some say in how the work gets done. 

Start With Agency

Agency is connected to how you manage your energy. Every day, something is drawing from it: meetings, deadlines, family obligations, difficult conversations, decision fatigue, and the mysterious exhaustion that comes from spending 45 minutes trying to schedule a 20-minute meeting.

Agency asks: Where do I want my energy to go?

You may not have complete control over your day, but you usually have more influence than you think. For example:

• Maybe you decide to handle your most demanding work when your energy is highest.
• Maybe you stop automatically  saying yes to requests that leave you exhausted.
• Maybe you prepare for a tense conversation instead of spending two days worrying about it.

Autonomy Gives You Room

Autonomy is different. It’s the amount of freedom you have to choose how something gets done. 

Autonomy asks: How do I want to use my energy?

Let’s say your manager gives you a clear outcome and deadline but lets you decide how to organize the work. That’s autonomy. Or maybe your family needs your help with an aging parent. You cannot ignore the responsibility, but you decide how tasks are divided, when you help, and where you need support.

Autonomy creates room for judgment. And judgment is something leaders need to practice. When every decision is made for you, you get fewer chances to build confidence in your own judgement. When you have some room to choose, you learn what works, what doesn’t, and what kind of decision-maker you are.

When You Have One Without the Other 

This is where things get interesting. 

You can have agency without much autonomy. Your organization may announce a reorganization you had no part in designing. Your autonomy is limited. But you still have agency. You can decide which relationships to strengthen. You can ask better questions. You can protect your energy by focusing on what is within your control. You can learn what your new team needs. You can update your skills. The lack of autonomy is real. So is your ability to respond. 

You can also have autonomy without using much agency. You may have plenty of freedom over how you structure your day and still spend your best energy on low-value tasks, other people’s priorities, or problems that do not belong to you. Having freedom doesn’t automatically mean you are using it well. You need to deliberately decide how to use that freedom.

Build More of Both

You can strengthen agency by making more intentional decisions. For example:

• Set your own priorities before other people set them for you. Ask yourself, “What can I influence here?”
• Notice which people, tasks, and habits consistently drain your energy.
• Make one decision instead of carrying five unresolved ones around in your head.
• Protect some capacity for the things that matter most. (Remember our chat about boundaries?)

You can strengthen autonomy by building trust and competence. When people know you follow through, they’re often more willing to give you room. Ask for latitude. Try, “Can we agree on the outcome and deadline, and let me decide how I get us there?” That’s a reasonable request. You can also create more autonomy in your personal life by clarifying responsibilities. If family obligations are consuming your energy, talk about who owns what.

Give Some Away

If you lead other people, whether that’s employees, volunteers, or your children, give them some autonomy. Be clear about the result, the constraints, and what success looks like. Then give them space. Micromanagement drains everyone’s energy and weakens judgment. Your people need opportunities to make decisions if you want them to become better decision-makers. 

Protect Your Energy

Agency helps you decide where your energy goes. Autonomy gives you room to use that energy in a way that works for you. Together, they help you lead with more purpose. So when you feel depleted or stuck, try asking yourself two questions: What can I influence? Where do I have room to choose? The answers won’t solve everything. But they’ll help you stop spending energy where you have no leverage and start using it where you do. 

Where in your life do you need more agency, more autonomy, or both? Please share in the comments.