The 4A Framework is a simple Framework for Senior Leaders, for creating a High Performing workforce developed by VFS.  This page is an introduction to the concept.  We introduce the four tenets of the framework which help create the essential social mechanisms that should be present within a culture of performance.

Autonomy

The premise is that a high level of personal and team Autonomy is fundamentally important in unlocking the full potential of your employees.  We wont go into details here but there have been numerous studies that have proved this, and the Teal Organisation concept is partly founded on this.  Related page: Autonomy or Empowerment?

Alignment

However, whilst we want people and teams working autonomously with a high degree of empowerment and independence, they must only do so with a clear sense of direction and purpose.  They must be highly Aligned to the broader business strategy and any current priorities and areas of focus, with ample understanding of the context and boundaries within which they operate.  OKRs (Objective & Key Results) are often employed to assure good alignment.  For some, alignment suggests constraints, instead preferring the term "oriented".  We disagree.  Both terms are useful and alignment is required.  There is a very brief explanation of why, both terms are useful here (Alignment or Orientation).  It is the manner in which alignment is achieved, rather than alignment itself, that we consider to be nuanced.  See also achieving alignment.

Note also that in order to maximise the chances of success it's important that people are aligned to a common set of values whilst also allowed to find, agree and live their own local team values.  This helps foster good behaviours and collaboration and is part of the overarching topic of culture.

Accountability

High levels of autonomy must be paired up with Accountability.  What does this mean?  Well, often people want freedom and space to make decisions and of course with this comes a degree of responsibility.  People and teams should be held accountable for their decisions.  In the world of Green and Teal organisations, this concept is considered as out dated... but there are nuances.  Accountability doesn't have to be to a senior person and it can still be done in a manner that encourages empowerment and risk taking.  It simply means that your ways of working need to enable a high level of accountability.  Whether this is through encouraging or even insisting on high transparency through information radiators, by providing forums for presenting and demonstrating progress or simply through adopting Gemba Walks, your culture and your processes need to ensure that empowerment and autonomy are matched with providing 'ample context' and appropriate ''checks & balances'.  

It will be the actions and behaviours of the leadership team and the vocabulary you use that will set the culture and determine whether you create an empowering place of work with high psychological safety, or one that controls and stifles your employees. 

Although used here, phrases like "holding people to account" tend to suggest command & control.  In fact however, we suggest that, whilst all four tenets of this framework are required to achieve high performing workforces, there are many ways for people to take responsibility and for people to be held accountable.  Read More on Accountability.

Within more agile companies, it’s common for teams to demand high levels of autonomy whilst not necessarily appreciating the level of accountability that comes with it.  Sometimes, dysfunctional or disruptive behaviours can emerge as they are held accountable for their decisions and actions.  This framework can help to identify the key conversations that need to be had, the guard rails and boundaries that need to be defined and the working processes that need to be in place and followed.  If done proactively, these issues can be avoided.

Ability

And of course, in order to ensure that individuals and teams can be trusted to work with high degrees of autonomy, they must posses adequate Ability.  As senior leaders, we should all be well versed with developing and assessing individuals, ensuring they're not out of their depth and supporting their growth.  This also needs to be the case with teams when running a high ownership, highly collaborative, team-based operating model.

Alignment and Accountability are given to teams, ability is not

There will be times when a team isn’t sufficiently experienced or capable but still expect high levels of delegated decision making authority, whilst being unaware of their own ability gaps. We want to encourage empowerment, entrepreneurialism and ownership but it needs to be matched with ability. It will take time and a plan to help the team recognise where they have gaps and to support them in improving their capability. We won’t attempt to cover the many techniques and approaches for supporting development and capability improvements.  That said, some powerful techniques we tend to adopt here at VFS, are aspects of Situational Leadership that we adapt and apply to teams.

Note: We like to draw a distinction between Ability & Capability.

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This Framework helps to structure workplace improvements, helping to inform changes and investments in people, process, practices and communications strategies.

How all 4 As are improved and how to do so in a well balanced approach is one of the areas where Value Flow Solutions guide our clients.  The devil is in the detail and there is no substitute for experience.

You might have got to this point and thought....hold on a minute,  where's the Big A? .....Ambition. 

Ambition is important of course and without aims and ambitions you're not likely achieve or attain those audacious targets of affluence.....ok, so there are lots of A words we haven't used.  Goals and ambitions are essential.  This is what creates alignment and a real sense of purpose.  Remember, all models are wrong, but some are useful.  Our 4A model is not complete, but if it were, it would be far too complex and unwieldy to be useful.

So remember, this is a framework to help ensure you have the essential social mechanisms in place to enable high performance.  But this needs to be wrapped in a culture that supports high performance.  No blame. Respect good intentions. Provide feedback.  Encourage reflection and an opportunity to learn and adapt.

It will be the actions and behaviours of the senior leadership team and the vocabulary you use that will set the culture and determine whether you create an empowering, high-trust place of work with high psychological safety, or one that controls and stifles your employees. 

Although used here, phrases like "holding people to account" tend to suggest command & control.  In fact however, we suggest that, whilst all four tenets of this framework are required to achieve high performing workforces, there are many ways for people to take responsibility and for people to be held accountable.

We discuss culture here, here in Organisational Paradigms and within our Technology Strategy section, specifically in the Organisational Agility tenet of our TOPP Agility model and its parent, the TEEM concept.

Related pages:

• Collection: Communication

• Strategic Dissonance