The new generation of enlightened managers strikes the balance between autonomy and accountability
Why trusting impact over hours is the key to thriving teams in modern work
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Around here, I often say that if you work in an office you are a knowledge worker and, at this point, about 1 billion people in the world fit under this definition.
For these individuals, the lines between “being at work” and everything else are increasingly blurred. Solutions to clients’ challenges come to us in a flash of insight during a morning run or an afternoon spent reading, and if you are in the business of consulting, product design, or really any field where creative problem-solving is a must, this rhythm will sound familiar.
For managers, this blurring presents a unique challenge - especially in the era of remote work.
How do you manage people whose best ideas don’t always happen within traditional hours, tasks, or office walls? Remote work has amplified this flexibility, allowing knowledge workers to structure their days around when they feel most productive and creative. This freedom, however, means that the manager’s role is no longer about making sure people are logged in at 9am or that they are “visible” in a physical or virtual office.
For some of the people with management responsibility, the answer lies in a new approach, one that I believe only the most enlightened managers are truly capable of delivering.
These are managers who understand that productive knowledge work is rarely about clocking hours at a desk: they trust their teams to create value in ways that might look unconventional, while also knowing that the freedom they provide must come with responsibility.
The rise of impact-focused work
The age-old method of measuring productivity through hours worked or task completion simply does not align with the way knowledge workers generate valuable output.
A lawyer working billable hours might be the clearest exception, but for most others in this space, including consultants, designers, or strategists, value is measured by the insights and solutions produced, not by hours logged.
However, it’s one thing to say that an “impact-focused” approach is the future and quite another to make it a reality.
For example, imagine a consultant who strikes upon a breakthrough idea for a client while hitting the gym in the middle of a Tuesday, or consider a product manager who reads a book in the evening that completely reframes their thinking on user experience.
I am convinced that these moments contribute more to client outcomes than hours spent shuffling through meetings or responding to emails, yet our conventional models of productivity rarely recognize this!
The enlightened managers, however, see these unconventional moments as central to knowledge work. They are not worried about whether a team member is “at work” every second of the day, instead, they are focused on whether their people are producing meaningful impact.
Nurturing an impact-oriented way of working
Creating an environment that prioritizes impact over presence requires a change to the the DNA of a team or, harder, the entire company culture.
An example that comes to mind is a consulting team working on a large transformation project. If the project leader is focused solely on task completion, the team will likely follow a checklist without stopping to consider if they are solving the real issues the client faces. When/if the manager reframes success as delivering meaningful, lasting change for the client, the team is more likely to approach the work creatively.
They will draw from diverse sources, brainstorm openly, and step out of the usual comfort zones because they know they are working toward a bigger outcome.
But… but… but… it’s not that easy nor that straightforward.
This approach works only as long as the team respects the trust they are given. In this kind of setup, trust and accountability are two sides of the same coin.
For managers, this means setting expectations clearly from day one and being ready to take quick, decisive action if someone abuses that freedom.
Fire fast
The freedom to work impactfully and creatively only thrives in an environment where people value and respect it. Managers who believe in this approach are fully aware that it’s not a free-for-all.
They recognize the risk of “gaming the system” in an impact-focused setup: people who mistake flexibility for permission to slack off, letting their teammates shoulder the work. I was born and raised in Italy, so you have to believe me when I say I know what I’m talking about here.
Enlightened managers who embrace the kind of style I’m arguing for, need to “hire fast and fire fast”… For the sake of efficiency, sure, but also to preserve a culture of autonomy, accountability and respect.
If you are leading a team of consultants and you encourage them to find solutions beyond traditional working hours, most of them will love the freedom to take their laptops to a café or brainstorm ideas during a jog, knowing that what counts is the outcome they deliver to the client, not where or when they do it.
But then there is one person who consistently fails to produce, clearly taking advantage of the trust you have extended. You sit down, discuss it, maybe give them a chance to step up however, if nothing changes, firing that individual becomes a no-brainer: it is a management decision you cannot avoid as an act of respect for the team.
That decision tells everyone else that freedom is a privilege they have earned and should not be taken for granted.
When managers become impact catalysts
In this kind of work environment, the role of the manager shifts profoundly.
They are no longer the taskmaster keeping track of hours or micro-managing activities but they become impact catalysts, guiding their teams to focus on high-value, creative problem-solving.
They act as a mentor and an inspiration, helping their teams find ways to generate insights and shape the way they think rather than just dictating what to do.
Importantly, this requires a completely different skill set from traditional management.
Enlightened managers have to be adaptable, understanding that productivity in knowledge work is often invisible and, notably, non-linear.
They know that the best insights can come from a random spark in the middle of an unrelated activity, and while they are open to letting people work in a way that plays to their strengths, they are also unafraid to step in and make tough calls when someone is not pulling their weight.
Hire fast. Fire fast.
Max Levchin, one of the PayPal founders, has often commented on his approach to decision-making speed, noting that he and his team at PayPal moved with incredible speed in nearly all aspects of business - except for hiring. In this rare area, he believed that hiring fast could compromise the quality of talent brought into the team, which would ultimately hinder the business.
Now, of course I trust Levchin (he did something right in his career 😅), but I think this stuff used to work 25 years ago, at the dawn of modern IT. I find that it works less well now (actually… it’s either that, or I am a total idiot because, no matter how slow I hire, I still make many recruitment mistakes).
Hire fast. Fire fast.
For the managers who embrace this shift, the rewards can be incredibly satisfying: a motivated, high-performing team with remarkably low attrition that produces real impact.
For those on the team, it’s a chance to work in a way that is effective, and a true reflection of how value is created in knowledge work.
As usual, let me know what you think in the comments.
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✍ The Management Consultant
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🎯 INTERESTING SH*T
A couple of things I found on the internet that you may like…
This note from
kind of gave me the inspiration to write this post. I gave a more pointed response in the comments:This is probably useless info for you, but this is what I listen to when I am doing focused work:
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This was always true, even in offices before Covid and the acceptance of remote work.
Effective employees built trust through their performance and relationships by being accountable to their results. Managers that forged trust by relationships became catalysts through delegation and coaching.
Part of this was control over your own time, which high performing teams have always had under good management. Remote work presents the manager with new challenges of course, but is not the catalyst for responsibly using your time in and out of work to be effective.
Hire fast is a trade off sacrificing effectiveness for efficiency. If onboarding and firing is easy for you and your organization then this is a sound tactic. However, I’ve seen that the constant battering relationships get from this mounts quickly and causes individuals to isolate behind their tasks, made easier in a remote environment.
One of the greatest tokens of responsibility granted is the trust to get your work done on your own time. One of my favorite mentors told me early on, "I don't care when you work, as long as the work gets done."
The work always got done under that kind of leadership.