By Laurie Sallarulo
What makes one person see a closed door and walk away, and another look for a different way in? Why does one person wait for someone to solve the problem for them while another jumps in and asks, “What can I do to solve the problem?” Part of the answer may be something we don’t talk about nearly enough: agency.
What is agency?
Agency is the belief that we can influence what happens next. It’s about taking ownership. Making a decision. Speaking up. Trying something new or different. Solving a problem and not waiting for someone else to tell you what to do or give you the answer.
Why does agency matter?
Agency isn’t a new skill, but I think it matters more today because so much around us is changing so quickly. New and advanced technology like AI. Changes in the workplace. Opportunities that didn’t exist.
We talk a lot about adaptability, critical thinking, communication and problem solving, which are all important. But knowing how to solve a problem and actually stepping up to solve it are two different things. This is where agency comes in.
After many years in for-profit and non-profit leadership, I’ve observed that the people who grow the most aren’t necessarily the ones with the most experience or talent. They’re often the ones willing to step up, take on challenges, ask questions, try something new and take ownership when things don’t go as planned.
As a leader and as a parent, I tend to want to fix things. I’ve learned you can’t build agency by giving people all the answers. Instead we need to give them the space to figure it out.
Can we build agency?
I believe we can build agency through experience. Whether we’re developing employees, our own children or the young people we serve at Junior Achievement, we need to get out of the way and give them opportunities to make decisions, take risks, get things wrong and get back up.
Through my experience and in our programs at JA, we focus on these five things:
- Give them real decisions to make
Give them the problem not the answers. Let them weigh the options and make a decision. They need to practice making decisions on their own.
2. Don’t always give them the answer
Instead of giving them the answer ask questions. “What do you think you should do?” Let them think it through. Let them struggle a little. Let them come up with the next step.
3. Put them in situations that are new and uncomfortable
Presenting an idea. Starting a first job. Meeting with someone new. These moments can be intimidating. But every time a young person gets through one, they walk away knowing, “I did it and now I know I can do it again.”
4. Let them fail
This one can be hard. We want to protect young people from failure. But failure teaches something success can’t. Agency isn’t believing everything will go right. It’s believing that when something goes wrong, I can figure out my next move.
5. Show them what’s possible
You can’t pursue an opportunity you don’t know exists. Creating exposure and experiences help them learn there are many different paths to success. Sometimes one experience is enough for a young person to think, “I could do that.”
One of the best parts of my job is watching this happen in real time. I get to see young people walk into JA unsure of themselves and watch something begin to change as they are exposed to new people, new environments and new possibilities.
Sometimes it’s subtle. A student raises their hand who didn’t before. They introduce themselves to a business leader they don’t know. They ask questions. They nail an interview they were terrified to walk into. Or they discover a career they had never even heard of and suddenly start talking differently about their future.
How Do We Build a Culture of Agency?
With AI and technology changing how work gets done, we won’t always have a playbook and the answers won’t always be obvious. We will need people at every level of an organization who see a problem and don’t just walk past it. We will need people who are willing to make a decision, try something different, ask the hard question and take responsibility for what happens next.
But there’s another side to this. As leaders, as parents, as mentors, we have to create environments where people are able to develop and use agency. If we want people to take initiative, we have to give them the room to make decisions, bring us new ideas and take risks. That means we need to listen and not punish a mistake.
Agency is a mindset. It says, “I may not know exactly what to do yet, but I can ask questions, learn, make a decision and figure out my next step.”
In a workplace where the one thing we can count on is change, this may be one of the most important skills we can develop in young people, in our employees, our own children and in ourselves.
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