For #2 I just meant by rewards system that you wouldn’t just hand them the responsibility. You’d give them the opportunity to prove they can do these other things that you have been outsourcing, and if they rise to the challenge and do it well, you give them that bonus and give them that responsibility from then on.
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I don’t know why it’s such a hard skill for managers to possess. It’s simple. When I coached I knew which kids you had to yell at to get the best out of, and which ones beat themselves up so much that all they needed was an encouraging, “We’ll get them next time.” If you know people you can create your own experiences, or sometimes, they’ll create themselves.

I love the analogy of management with respect to raising teenagers. I think that’s a pretty accurate comparison.

The thing with all of them, however, is that even when I thought they had no idea what was going they actually knew EXACTLY what was happening. It’s a delicate skill that very few managers possess, but is essential to the success of any of these ideas. Empowering your employees but not becoming so distanced that suddenly there’s a problem “that you didn’t realize.”

This will also help with the problem in each, which is essentially that someone is not pulling their weight/taking advantage of a situation/creating sub-par product/etc. If the now attentive manager empowers the employee but is also willing to have frank discussions then each experiment will be a success!

Someone once told me that managing employees is like raising teenagers. You’ve gotta give them room to figure it out for themselves and make their own mistakes, but at the same time be available both as a resource and support.
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The first two, I’d agree that would work in fewer situations than the third, but in some, they’d be very successful.
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#1 You make a valid point about “slack time.” What kind of rewards system did you have in mind? I guess it really depends on what the employees are making, and how much the extra income would impact them if the additional monetary compensation would make a difference.

#2 How would a rewards system ensure that the employee is capable of predetermined responsibilities? Did I read that wrong? I think there’s some potential disconnect here, though you could make a case.

#3 I think in reading the post it’s clear that autonomy is the ‘experiment’ I feel most strongly about as I just kept writing and couldn’t stop.

All of them could work, or could fail horribly, depending on the situation and the execution.

#1 Employees that are used to reserving a little “slack time” in their daily schedule probably won’t give up that time for the new tasks. They’ll probably put less effort into other tasks to make it look like they’re doing more, while still spending time “slacking” as usual.

I think this would work better if it had a rewards system where employees would have to work toward a goal. This ensure that they’re earning the extra money and responsibility, rather than getting the reward and making it look like they earned it.

Same goes for #2. This would also ensure that the employee is actually capable of these responsibilities, before you hand it over to them

#3 I’m all for. I completely agree about the autonomy theory and think that this is certainly a trend that is occurring in the corporate world. I know a lot of people that say they work better at night (myself included). I also know that it’s important to change the scenery once in a while. Especially for those employees confined to a cubicle, its essential to change things up, keep the mind fresh and bring some life into their worklife.

Good stuff.

@DavidSpinks
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