• Just how possible is it to have employees who self-manage?

• Leadership guru Michael Colburn offers tips on how to reach that nirvana

•  But Wait! There's more!  See below....

For managers who are mired in the nit-picking style of oversight, there is an option they (and their employees) might only dream about: the self-managing worker.

But such dreams are reality with many companies says long-time leadership coach Michael Colburn.

Put formally, “self-management is the ability and the will to act in the best interest of the organization in such a way that intrinsic motivation replaces any external consequences imposed to reward or punish performance.”

But Mr. Colburn can also put it less formally.

“It’s not that I’m against rewards, but if you need a reward – or punishment – to drive performance, then there’s a problem,” he says.

Those who self-manage best are often “people who … really get their jollies out of the work they do,” he says. “If you just see your job as something that you have to do to make a living, [you’re] probably not quite a candidate for self-management.”

Mr. Colburn says his research has led him to five principles that lay the foundation for self-management in the workplace.

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