Stop hiring problem reporters. Start building problem solvers. This framework shows you exactly how to teach employees to operate with high agency and autonomy.
Most employees spot problems and walk away. High-agency employees identify problems, investigate causes, research solutions, and fix them. The 5 Levels describe this progression: from passive reporting (Level 1) to autonomous execution (Level 5).
The standard: Tell new hires they operate at Level 4 minimum. As trust builds, they rise to Level 5.
Level 5 engineers save managers
10+ hours per week
They identify problems, then walk away and wait for someone else to fix them
Do you want employees who just report problems, or employees who solve them?
From passive problem reporting to autonomous problem solving
"There is a problem." (Then you walk away and wait for someone else to handle it.)
"There is a problem, and I've found some causes." (No solutions offered)
"Here's the problem, here are some possible causes, and here are some possible solutions." (No recommendation)
"Here's the problem, here's what caused it, here are possible solutions, and here's the one I recommend we pick."
"I identified a problem, figured out what caused it, researched how to fix it, and I fixed it. Just keeping you in the loop."
Here's what to tell every new employee: You will live at Level 4 from Day 1. As we build trust, you'll rise to Level 5.
Being high agency doesn't just mean tackling problems this way. It means your entire way of working should be oriented to being a Level 4+ employee.
Agency is only one dimension. High agency at any technical skill level is valuable, but a Novice with Level 5 agency needs different support than an Expert with Level 5 agency. See how Agency combines with technical skill in the Performance Matrix.
Read more on high agency culture: How Stripe Built One of Silicon Valley's Best Engineering Teams (First Round Review) | High Agency: What It Is and Why It Matters (Sequoia Capital)
When everyone operates at Level 1-2, managers become overwhelmed with trivial decisions. Level 4+ employees free up management bandwidth for strategic work.
Level 5 employees fix issues immediately instead of creating multi-day email chains. Problems get solved in hours, not weeks.
The person closest to the problem usually understands it best. Level 4+ employees leverage that proximity to make smarter choices.
Teams full of Level 4+ people don't have bystander syndrome. Everyone takes responsibility for outcomes, not just their narrow job description.
A team of 10 Level 1 employees needs 3 managers. A team of 10 Level 5 employees might need one. High agency scales better than headcount.
High performers hate working with people who just report problems. They want teammates who solve things. Level 4+ culture becomes a recruiting advantage.
See how agency level transforms problem-solving behavior
Customer reports: "Checkout is broken. I can't complete my purchase."
Customer: "Your app takes forever to load my dashboard. This is unacceptable."
Each level adds one step: identify → analyze → explore → recommend → execute. Level 5 employees don't just think differently—they act differently.
Agency levels correlate with skill acquisition stages, but they're not the same thing
The Dreyfus model describes how people acquire skills (Novice → Advanced Beginner → Competent → Proficient → Expert). The 5 Levels of Agency describe how people approach problems and take ownership.
You can be technically Expert but operate at Level 1 if you lack ownership mindset. Conversely, a Novice can operate at Level 4 by researching thoroughly and making recommendations within their knowledge constraints.
What it looks like: "I'm new to React, but I researched this state management bug. Based on the docs and Stack Overflow, I think we should lift state to the parent component. Can you review my approach?"
Limited technical skill, but high agency in problem-solving approach.
What it looks like: "The microservices architecture has a latency problem." (Then waits for someone else to investigate)
Deep technical expertise, but low ownership mindset. Surprisingly common in large companies.
What it looks like: "Database queries were slow. Added indexes on the foreign keys, reduced query time by 80%. Deployed to prod. Monitoring shows it's stable."
Solid technical skills combined with full ownership. This is what high-performing teams are built on.
What it looks like: "Noticed a pattern of slow queries across multiple services. Implemented a caching layer, updated query patterns, added monitoring. Performance improved 10x. Documented the approach for other teams."
High technical skill + high agency + systems thinking. These people multiply team effectiveness.
In performance reviews, you want to evaluate both dimensions:
A Competent engineer with Level 5 agency is often more valuable than an Expert with Level 2 agency. Skills can be taught faster than ownership mindset.
→ See the complete 2×2 Performance Matrix: Four employee archetypes every manager should recognize
Our default templates explicitly assess ownership and initiative
Includes dedicated sections on:
Evaluates agency through:
Measures agency through leadership lens:
Traditional performance reviews miss agency entirely. They measure "what" someone does (features shipped, tickets closed) but not "how" they do it (Level 1 vs Level 5 approach).
Blik's questionnaires explicitly ask reviewers: Does this person identify problems and walk away, or do they drive solutions? The difference between a team of Level 1 and Level 5 employees is the difference between constant firefighting and smooth execution.
Blik includes questionnaires that measure both technical skills (Dreyfus) and problem-solving ownership (Agency Levels). Get 360-degree feedback that actually tells you how people work, not just what they produce.
View PricingTell new hires explicitly: "You operate at Level 4 minimum. When you spot a problem, I expect you to come with diagnosis and recommendations, not just alerts."
When someone reports a problem without context, don't solve it for them. Ask: "What do you think is causing this? What solutions have you considered?" Make them level up.
When someone solves a problem autonomously, praise it publicly. "This is exactly what high agency looks like." Make it clear this is the standard.
People won't operate at Level 5 if they get punished for mistakes. Make it safe to act, fail, learn. The cost of occasional errors is lower than the cost of learned helplessness.
Start new people at Level 4 (recommendations need approval). As they prove judgment, move them to Level 5 (act first, inform later). Earned autonomy works better than blanket permissions.
If you as a manager operate at Level 1 with your own boss, your team will mirror that. Show them what Level 5 looks like by doing it yourself.
Grounded in organizational psychology and self-determination theory
The "5 Levels of Agency" is a practical synthesis for workplace application, not a formally published academic model. It draws conceptually from 40+ years of peer-reviewed research on autonomy, proactive behavior, and self-determination.
The underlying concepts are well-established. The specific "5 levels" structure is a pedagogical tool to help managers teach high-agency behavior.
Related reading: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink explores autonomy as a core motivator, complementing the research cited below.
This framework synthesizes four major research streams from organizational psychology:
Use 360-degree feedback to identify who operates with high agency and who needs coaching. Blik's questionnaires measure both technical skills and ownership mindset.