The five digital freedoms - the freedom to connect, contribute, create, challenge, and choose - portend change for all organizations regardless of industry or geography. There is no stopping people from expecting the same opportunities in their work life as they experience in the personal lives. These freedoms are in direct opposition of many currently-accepted management practices and will usher in a more humanized approach for getting work done—whether we like it or not.

During the recently concluded Gartner Symposium, my colleagues and I ran two workshops exploring how the five digital freedoms will change how organizations work. CIOs and their teams chose one of the five freedoms and examined its positive and negative consequences. They crafted an action plan to take back home and implement so they could capitalize on the selected digital freedom without losing control. With every freedom comes the responsibility to use it wisely.

Remarkably, most of the teams zeroed in on the freedom to choose. They wrestled with the issue of how they could create more choice in employees’ work lives and still meet commitments. In many ways, this is the most basic freedom of all—and yet, it seems...