Charles Darwin had once commented that “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” Agility means the capability of rapidly and efficiently adapting to changes and recently, agility has been applied in the context of software development, agile enterprise, and agile leadership. Agile leaders play an important, even essential, role in scaling agility in an organization. Understand how being an agile leader helps in effectively catalyzing organizational change.
Adaptability; the ability to change (or be changed) to fit new circumstances and Agility; the capability to rapidly and efficiently adapt to change, is a crucial skill for leaders. It is the art of being flexible under the influence of rapidly changing external conditions. Being an agile leader means being flexible, responsive to change, and willing to learn and adopt new ways, leading to effectively survive and succeed in the complex modern competitive business environment. People who score high on the adaptability and agility competency are able to deal more positively with the change, and they are able to adapt their approach to changing needs and shift their priorities.
Another definition for “Agile Leadership” is the application of the agile principles to the field of leadership. It is encompassing the processes, tools, and rules of Agile to manage teams and projects and develop new leadership paradigms to deliver better results.
Agile leaders are leaders who are able to reflect, see possibilities, and reframe their thinking constantly. The traditional Agile Scrum Model encompasses the organization of the project team, roles and responsibilities of the team members, the artifacts, and the rules under which the project team operates to deliver expectations. Agile Leadership includes the work environment as well as the specific leadership abilities expected from the managers and stakeholders to make the project team successful.
According to the Agile Leadership Model, there are five levels of leadership agility:
The expert is more tactical and has a problem-solving orientation. Believes a leader’s power depends upon the expertise and positional authority, acts as more of a supervisor than a manager, and usually too caught up in details to lead in a strategic manner.
The Achiever is more strategic and outcome-oriented, believes that power comes not only from authority and expertise but also from motivating others, operates as a full-fledged manager, and will often accept feedback, if helpful in achieving desired outcomes.
The Catalyst is visionary with facilitative orientation, believes that leaders articulate an innovative, inspiring vision and empower people to transform the vision into reality, acts as team leader and facilitator to create a highly participative team, welcomes the open exchange of views on difficult issues, empowers direct reports and uses team development as a vehicle for leadership development.
The Cocreator is oriented toward shared purpose and collaboration, believes leadership is ultimately a service to others, develops key stakeholder relationships, may create companies or units where corporate responsibility is an integral practice, develops collaborative leadership teams, where members feel fully responsible not only for their own areas but also for the organization they collectively manage.
The Synergist is holistic oriented, experiences leadership as participation in a palpable sense of life purpose that benefits others while serving as a vehicle for personal transformation maintains a deep, empathetic awareness of conflicting stakeholder interests, including their own, capable of moving fluidly between various team leadership styles, can amplify or shape group energy dynamics to bring about mutually beneficial results, cultivates a present-centered awareness that augments external feedback and supports a strong, subtle connection with others, even during challenging conversations.
1. They use a democratic approach to management which helps them in enforcing change to the behaviors
2. Provides empowerment to the team members and let them determine how to accomplish their tasks, are focused, and always keep track of the timelines
3. Demonstrate a greater openness to ideas and innovations; applies standard procedures more flexibly
4. Defines the desired vision and continuously adapt to changing situations, unexpected demands, and changing strategies
5. Acts as a change agent within the organization and have the ability to deal with situations they have never dealt with before
6. Makes concerted effort to understand people of different cultures and develops cultural adaptability
7. Are willing to get out of one’s comfort zone and learn continuously, keep upgrading their skills
8. Challenges the status quo; Are open to new ideas
9. Uses adaptable, methodical and organized approach to problem-solving; are fast and effective problem solvers and tend to solve when faced with new and challenging situations
Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastering for Anticipating and Initiating Change by Bill Joiner and Stephen Josephs (2007)
Laissez-faire is a style of leadership that affords the group members a great deal of independence. Tasks are delegated to the group members and they are responsible to see the project through to fruition. Research has shown that this style of leadership leads to the lowest levels of productivity. This article explains this style and covers the implications of having a hands-off approach and the situations where this style could be effective.
Appreciative leaders encourage contributions from those around them and facilitate the discussion to mutually solve problems. Understand the concept of Appreciative Leadership and learn about tools to create and ask powerful questions - that lead to new discoveries and possibilities. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong in the workplace, learn about, and build upon what works. Learn in this article the art to apply appreciative inquiry to specific situations and challenges at your workplace.
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Adaptive leadership is a style of leadership that emphasizes the importance of each and every person and role within the company. Adaptive leadership views the organization as an ever-changing, living organization, where employees can learn, adapt, and grow. Adaptive leaders mobilize people towards a common goal and also have the courage to experiment with new ideas and approaches. Adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilizing groups of people to tackle tough challenges and thrive. Learn how to adopt this style and how to become an adaptive leader!
Understanding of how individuals of different cultures interact with each other is very important. Not all individuals can adapt to the leadership styles expected in a different culture whether that culture is organizational or national. In a fast-paced business environment, developing a richer understanding and sensitivity to other cultures is a skill that leaders must possess. Learn to be effective in a cross-cultural setting.
Narcissistic leadership is a leadership style in which the leader is only interested in him. Narcissists are good for companies that need people with vision and the courage to take them in new directions. Such leaders sometime might be highly successful, but is it a style to be followed. Learn the various types of narcissistic leadership and the characteristics of such leaders.
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