What Organizations Need To Know About Agile Leadership

Many organizations around the world have adopted Agile as their first and foremost guide to product development and improvement. First, we should look at why traditional leadership has been failing organizations in the first place.

Leadership in the modern world has been equated to a highly visible role, a spokesperson whose charisma is infectious, and following their mantra is made easy. It’s common to assume that a sharply dressed manager who uses statistics to back up his claims is a good leader.

Unfortunately, effective leadership within organizations is more complicated. The truth is that companies have been built and shaped over many years, sometimes decades by culture. The charismatic leader (especially in technology companies) does not go far in the grand scheme of things to change an approach ingrained throughout a business. Undoing bad habits and helping people build new habits is hard work. 

Why Should An Organization Adopt An Agile Framework?

Why should you, as a leader, care about Agile? Because it helps organizations to get better.

Leadership implies leaving a legacy that is stronger than when you first started. The leadership you provide has to be ingrained within the culture of the organization you leave behind. In short, being agile and thinking in an agile way allows us to be transparent and honest, learning from our mistakes without fear of retribution. That in itself is a huge shift in the way we think.

One of the most important goals of a great leader should be to build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done” While the concept is simple, it implies that you, as a leader, must act in a supporting role. Encourage acts of leadership in others. Don’t focus on the mistakes. Create an environment where work, and even innovation, can happen!

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”

There probably won't be a defining moment in a successful project that someone can point to and say, "that was the moment where you as a leader made all the difference in the project." But you will positively affect the organization's culture over several months of sustained support and Agile thinking. As the late management guru Peter Drucker said, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast," implying that no amount of managing people would be more successful than the intrinsic motivation people have to succeed in their work.

Kiichiro Toyoda, the founder and first president of The Toyota Motor Corporation, created the Toyota Production System. This management philosophy was built from the Lean production perspective, and he believed that because people operate the system, the strategy to success has to be a people-oriented system. This leadership style recognizes that only the people on the production line can make the changes necessary for improvement. The culture of excellence needs to be ingrained in the line worker to the extent that "good enough" is no longer a workable philosophy. This is where leaders should focus.

What Can You Do As A Leader To Make Change Happen? 

John Kotter, the well-known thought leader in business leadership, writes about how change management can be made ‘to stick’. Establishing a need and creating visibility is at the forefront of what he espouses.

Creating transparency allows us within the organization to understand the current situation. This allows us to begin tackling problems with a frank and consolidated effort. Mistakes will happen, but in an environment of learning, where mistakes are opportunities for improvement, success will undoubtedly follow.

Einstein is quoted as having said, "If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions." This quote is important because preparation has excellent value to problem-solving.

IT Management & Consulting International

IT Management & Consulting's mission is to help businesses and organizations improve productivity and processes with the Agile way of working.

Previously, we have worked with renowned companies, including Goldman Sachs, Volvo, and H&M Group. Over the past seven years, we have helped clients reduce developing costs by up to 20% and improve on-time delivery by up to 45%.

We are always open to working with companies in Stockholm and remote who want to increase their productivity.

Contact us today for a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you.