#040 Agile leadership - a myth

Recently, agile project management, agile organizations and of course agile leadership have been a hot topic. Anything that isn't agile has no future and will disappear from the market sooner or later. But when you take a closer look, you notice that very few people are aware of what agile means. A lot is mixed up and approaches and tools are arbitrarily torn out of the Agile Manifesto and Toolbox. 

I don't want to explain the topic of agile or the agile approach here. Of course, it has its justification and is clearly advantageous for certain things. But it is not a panacea. If you want to build or rebuild a house, you also need different tools, depending on the construction phase. But no tool is suitable for all purposes. So, we don't focus on agile leadership as THE management tool, whatever is understood by it.

It is important to me to point out three aspects in connection with leadership that I consider to be decisive.

Leadership needs goals

If you want to lead an organization, you need a goal. This goal must be understood, communicated and explained by the managers.

If you want to make your organization more flexible, then the leadership should be corresponding, e.g.

- coaching leadership

- support flexibility

- allow employees the freedom they need

- allow mistakes to be made 

- enable and promote open communication and exchange of experience independent of hierarchical framework conditions

If you want to align your organization to new business areas, then the management should accordingly e.g.

- communicate the necessary (changed) requirements to processes and systems

- communicate the new tasks

- have the employees independently develop the necessary sub-goals and procedures for this purpose

However, if your organization needs to be led out of a crisis situation, then clear announcements and guidelines are required first. The manager should act accordingly, there is no scope for learning from mistakes. 

These are just three examples from a multitude of possible and/or necessary goals for leadership. In any case, the leadership should also exemplify what it says and demands, “walk the talk”.

The current starting situation and the desired goal set the framework for which leadership styles, methods and tools can be used meaningfully. There is no universal leadership style (see also Goleman et al., Primal Leadership, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2002), nor is there a universal leadership instrument "Agile Leadership", at best leadership styles and tools that support liveliness and agility.

Leadership needs values

Every organization must be permanently profitable or at least work without losses. But how this is achieved should be guided by values. This includes, among other things, that the managers

- do not regard employees as human capital squeezed to the last drop of blood

- do not regard employees as subordinates 

- communicate honestly with employees

- give honest and constructive feedback to employees

- give employees development opportunities

- give employees the opportunity to participate actively

Leadership is emotional work

Leadership doesn't mean using trendy tools blindly. As for any other work, you need certain skills and competences for successful leadership:

- general social skills, e.g. the ability to adapt to others, the ability to self-reflect, empathy, ...

- Leadership skills (styles, tools)

- Professional Competencies

These skills can and should be acquired if they are not sufficiently developed (see also Scheitler & Wetzel; Werte, Worte, Taten; Haupt Verlag, 2007, currently available only in German language).  

Schulz von Thun once said: "People who work together get to each other" (in German language it is a nice wordplay: “Menschen die miteinander schaffen, machen einander zu schaffen“). 

The manager must therefore be able to choose and individually adapt the tools and leadership styles according to the situation and the existing employees and their possibilities. This requires attention, openness and empathy from the manager. 

Leadership is above all an emotional work task. This can be exhausting. However, this is also very satisfying in the case of success.

Conclusion

The focus of leadership should be on goals and values. The leader must be willing and able to do the necessary emotional work and not simply withdraw to a certain hierarchical status.

My recommendation is to read as many books as possible by successful managers. Not to use their method from now on as YOUR tool, but to understand which procedures and leadership styles were successful in a certain situation. Then you can build an entire toolbox and use it as needed.

And my secret reading tip for managers (currently available only in German language): Matthias zur Bonsen; Leading with Life, releasing and using liveliness in companies; Gabler Verlag, 2010.