What is Agile Leadership? It is a concept developed by Allen B. Coward and John Burns in the 1970s. These two men recognized that organizations could greatly benefit from an organized system of collaborative decision-making. This concept has become a guiding light for many business leaders, especially in developing business models like Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. These leaders believe that true business success is achieved through a well-planned and implemented team effort led by skilled leaders. They also recognize that such a system can only be developed with the help of experienced Agile developers.
Agile is the use of Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing principles combined with customer requirements. The resulting product is a development process that improves the entire organization’s quality, usability, and profitability. Lean is a management strategy that focuses on improving production speed and reducing waste by eliminating non-value-added steps. Agile and Lean are strongly compatible and often perform synergistically.
Why is Agile Leadership important?
Agile Leadership is important because it creates teams that can adapt to change and evolve with their project. It’s easy for a couple, product, or project to get stale if you work off of outdated models and methods, so being able to adapt as new challenges arise in your environment will keep you from getting stuck. And once the project ends, agile Leadership allows you to regroup and quickly find new opportunities elsewhere without having other significant impacts. So even when deadlines are rigid or budgets don’t increase over time, an agile workforce can ensure productivity doesn’t waver. Finally, Agile Leadership helps managers delegate authority while keeping motivation high and employees engaged.
Is agile a strategy?
Yes. Agile Leadership is a strategy for corporate leaders and teams to drive innovation, speed, agility, and quality within an organization.
Which companies are the most agile?
And if I could name two, Pivotal and Comcast. Each company’s Leadership takes time to speak directly to their employees and respond efficiently when things go wrong. They’re confident enough with their people on the ground in each region to trust them to make decisions that are best for the respective business unit while still abiding by all corporate-owned policies.
Characteristics of agile
Detail-oriented
When working with an agile person, you will find that they are detail-oriented and have an uncanny ability to see the big picture. Their ability to envision and realize what might happen throughout a project will allow them to plan effectively. They are not afraid to take risks. Any new person in an organization should have a healthy fear of uncertainty. An agile person is far from fearful. Instead, they embrace uncertainty and look for opportunities in difficult situations.
Highly motivated
A highly motivated agile person is willing to put in the time and effort required to ensure that a project is completed in a timely fashion. They are also ones who are eager to keep working even when they don’t feel like it. The characteristics of an agile person are very much like those of a perfectionist. For something to be completed right, they expect it to be done right the first time.
Continuous Learning
The world is constantly changing, and to keep up with the changes, you need to be ready for anything. The best way of doing this is by being well-informed about what’s happening in your industry — so never stop learning! Of course, you’ll constantly have new challenges coming at you, but that doesn’t mean they’re impossible – it just means you should stay as adaptable as possible when faced with them.
Discipline
It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re working in an agile workplace, and for that reason, it is essential to be disciplined enough with your schedule. However, time management should still play a role in the way we work. As long as people adapt within their allotted timeframe, nothing will get done effectively if they don’t meet deadlines and schedules.
Listening
If you’re looking to improve performance on anything, make sure that you listen carefully so that no opportunity goes wasted as a result. Again, it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about an employee who wants more responsibility at work or someone just starting a new career path.
