Constant technological advances, disruptive innovations and ever-increasing competition characterize today's world. Only one thing is certain - change. Learn how modern companies should meet these challenges and the importance of agility in this blog post.
Agile leadership is a leadership style (further leadership models here), which is intended to enable fast and flexible action and reaction to changing conditions. It includes all measures that make decisions and behavior in an area of responsibility fast, flexible and well adapted.
However, there is no such thing as the "one" agile leader; on the contrary, the agile leadership style is characterized by changeability and adaptation to the situation at hand, and actions can be quite different as a result. The goal is that the company and the corporate culture (See article Corporate culture as a success factor) can adapt to changes as quickly as possible. Rarely do managers have the highest professional competence and the greatest knowledge regarding the tasks at hand, but rather the employees. For this reason, decisions are decentralized and often made by the employees themselves and discussed within the team so that all points of view can be taken into account. Managers only define a rough direction within which employees can decide the correct course of action themselves. Decisions can thus be made more quickly and are often closer to reality. The results are then often reviewed and discussed within the team in order to make any necessary adjustments together. In contrast, in a hierarchical, division-of-labor model of thinking, where only managers make decisions, processes simply take too long. This is why flat hierarchies are a central feature of agile companies.
However, this agility requires a new understanding of leadership, namely that managers act at eye level with their employees. The manager's expertise takes a back seat and they merely provide orientation (vision and goals) so that the teams can make operational decisions on their own responsibility. Managers focus more on the company perspective and actively work on culture change, company development and vision communication. They create an environment where employees feel safe and can make mistakes. All the necessary information for an appropriate decision is given and employees' independent decision-making is encouraged.
Below we list some competencies and skills that are central for a leader in an agile environment:
Objectives and Key Results
A management method that can be very helpful in an agile environment for goal setting is OKR (Objectives and Key Results). It involves setting clear goals (Objectives) on the one hand and additionally defining the measurement of key events (Key Results). It links individual tasks of teams, departments and employees with the strategy, plans and vision of the company. It is central that the results are objectively ascertainable, measurable and transparent for the entire organization.
The goals are divided into Objectives and Key Results with different questions:
The objective is qualitative, simple and understandable, self-explanatory, directional, inspiring, motivating and calls to action.
The Key Results, on the other hand, are quantitative, time-bound, clearly measurable and can be conclusively evaluated with "yes" or "no". 2-4 key results can be defined per objective.
The goals can be divided into long-term goals (up to five years; strategy, mission), medium-term goals (12 months, annual planning) and short-term goals (2-4 months; OKR). The OKR goals are based on the medium- and long-term goals of the company.
Through OKR, employees are involved in the key goals and vision, and the teams' work content can be aligned accordingly. This can be very meaningful because employees know why they are doing something and intrinsic motivation is promoted as a result. Communication and transparency improves and internal coordination processes become faster and more efficient, making the company more agile.
In summary, it can be said that changeability and the adaptation to changeable conditions are essential for a company in this day and age, and an agile management style deals precisely with this issue. OKR is a management method for adapting short-term goals to these changeable situations, in contrast to the classic annual goals. It helps a company to become more agile.
At Batterman Consulting, we all work with OKRs to achieve the goals of our respective departments together. You want to make your management more agile and work with OKRs, but still have questions about the implementation? We are happy to support you and look forward to your call.
Batterman Consulting Basel AG
Executive Search,
Byfangweg 1a, CH-4051 Basel
T +41 58 680 55 55
basel@batterman.ch
