Agile leaders know people and process but not the destination
Humans are vulnerable to the core, whether he’s a janitor or a CEO. When you try to clean the mess — physical or organisational — it is essential that you are agile, not for the sake of it, but to be more effective.
But what is agility anyway? According to the Oxford dictionary, this buzzword of the software development industry means the ‘ability to move quickly and easily.’ When talking about agile leaders, it directs to someone with powerful insights and has fast decision-making abilities.
Agile Leader Starter Pack:
- Creative
- Flexible
- Adaptable
- Quick
Agile leaders tend to apply two kinds of agile processes in organisations, namely, operational and strategic. Operational Agility means improving the product experience in terms of speed, price, etc. for existing customers, whereas Strategic Agility means creating new products for new customers. For an agile leader, it is extremely important to know the market and have the right instincts for the process to be executed. After all, desperate times call for desperate measures.
That being said about ‘Process’, let’s talk about the key but highly underrated element of any business: People.
The quote by Suze Orman has been deeply embedded in my mind ever since I read it:
“People first, then money, then things.”
We are working with people, and for people. Hence, it’s all about people!
A leader, if agile, must be a source of creativity and innovation to his employees. His/her presence of mind should be able to sniff the expected need for communication and recognition. Agility encourages leaders to listen, learn and be ready to change.
Big terms like flexibility, adaptability and resilience hold significant value in the mind of an agile leader. Because he/she knows that at the end of the day, they are working for their employees — facilitating them to make a difference, and catering to their needs which would help them grow in their careers.
But where are these employees being led to? Let’s talk about destination! Because the concept of destination applies to all of us at any point in life, and not just to our good ol’ agile leaders.
While wandering around the city centre of Stratford-upon-Avon, I read the below sign and couldn’t help but think what crucial role does ‘expertise’ of our conscious mind play in our lives.
“We were not experts, therefore, we did not know what could not be done.” — David Hutchings M.B.E. Project Leader
When we claim to be experts, we claim to ‘know it all’. This mindset forces us to know the outcomes of the situation. Subconsciously, we put restrictions around our actions as we feel ‘sure’ about the consequences. In this scenario, we limit our potential by gaining an understanding that we can’t defeat our fears.
Hence, it is really important to accept our humanly flaws and golden ignorance, as it will always be the only key thing that will distinguish us from robots when AI takes over (which is not very far!).
Agility aims to empower leaders to think out of the box, rather than having a tunnel vision and being unaware of the vicinity. Hence, it is crucial to know your employees as much as you want to know your customers, and it’s also important to have a vision for the process fostering the needs of doing business in the 21st century.
But, I highly recommend to be open to change and not be sure of the destination. It would give you an opportunity to take a different path and reach where none has reached before.
Note: This article was first published on Swamini Khanvilkar’s LinkedIn profile on March 1st, 2019.
