The importance of leadership agility in today's complex business world

Part of our research at Twenty2 Collective looks at the high performance and happiness of teams we encounter. What we have seen is the team’s effectiveness is driven by success and leadership ability. John Maxwell calls this ‘law of the lid’ of the leadership. If this ability is low then the team can be successful or driven as they want, but their effectiveness is severely limited. Time and again we see organisations invest in what we call the “hardware or practices” ie scrum, product owner, DevOps but miss the boat when it comes to “software” - leadership capability. A common example is product owners and managers who have an excellent understanding of practices such as visioning, prioritisation and refinement but really struggle when it comes to areas such as influence in a team. They commonly don’t manage, negotiation with stakeholder requests or giving and receiving feedback.

The glut of real leadership development programs

The other challenge we see is there is a glut of leadership development programs out there but they are often using outdated approaches and also focus too much on hardware practices. To be successful today in this complex world, leaders need to focus on their leadership agility. It all starts with awareness of where you are and then undergoing states of agility to love to the catalyst level of leadership.

Step forward Satya Nadella

A good example of true agile leaders is Satya Nadella, the revolutionary CEO of Microsoft, who culled bureaucracy with one agile team back in 2008. If leaders really want their organsiation to be successful, they need to focus on themselves first. Like the safety card in a plane you put the mask on yourself first and then the child.

As leaders we need to change ourselves first to help change others.

Investing in leadership development is not an option but a necessity for organisations that want to thrive in today's rapidly changing business world. By focusing on leadership agility, organisations can improve the effectiveness of their teams, enhance their business outcomes, and ultimately achieve long-term success.

Join the exclusive Perth Workshop in May

Join us in Perth on May 15-16 for Agilty in Leadership with Pete Behren’s founder of the Agile Leadership Journey™ Learn from one of the brightest minds in the industry.

The Agile Leadership Journey™ curriculum develops the awareness and capability of leaders and organizations to improve business outcomes in highly complex, uncertain, and rapidly changing environments. Limited places register here.